A Bonding Moment, right??

Gaige turned 18 last month. Note the tears dripping down my face as I cannot handle the stress of my baby growing up. Anywho, for his 18th, Bret and I said we would buy him a used car and purchase a couple months of insurance while he gets himself a job and begins getting his ducks in their neat little rows.

Gaige says to me, Let's go on a road trip to Chicago for a weekend before school starts and see some sights. (that is me paraphrasing.) So how could I resist THAT? I couldn't. On to the bad news. The car we are purchasing from our really fabulous mechanic (how many people can say they have one of those right?) isnt really to pick up yet. And so I have to drive. Not so bad on long roads, not so good on Chicago streets when I don't really know where I am going, and there are these stupid bikers EVERYWHERE!!! Ok I digress. We were unhappy about the car situation. He wanted to drive. I wanted to finish knitting my socks while he drove. We went anyway.

 

I will put a list together of some must eats for me while I was there in case you should happen to find yourself in that neck of the woods (which are not woods at all unless you consider call the huge buildings redwoods, and you call all the cement sidewalks, streets, and yards grass.) But more about that later. Do you see it?????? Huh? Do you??? Do you??? The boy is standing next to me and..... drum roll please.... smiling!!!!!!!

 Here it is again! The boy is smiling!!!! A real smile!!!!
First photo... we are at Willis Tower. Went there when I lived out there. I totally WOULD NOT step out onto the skydeck. Gaige didn't want to either. It was fun to be there. The second photo is us on the Seadog Architecture Tour. That was really nice! I hear the best time to take this tour is at about 7 or 8pm as the sun is setting. I bet it is because the sights and info were really great! Our boat tour guide guy was cool! Loved it.

So I took him to some old stores and food joints that I  used to frequent when I was a resident. Years ago. We couldn't do EVERYTHING but I tried within our time budget. The Chicago Alley, although a little more mainstream than I remember (but maybe punk is getting more mainstream anyway) has a tatoo shop in it! Gaige insisted that we get tatoos. So we did. LOL. We both got the same tatoo, me on my shoulder, he on his arm. He tatooed first. When I was being tatooed he said, "Dad's gonna be really mad. I didn't want to say it before you started so that you wouldn't back out. But his is really goinna be mad." lol. I guess we cannot spend our lives worrying about how mad we are going to make other people.

A little about the bull totem...

Bull: This powerful totem reflects a surging energy force, packed full of heat, similar to sunlight. Bull will walk the journey with us into our past lives and assist us in recovering great insight. However, Bull warns us to use our inner strength without bullying others. Likewise, he teaches us to be assertive without becoming stubborn. In its most raw state, untamed Bull energy literally manifests itself as uncontrollable anger or passion. Guard against this tendency with great care!
More about other animal totems here...

http://www.cathyginter.com/TOTEM.html

or google it and you will come up with a bunch more.

Other places to go...

The Taco And Burrito House (totally didn't make it there but will be going back and this place will be first on my stop!)

Chicago pan pizza, Unos, Gino's East, Giordannos. (Not the Uno's in Cincinnati. That IS NOT chicago style pizza. Go and see!)

Sarki's (The most fab omelets ever! Go get a disaster sausage. You will be sold! Been going there since I was 2 or 3 years old. Sarki is long passed away, but the food is the same great stuff!)

Navy Pier, with the boat rides, some boat shuttles as low as $2.00, circus, showings, festivities, stain glass museum, beach within walking distance, must see for visitors. Then walk along the lake until you get to a good distance from Navy Pier and sit on the lake for the Saturday night fireworks that begin at 10:15 every Saturday during the summer.

We would have loved to seen a cubs game, but wouldn't luck just have it, they were in CINCINNATI while we were in Chicago. And now that we are back in Cincinnati, they are back in Chicago. lol. Anywho what is Chicago without the sports??

Being from Chicago and the outlying areas, Cincinnati Sports baffle me. They have a historic team like the Reds, and they don't sell out. Yet even when Chicago sports are not doing so well (my husband would laugh and the idea that there is a time in the last 10-15 years when they DID do well) Chicago rallys around their teams! Preseason and the Bears game was sold out! PRESEASON, guys!



 

See that Go Bears sign? THAT IS A HUGE BUILDING WITH ITS WINDOWS LIGHTED TO SAY GO BEARS!!! How cool is that? A city lit up for their people.

 

Totally the boy wants to go back next summer with me. ONLY he drives and I knit! This makes me so happy.