Chicago, It's My Kind of Town

A few weeks ago (in mid July), Amy and I went to Chicago with my mom, sister (Angela), and sister's now fiance (Allen) for a long weekend. We planned this trip as a 60th birthday present for my mom (whose birthday was actually in December last year). We had a great time. The weather was awesome...especially when you consider it was 105 in Austin while we were in 70 degree Chicago.

Our Chicago trip also acted as Amy and my last trip before our little ones arrive. We were a little worried Amy wouldn't be able to travel or might wear out to easily, but everything went well. Amy was a trooper! She even used her pregnancy to her advantage. There would be places that had signs that said "no restrooms to the public" but would allow Amy to use their restrooms. All she had to do was put both hands on her bell, huff, and say, can I use your restroom. We were told there would be a 45 minute wait at Pizzeria Due but we were seated in under 5 minutes. I think it was because the hostess saw Amy was pregnant. It was like a key to the city!

We tried to do all the the normal Chicago stuff while we were there--Cubs game, boat tour, and of course, lots and lots of Chicago style pizza!

We stayed in the Hotel Burnham.

It was a really nice, classy hotel. I wish we had taken a picture of the room. Amy and I had to share a full size bed. Normally, that wouldn't be too bad. But the pregnancy has given Amy the need to to stretch out while sleeping. She popped me in the face more than a couple times in that bed.

Here is the view from our room.

This is also from our room.

Here is a fountain my mom and I found while walking around. Amy was busy waiting for us on a bench. She had already used up most of her steps this day and decided to take a break. :)

We went on a really cool architectural boat tour. They were able to take us all over the city on this boat and show us all sorts of cool stuff.

Here is my sister and Allen on the boat tour.

Millennium Park was really close to our hotel. We passed by it almost every day we were in Chicago. Here are some pictures of my favorite thing in Millennium Park. It was a large, reflective object nicknamed the Chicago Bean. I wonder why they call this the Chicago Bean... :)

My mom got us tickets to a Chicago Cubs game. (Amy stayed at the hotel to get some needed rest while the rest of us went to the game.) The Cubs played one of their arch-rivals, the St Louis Cardinals. We had great weather and a good game where the Cubs won. We event met my cousin there who now lives in Chicago.

I got a picture of Alfonso Soriano hitting a multi-RBI double. I wish I had taken my SLR camera to the game. I had to make due with our small point and shoot.

Here are the four of us. Angela didn't know who the cubs were playing and picked out red for her and Allen to wear. They fit right in...with all the Cardinal's fans who came to the game. I wonder where Angela's Chicago Cubs hat went? Seems like this would have been a perfect place for that.

At the end of the game, everyone sang a "Go, Cubs, Go" song and a lot of people waved "W" flags around. We had a lot of fun at the game.

One day, we spent most of our time on a double decker bus tour. The bus system would take us all over the city and we could get on and off whenever we wanted. Amy was very thankful for this tour. She could see a lot of stuff without needing to walk a lot. I bet if we didn't have this tour, Amy would have needed several more naps.

And of course, we ate A LOT of Chicago style pizza. If it was completely up to my sister and I, we would have had pizza for every meal. Instead, we compromised with the others and only had it every day. :)

Here is the first place we went called Giordano's. Amy and I had seen this place on an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay.

You can see, the pizza was massive. I've never seen a pizza with so much cheese. It was really good but was probably my least favorite of all the pizza places we went to. The cheese and crust were great but I don't think it had anywhere near enough sauce.

We ate at both Pizzeria Uno and Pizzeria Due. They are owned by the same people and are basically the same thing. Uno is the original and Due is about 30 yards away just across the street.

Here is a picture of the sausage and pepperoni the pizza we had at Pizzeria Due. This was by far the best pizza I've ever had in my life! It was amazing. I'm drooling now just thinking about it. Seriously, I am. I better keep my mouth closed or I'll make a mess on our desk. Everything in it was amazing...especially the toppings and pizza sauce. This alone was worth the price of the trip. This pizza was so go, part of me feels it should get its own individual blog post professing its deliciousness.

A couple days later, we went to Pizzeria Uno. My sister missed our trip to Pizzeria Due and encouraged us to go to to Uno's. I didn't need any encouragement. Amy, on the other hand, was tired of pizza and only had a salad. Yeah, you read that right...a SALAD at the original Pizzeria Uno's! I married a weirdo! :)

Here is my sister giddy over her individual cheese pizza at Uno. I'm surprised she waited for me to take a picture before she dove in. I was waiting for her to be like a kid at his first birthday party--they often go to town by sticking their hands and face right into the cake.

In between our trip to Pizzeria Due and Uno, my mom, Amy, and I found Gino's East Pizzeria. (Amy was already tired of pizza by the time we came here but being the good wife she is, she didn't complain at all.)

Like all of the pizza we had in Chicago, the pizza at Gino's was really good. I ordered a meat lovers that was topped with like ten types of meat! It was not as good as Uno or Due but it is still better than anything we have here in Texas.

After returning to Austin, we saw this was Duff from Ace of Cakes favorite pizza place. I was glad we tried it. If I saw Duff talking about how good it was, I would have been sorry we missed it.

As a change from pizza, we decided to go to Claim Jumper. Amy and I ate at one of these when we were in Seattle before our Alaskan cruise and loved it. When Amy told me there was one in Chicago, I talked everyone into going there for dinner one night. While the food was really good, going here was a big mistake.

I don't want to point any fingers, but one of the five of us looked it up on a map and thought it was less than ten miles away. Let's give that unidentified person the code name, Preggers. :) However, the scale of the map was a little off and Preggers didn't realize it was actually quite a bit further away. After a $100 hour long cab ride (where the cabbie got lost), we finally made it to dinner. The dinner was delicious but was definitely not worth the $300+ it cost the five of us after transportion. Don't worry, no one blamed Preggers for the ordeal and we all had a good time. How can you get mad at someone carrying your children, grandchildren, or niece/nephew? And don't bother asking, I'm not going to divulge the identity of Preggers. What happens in Chicago, stays in Chicago.

My mom sister didn't let the cab ride get them down. They enjoyed Claim Jumper.

Here is a popcorn shop call Garrett that Amy loved. We got some free popcorn with our bus tour. Amy loved the place but I thought it was over rated.

One of the last things we did was go see Sue, a T-Rex at the Field Museum. My mom was really excited about seeing Sue since someone she went to college with actually discovered the T-Rex in South Dakota.

Well, that was our trip to Chicago. We had a lot of fun, saw tons of stuff, and obviously, ate more than our share of pizza! The next time we get to go on a trip like this, we will have two kids with us. Either that, or some grandparents with have two kids with them. :) Either way, two kids will be involved in some way.

And the moral of the story is, if you are ever in Chicago, make sure you go to the original Pizzeria Uno or Due. And, if possible, bring some home for me.