Chicago portion of our vacation

I don't have the energy today to upload more photos from the trip, so if you'd like to see more, please visit www.flickr.com/viewsfromlalaland/

Just because we chose Chicago as a destination because we wanted to see friends, same as Cincinnati, it doesn't mean we didn't want to do touristy things. So we parked at a brown line Park and Ride at Kimball, north of the city near Brian's, and wandered around the city.

When I recognized Millenium Park, we decided to walk through and have a hot dog. The last time David had been in the city, I'm not sure Millenium Park even existed. We saw "the bean" and the Crown Fountain (see above photo) and decided to go into the Art Institute of Chicago.

Our feet were tired afterward from walking all day so we sat on the front steps of the Art Institute and watched some guy put on a show with his sound system and rock n' roll puppet musicians. It was entertaining.

We walked around Downtown a bit, taking photos of various buildings and architecture, until it was time to meet Erin in Wrigleyville for dinner. We went to Goose Island, which is a pub/restaurant that brews its own beer. There, Brian met us.

We called Emily and Ryan to come out as the night progressed and ended up in some bar Erin hangs out at a lot in Wrigleyville. It wasn't the greatest place on earth but it was fun. It was nice to see people we hadn't seen in awhile as well, whether they are from home or school.

After not too long, we called it a night. The next day, Saturday, would be a beautiful day to spend at the beach. And that's exactly what we did.

We grabbed Subway and took the train to a stop I can no longer remember, then we got off and walked to the North Avenue Beach. We ate our sandwiches and then spent the bulk of our time (Brian, Brian's friend and his girlfriend, David and I) hitting the volleyball around in Lake Michigan with complete strangers.

When we were done there, we headed to U.S. Cellular/Comiskey Park to see our first White Sox game. No, we weren't emotionally invested. No, we didn't get to see an American league team -- they were playing the Rockies. However, we hadn't ever been to a professional baseball stadium outside of the two Busch Stadiums, so it was an experience. I bought a Crede jersey-T to mark the event and decided that I will buy one jersey T from each stadium I go to in my lifetime, a little like souveniers.

That night we ate at a restaurant called Whistlers, which wasn't the best but we survived. I had my very first taste of Matzah ball soup. (I feel very worldly now, haha.) Brian and David wanted to watch "Dr. Strangelove," but I was dead so I went to sleep.

The next day, I asked Brian to take us to a record store, and we ended up at a Half Price Books! It was a pleasant surprise being that we'd been to several with Thomas and Beth before. We bought like 20 movies together and bulked up our media library at home.

The drive home was nice -- we listened to Mike Birbiglia and took lots of photos as we left the city. Then we were finally home.

It was nice to be away and to see new things, but at the end of the day, I just want to be in bed ;)

Back from vacation and ready for another -- Pt. 1

David and I took a vacation these past two weekends. I was off for about 9 days and took two trips, celebrated my dad's birthday and Fathers' Day and played our first two sand volleyball games. I got a lot done. There wasn't a ton of rest involved.

It was fun though.

June 7-8 we spent in Cincinnati visiting Thomas and Beth.

We left around 5:30 a.m. hoping to be in town by the time Beth got off work, but what should have been a 6 hour drive was extended to 9 hours due to insane amounts of flooding in Indiana, especially in Terre Haute. Because a portion of Interstate 7o had gotten washed out, we were rerouted 30 miles back toward Illinois and listened to a local radio station as we passed through the town, which was in a state of emergency. We only hoped we would make it.

We finally did and were given a tour of the new Richards household. (Very nice, by the way.) They were very hospitable.

We ate at Mongo's (Mongolian Barbecue) and watched the Belmont horse race in hopes Big Brown would win the Triple Crown. (Well, they did.) He didn't. Then we crossed over the Ohio River into Newport, KY.

We explored their little downtown area, which is really nice there by the aquarium, and took photos in front of Cincinnati and from a walking bridge over the river. The sites were beautiful.

We checked out Game Works, which was a bit like Dave and Busters, but decided not to stay. If we wanted to play video games, we'd just go back to their place and let Thomas beat us (which he did) at MarioKart for the Wii.

The next day, we got up and had lunch at P.F. Chang's, which (other than my beloved QQ Buffet) had the best Chinese food I've ever had. Better check out their St. Louis area restaurants... Then we went shopping at IKEA, which I loved. God, I wish I had a new, empty house and lots of money to spend on furniture. I'd never seen anything like it. And I needed new pillows, so I was in luck. After that, we stopped at the mall and they showed us the crib that his parents bought their baby on the way, little T-Rex Richards or whatever they end up calling him. Thomas barbecued for us, and then we headed home a different route. In no way were we ready for Indiana again. That was Cincinnati.

More photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/viewsfromlalaland/.

Monday through Thursday we got a lot accomplished at home. David still had to go to work so I spent a lot of that time at my parents'. I washed the car (which had a coating of some chalky substance, no doubt from living down by the river) and the dog. I baked Dad a birthday cake. On Tuesday, my mom and I took Dad to the St. Louis Zoo and to Ameristar Casino to spend a $10 gift card they had sent him. We ate at a little dog-themed bar and grill in historic downtown St. Charles, then I headed back for volleyball.

Friday morning, it was time for another road trip. This time, we headed north to Chicago. Stay tuned for Part II of this epic saga.