My Midwest Adventure: Chicago

I have a good friend who moved to Pittsburgh and then Chicago and I finally got the chance to visit her.  I was excited to chat, explore, catch up with her family and enjoy cooler weather.  

First up, we went to Chicago and the Hoosier Mama Pie Co...which was delightful.  We got a coconut cream pie (with a layer of shredded coconut on the bottom), a raspberry peach pie, the most outrageous chicken pot pie I have ever sunk my teeth into and a Gruyere/mushroom quiche which was also phenomenal.  After that, we toured downtown Chicago trying to walk off all that pie!  And cream!  But oh I love cream.  And chicken pot pie.  

Chicago is a really beautiful city.  I have only been once before in the middle of a blizzard, so it was nice to see the beautiful gardens, fountains and greenery set up against the skyline, a blue sky and puffy white clouds.  I also love how there are really old, architecturally intricate buildings standing right next to sleek modern ones.  Very cool.

We saw a museum, gardens, the lake, Navy Pier and the Cloud Gate (or the giant jelly bean).  And we did the tourist-thing and took pictures of our reflections in the jelly bean.  One could sit at the bean all day and watch what people do.  Quite interesting.  And funny.  And sometimes scary.

Finally, we headed to Chinatown to shop and grab some dinner.  We randomly picked a restaurant, rested our tired feet and waited for our food.  I must have been more tired than I thought.  There was a giant picture of a city skyline hanging on the wall and I gazed at it and murmured, "I can't make out what is what..."  My friend kind of stared blankly at me until my brain caught up with my mouth and I realized there were GIANT letters on the photo that spelled out Hong Kong.  Yes.  I was tired.  And I thought it was a picture of Chicago.  And I somehow missed the huge letters and the fact that there were mountains in the picture.  Sheesh.  We slept great that night.