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Thursday, November 15, 2012

In Chicago on Business

In August I had lunch with Laura at Red Lobster.  As soon as we got settled in she said, "What do you think about going to Chicago in October?"  What?!  I didn't ask anyway questions, I just responded "Absolutely!"  Turns out school was sending us to Chicago for a reading conference.  We flew in on Monday and flew out on Wednesday.  We had to work all day Tuesday and Wednesday.  That didn't give us much time.  However, we sure did jam pack a lot of fun into that short time!

After the short flight there, we headed straight to the hotel, dropped our bags and headed to the city.  First stop, the Hershey Store.

Throughout the few days I used the phrase, "We're here on business," every chance I got.  It's not very often teachers are paid to travel!!


Then Chicago Style pizza.
Quite possibly, the very best pizza of my life!!


The one store I really wanted to go to was Forever XXI.
My arms were filled with accessories and I pointed to the little stage in the front window that was for the manequins and said, "Laura you should dance up there. You could do Mr. Roboto!"
She laughed and said, "I don't think so."
I gave her a friendly nudge and she hopped right up there.
I was laughing so hard I could barely take a picture.
The people in the store couldn't see her because there was a makeshift wall behind it, but the people on Michigan Avenue had full view.  
I ditched my unpaid for accessories and ran out of the huge store out to Michigan Ave. to get pics from a different view.


As soon I got outside I could hear people saying, "There's a lady dancing in the window!!"
When I saw her dancing away to no music I was laughing so hard tears were streaming down my face.  
That was in the Top Three funniest things I've ever witnessed.



Stacy and me in front of our favorite store.


We headed down to Navy Pier.


After this picture was taken somebody convinced me it would be funny to stick my belly in one of those holes.
Funny that picture didn't make it on the blog.


It was drizzling but we still had a ton of fun!


Laura and Amanda and the gorgeous skyline.


Jennifer and me.


The next morning at our conference.
I wrote Be a good listener today! on Laura's breakfast.


After the conference Laura, Jennifer and I headed downtown.
It was majorly rush hour and thousands of people we rushing down the streets leaving work.  
We got out of a cab and a man knocked into Laura almost pushing into the street of oncoming cars.
But we made it to Willis Tower.  Formerly known as the Sears Tower.
We headed straight up to the Skydeck.
It was one of the most memorable things we did there.



We went to the 103rd floor.




It was pretty scary, but I'm so glad I did it!!


Spider Woman...



We got really lucky because it was raining when we left our hotel 
but before we got to the Willis Tower 
the sun came out. 
Usually there's a long line to get up there.
But we didn't have to wait at all and there weren't many people up there at all.
The sun was beginning to set.


See?!  Pretty scary!
Definitely should NOT look down!


After we FINALLY hailed a cab,
we headed straight over to the Bean.
My favorite spot in Chicago.
It was dusk and again not busy at all.
We really lucked out!


The Three Amigos in the reflection.


We headed to dinner at a fabulous little spot.
It was so good.
Jennifer says it was the best lemon chicken of her life.
She's mentioned it several times since.
Here we are toasting with our sodas.
I had a LOT of Sprite on this trip.


We walked around for a bit.


There's that fabulous pizza I mentioned earlier!



Not sure why these are out of order, 
but we're going to leave it alone.


This is way too scary for me!
Great picture!!!



More pics of the Bean.
Laura had never been to Chicago in her life.
So it was fun taking her to all the hot spots.


This is my favorite picture of the trip.



Millennium Park as the sun set.


After the cab dropped us off at the hotel we walked to the Cheesecake Factory.
It was a tough decision.
Luckily, I knew we were going back there the following day for lunch.
An enormous piece of cheesecake was a great way to end a busy day.


It was a memorable trip we won't forget.
The best business trip of my life!

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