Chicago

A few weeks ago, we stole away to Chicago for a quick weekend visit with Thom and Colleen. We first met Thom at Pitt outside of Tower C a million years ago. Thom is an environmental crusader of sorts, using his powers as an attorney for good instead of evil. Take note, lawyers. Colleen is his lovely girlfriend, who also saves our planet for a living, and they are just two delightfully interesting and fun people.

Chicago was awesome. Although, I'm not sure I would feel the same in January. The weather was very pleasant, and our visit was very short, but eventful. We started off with a tour of a few sections of the Art Institute of Chicago. Here is some art that a Yinzer can really get behind. We also got a chance to hang out in Millenium Park, walk along the boat docks on Lake Michigan, and watch kids play in the many fountains that seem to be everywhere in that park.

And then we ate. Boy did we eat. We went to this very old-fashioned ice cream parlor in Colleen's neighborhood, and ordered a banana split. The fudge sauce came in a separate little pitcher, as you can see from this photo. I also want to point out that I did not eat this whole thing myself...we shared. We revisited the Chicago Diner, ate a real Chicago-style deep dish pizza, and had brunch at this place called Yolk, which was filled with baby-toting, hip young families, and had really, really good eggs.

So all that eating took up a lot of time. But there's more. We also went to the Bughouse Square Debates, and the annual book sale at the Newberry Library. This was really cool, because besides local activists who came out to have their say about everything from abortion rights to parking meters, there was also a reenactment of the Abraham Lincoln/Stephen Douglas campaign debates. Now, you may know that M was born on Abe Lincoln's birthday, and is known as Honest Abe by many a family member. But it was interesting to really listen to the content of the speeches, and sort of remove Abe Lincoln temporarily from his mythical pedestal. Listening to Lincoln and Douglas quote the founders of our nation reminded me that freedom can be a very loosely defined term.

After the Debates, we went to the Second City comedy club and I seriously laughed for about 2 hours straight. Very therapeutic for a pregnant lady. Chicago seemed to be pretty family friendly, and we look forward to our next visit, at which time we will likely have Puddin' in tow.