WINDY CITY CHICAGO CHI-TOWN

I was so lucky to be able to go to Chicago with my Mom my Aunt Stephanie and my brother Tosh. Well ok Tosh lives there so that is the reason we went. I couldn't have traveled with better people!! I hadn't been on a plane in almost 15 years. I was a nervous wreck and kept losing my stomach with the turbulance (didn't puke!!) My mom and Steph kept teasing me. I did alot better on the the way home though and I decided that I want to travel more maybe that will encourage me to get 'stuff' paid off. Ok back to the vacation.......we ended up buying a Chicago Go Card which gets you into 30 attractions for 3 days (they have them in lots of big cities). It ended up being alot cheaper than if we paid for each attraction on it's own and it got you to the front of the line. It saved us alot of time waiting at the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum.

Here we are with the view of Chicago buildings behind us.
We were right outside of Shedd Aquarium.

We really wanted to try lots of 'different' foods. My mom and I watch alot of Diners Drive Ins and Dives on Foodnetwork and we wanted to find a couple places to go.

This is Fried Catfish from Glen's Diner. It had Shrimp Stuffing on the bottom of it and it came with a spicy sauce to dip in. It was to die for!! Since then I've hat fried catfish at 2 different places tying to compare and I can't find one that even compares.

HOT DOUG'S!!! They are on the Food network show as well. They make all there sausages ans dogs there. They have lots of different kinds that were pretty fun to try. I didn't take any pictures of them because Tosh kept telling me I looked like a Japanese Tourist. In my defense I only took 170 pictures in 5 days that's not that bad.......right?? hahaha

At the Field Museum they had the "Man Eaters of Tsavo" they are the lions form the movie The Ghost in the Darkness. I still haven't seen it, but my aunt said it was one of her favorites so I think I need to search it out!!

The Navy Pier had lots of cool little shops and we went on an awesome architectural cruise. It was part of our pass so We got to walk right on and relax as we heard some of the history of the buildings in Chicago. There are so many cool buildings with detail beyond imagine. Our tour guide had an awesome personality and kept it interesting the whole time.

About a year ago the Sears tower was renamed Willis Tower. Most of the people from Chicago still call it the Sears Tower however. It was like 100+ stories high and it sways up to 3 feet I believe I guess I should have listened better on our cruise!! oops!! They have a place where you can stand out over the city on a clear platform it was pretty intense.

The first thing we ate in Chicago was........Chicago Stuffed Pizza from Giordanos. It was the cheesiest pizza I had ever eaten. I couldn't believe how yummy and filling it was. It was just as good cold that night I think.

You know we had to go to Oprah. It is her last season and we out in for her ticket 'raffle' so we could get on her show, but no such luck!! darn that would have been awesome.

Giada De Laurentiis!!!! Holy Smokes!!!! If you know my mom and myself very well you would know she is one of our all time favorite chefs. That is why we both look like we just won the lottery!! We obviously were grinning ear to ear!! I couldn't believe it how did we get so lucky to have our picture taken with GIADA?? She was very nice and was so excited to have our picture taken together! Her smile and personality were amazing!! P.S. I HATE this picture of me!!

For my friend Amber I had to have my picture here!! She is a Louis Vuitton fan and so I had to rub it in that I would be by a store. We did walk down all of Michigan Avenue aka The Mag Mile. There were lots of big spenders there!!

I have decided that I would really like to go back!! It was an awesome experience. Although I missed my babies and hubby at home it was so nice to get away for a few days!! I seriously can't wait to win my millions in the lottery (going to start playing now) so I can go back!! Thanks tosh for letting me be a tourist with you even though you kept yelling at me for popping my gum and taking lots of pictures!! Can't wait to go back!!