Chi-blog-o (title by Molly)

I've been a bad blogger. I know this because both Molly and Steve M. have told me so. What can ya do? Here's a long post to make up for it...

Meghan and I took a girls' weekend to Chicago 2 weekends ago, fun times. Let's see, what did we do... one additional weekend of alcohol consumption has already fogged my memory, so I'm going to have to look through my camera to refresh.

Friday night we went to a favorite local hang out called the Billy Goat Tavern. There's some SNL connection to this bar that I don't know about, but the word "Cheezborger" was written on a bunch of signs. If you're an Ithacan reading this, the bar was kind of like the Chanticleer. Mostly creepy locals, the occasional young people (us), and some weirdos in suits. Nobody had an eye patch though. Later we met my friend Katie who was also in Chicago for the weekend, visiting this guy who I went to preschool with. One of the only things he really remembered about me was that I didn't like the yellow pieces in fruit snack packs. I thought it was the green ones... We met them in a bar near Wrigley field, which was the closest we got to seeing the Cubs.

Saturday we braved the rain and went on an architectural boat cruise up and down the Chicago River. We saw the Sears Tower, the Hancock Center, the Chicago Tribune building, and some wackily designed apartment buildings that had no 90 degree angles. We tried the "famous" Chicago pizza at Giordano's (I still like NY pizza the best) and then on Steve Q's advice, walked over to Navy Pier. Exactly as he described it, it's like a less tacky version of Coney Island. We indulged in only one carnival ride, this simulator spaceship ride thing, which was unimpressive but still left me feeling queasy. After that, a 30 minute boat ride on Lake Michigan to see fireworks. How romantic!

I think Sunday was my favorite day. We went on a bike tour which took us through various Chicago neighborhoods, with stopping points at places like the Chicago Art Institute, the first Playboy mansion, Oprah's apartment, Lincoln Park, St. Michael's church, a beach along Lake Michigan... my camera died somewhere along the ride, shit. But if you go to Chicago some time, I really recommend going on Bobby's Bike Hike. The staff is friendly, and it's a nice 6 mile ride through Chicago. The only annoying bit is that some people ring their bells incessantly, and others should probably still be using training wheels.

At night, we went to a show at The Second City improv/comedy theater called "America: All Better!" I'm pretty sure this was the funniest show I've ever seen. It was a lot of Obama making the world a better place humor, mixed in with a lot of racy humor spanning general life topics. I don't know how long this show is running for, so you should get your butt to Chicago and go see it, now!

After the show, this nearby street festival was ending, and selling large discounted cups of Bud-Lite for $2. $2? Drinking in the street? Sure. This night ended in a blur, with a lot of dancing at a dive bar, and then devouring leftover cold pizza in the hotel room.

On our last day, we had lunch with my second cousins at their friend's Italian restaurant called A Mano. I'll leave the food portion of this trip up to Meghan, but I will say that they serve a mean pistachio gelato.

I think that's it!