Thursday, July 24, 2003
Hello again...I haven't really fallen off the face of the earth, but I've been on vacation. Not out of town, mind you, but seven days of not working and just spending some fun relaxing time in town with my mom (who came to visit us from Upstate New York) was just the ticket. My partner says I look cheerier than I have in a long time; even my color is better (I imagine it's a cheery olive, rather than my usual drab olive, ha ha ha).
Seriously, it's been surprisingly enjoyable being a tourist in Chicago - even though we've lived here for three years. What are some of the touristy things we did?
A 3D IMAX flick at Navy Pier (Ghosts of the Abyss, James Cameron's superb return to the deep in eye-popping large format 3D - well worth catching while it's here), a 90-minute Wendella Boat Tour down the Chicago River and up the shore of Lake Michigan was also plenty of wind-swept splashy fun, and a quick jaunt up the Hancock Tower to the 95th floor lounge. We passed on the lunch buffet, opting for only a brief peek overlooking the lake. Caveat: don't bother going up one of the towers on a cloudy or foggy day - you're so high up you won't see thing through the clouds!
Oh - and lots of shopping. Good cheap stuff at thrift stores and book shops, like the Armadillo's Pillow on Sheridan Road - my favorite used book shop in town - and the cavernous, club-like Brown Elephant thrift shop on Halsted: far cooler and funkier than "Sal's Boutique" (and believe me, far more politically correct)...think Goodwill with three snaps in Z-formation.
Scored lotsa lushus swag (like some swell old jazz CD's) with proceeds for a good cause - the Howard Brown Health Center of Chicago.
Now that's a vacation.
