We started the day off with a walking tour along the river. It was our own version of the Architecture Tour minus the narrator!
The Chicago Tribune
The Trump Tower
The Willis (formerly known as the Sears) Tower
When you look all the way to the top of the tower the clouds make it look like the building is swaying. Creepy! We were going to go to the tippy top, but the line was crazy long so we decided to try back later.
We rode the subway all over town.
While waiting for our train to arrive and seeing the other lines arrive and depart several times I realized that we might be waiting for a "weekday only" train. Yep. Wrong side of the tracks!
Lunch was at
Portillo's. My brother-in-law Mark highly recommended it and it's one of Tommy's favorite places too! I had the classic Chicago hot dog. Tomatoes and Peppers? And after I did a google search I saw that there are Portillo's in Buena Park and Moreno Valley, CA! Uh oh.
That was some hot dog! I tried the Hacker-Pschorr beer ~ Tommy's most favorite German beer. Not quite froofy enough for me! :O)
After lunch we took a breather at the hotel and got, "all gussied up," for dinner at... wait for it... Morton's, per Tommy's request. (Are you seeing a theme here?) It's all about the fine dining experiences. From hot dogs to the steakhouse by which all others are measured. Perfectly logical.
I love my NikonD60!
We stopped at the Willis Tower on the way to dinner. Claustrophobic or those afraid of heights should probably stay in the lobby. Tourists are jammed belly to back for 103 flights. There is no, "I think I'd like to get out now, please."
The magnificent Windy City
Tommy wasn't so sure about stepping out on the glass. If you look down you'll see the street from 1353 feet. That's a long way down!
SO I went first (because you know I'm a leader and all) and then he joined me.
We ran across town to make our reservation to
Morton's. And let me tell you that is a whole lot of fun in heels! Where are your flip flops when you need them?
Dinner was amazing. Lobster bisque soup, succulent fillet Mignon, baked macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and key lime pie. (And a few (dozen) libations of mojitos, baileys and cream and bourbon (for the gentleman) ... "Go big or go home!:)
An after dinner drink and dessert and a full belly. Ah, Chicago Saturday nights.
Tomorrow we will cram in more tourist attractions than we should and I hear we'll be heading back to Portillo's. Oh joy.
Nothing says Good Morning like a morning brunch at Portillo's! Yep. Our last breakfast in Chicago included a hot dog. Power food for our day of power walking and preparing our minds to soak up the field trip excursions ahead.
What an amazing beautiful day in the Windy City! There wasn't a cloud to be found and the weather was near perfect! We spent the day at Museum Campus and crammed in as much as we could at The Shedd Aquarium, The Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, The Fields Museum.
The snapping turtle was one ugly looking dude who could use a little toe nail clipping!
The otters showed off their stuff...
and the penguins were fun to watch!
Baby Beluga was pretty cool. And yes, he did "swim so fast and swim so freeeeee!"
And the Jelly fish glowed so pretty. The Shedd is awesome and I will definitely be making a return trip!
Next was the Planetarium ~ Tommy's request. I was a bit confused when I couldn't find all of the plants. Yep. I'm a bit slow at times. I thought that the PLANeTarium was full of PLANTS. Learning more about astronomy was cool. I took Astronomy in college but am pretty sure I only attended the class long enough to obtain the syllabus. Pass/Fail science give meaning to taking the easy way out.
Celestial Sphere. I like big words.
Glistening... but no complaints about the sun shining!
On to The Field Museum.
We toured the Soil Lab after walking through a "shrinking lab" and becoming 1/100 of our size!
Then it was off to meet Sue. "Sue" is the largest preserved Tyrannosaurus Rex ever discovered.
Sue stands 13 feet high and 42 feet long from head to toe!
We passed on the Pirate Exhibit as we weren't too excited to dole out more cash... but still took some time to chill with the mateys!
We walked to The Buckingham Fountain ~ one of Chicago's famous landmarks to do some people watching and rest our feet.
I was ready for my Sunday afternoon snooze right about now. But we still had a bus / subway ride to Oakbrook ahead of us.
One last stop at Millennium Park to gaze at the architecture and then we said Au Revoir to downtown Chicago and I headed to my work retreat in Oakbrook! What a fantabulous weekend!!! 
