Chicago

Our weekend spent visiting Verena in Chicago was wonderful.  It is always nice to get away for a few days and experience new things.  The weekend was full of conversation, great food, local beer and crisp fall weather.  We left last Thursday in the early afternoon and got in that evening.  It was easy to hop on the train and make our way to the loop to meet up with Verena.  Our first stop was to have a drink in the John Hancock Building and enjoy an amazing view of the city and lake.  We then made our way back to Verena's place for a quiet dinner and early night.

Friday we had a great breakfast at a local diner and then spent time wandering the city.  Verena is currently working at DePaul, so we enjoyed touring the campus with her.  Afterwards we made a trip to the botanical conservatory where we were in awe of the amazing orchid room.  The room was full of  colorful Lady's Slippers and stunning bromeliads.  The late afternoon was spent walking the windy shores of Lake Michigan and chatting about our recent travels.  Verena always has good stories to tell.  We started our evening out very high class on the top floor of Trump Tower sipping cocktails.  It is hard to believe the owner of such a fancy establishment has such dreadful hair.  Aaron felt bad about not being dressed up enough, so I kept having to remind him of the combover.  An unkempt ponytail, scruffy beard, torn jeans, and old flannel shirt combined are more presentable than Donald's hair.  I think this made Aaron feel much better.  Anyhow, dinner was at an authentic Mexican restaurant that served excellent food.  Our final stop of the evening was a lovely jazz concert at The Green Mill.

Saturday morning got to a later start as we all needed some extra rest.  Verena's friend Mike picked us up around eleven and took us to Chinatown for some delicious dim sum.  This dim sum experience was very similar to the one we had in Hong Kong several years ago.  We left the restaurant satisfied and ready to venture towards Oak Park to visit the Frank Lloyd Wright home.  Oak Park is really a beautiful little suburb with amazing old homes.  It is especially a nice place to be this time of year with the colorful leaves and cool weather.  Before our late afternoon tour we stopped for a frozen treat at the historic Petersen's Ice Cream Shop, which has been around since 1919.  My vanilla bean ice cream was the perfect pick-me-up! 

Our tour through the FLW home was really quite good.  Aaron and I visited Talieson during our contract in Wisconsin, and we really enjoyed the experience.  Our guide in Oak Park was mediocre because she really struggled to answer questions throughout the tour.  This was not terribly impressive, but just being able to walk through the house was very exciting.  In fact, I was so thrilled that I might have gotten a bit tearful when we entered the front door.  And Aaron was so embarrassed that he might have acted like he didn't know me.  After our tour we walked back to the train station admiring the other FLW homes along the way.  They really do stand out from the more traditional Victorian style houses that make up a large part of the neighborhood.

Back in the city we had a delicious dinner and then hit up a brewery to try some local beer.  It was a fine evening.  Aaron and Verena enjoyed a lively political discussion while I stayed silent and looked on in amusement.  Luckily there was no shouting involved and their friendship survived even though it is quite clear they have very different opinions.  So we enjoyed a couple of beers, and we even managed to keep the conversation away from politics the remainder of the night.  Good times were had!   

It was a fine weekend spent with Verena.  She is just a lovely person, and we always have so much fun together.  We're looking forward to seeing her in Germany next month and celebrating Christmas with her family!

Beautiful Oak Park

Frank Lloyd Wright House

Weekend Getaway

Aaron and I are getting ready for a quick three day trip to Chicago.  We will be spending the weekend with our friend Verena.  It has been well over a year since our last visit, so it will be very nice to spend time together and catch up.  I am also looking forward to fall weather, eating good food, and sampling a variety of local beer.  When we return home I only have nine shifts left before we head out of town for three months.  Where has the time gone??  It is a little bittersweet to be leaving so soon even though we will be returning in the spring.  We're both very excited about seeing our families in early December and heading to Germany for Christmas!  Until then we have lots of packing to do!!

 

Zuri suspects we're leaving her this morning, so this is her very sad and pitiful pout.  As always, she will have a wonderful time with the dog sitter Katy and her sweet pug Otto.  

The Past Week

It is amazing that October has come and gone, and November is here.  We have only a month left before we leave for three months.  I am really looking forward to some time off from work and our upcoming travels.  We have figured out our housing situation for March, which is a relief.  It seems most sensible to stay in the lovely motor lodge, but I think we will be changing apartments within the complex to have a balcony.  Our apartment really isn't much to look at from the exterior, but the inside is nice and spacious.  Most importantly though, I feel safe in this location.

We have had an enjoyable week with plenty of activity.  Aaron's friend Scott came to visit from Arizona.  It was great to have him around and enjoy his company.  He helped the husband brew yet another batch of beer, which just thrilled me.  No, I really do like that Aaron enjoys this pastime so much, I just don't know what we are going to do with all of this beer!  We also managed to go out and enjoy the Halloween festivities in SF. 

I have had the past two days off and have immensely enjoyed my free time.  Yesterday I took the train over to Oakland to meet up with a friend for a day of hiking, eating and beer tasting.  Melissa is one of my favorite people, and I look forward to continuing our fun times when we return in the spring.  I met her at work last summer, and we have quite a lot in common.  She loves to eat and travel, so there is always something to talk about over a good meal.  Anyways, we enjoyed a beautiful and strenuous hike up a very steep hill that provided great views of the bay.  On our way back to town we stopped at a great little gourmet sandwich shop and split the ahi tuna and pulled pork sandwiches.  Both were fantastic...  The day ended downtown at a joint called Beer Revolution, which has approximately fifty beers on tap at any given time.  The smoked pumpkin beer was amazing!  Poor Aaron, he had to work.

Today has been uneventful.  I took a friend to the airport, exercised, and then read more of my book on China.  My friend was leaving SF today for Shanghai, so I was very jealous when dropping her off.  Tonight for dinner I made a veggie and cheese quinoa dish.  It turned out really well and was much more healthy than the sausage apple pie I made last week.  Oh well, I suppose it is okay to have comfort food sometimes...  I pretty much work the next week and then we leave for Chicago to visit our friend Verena.  Good times shall be had!