The Windy City!

During our trip to Iowa, Grant and Whitney surprised us with an overnight trip to Chicago, which is about four hours from Cedar Rapids.  We were so excited...we'd never been to Chicago before! 

What beautiful weather for the end of November! 

Grant and Whitney in Millennium Park

Grant, Liz and Guillaume in Millennium Park...such cool architecture! 

Such a cool attraction at Millennium Park.   

What a great jump, Whit!  No one else could get it quite right.  :)

The Bean in Downtown Chicago!! 

Underneath...such crazy mirrors!! 

Smile for the camera...in the mirror. 

Makes for some cool pictures! 

Could we take any more pictures of the Bean?  Probably...  :) 

Once we were finally done at the Bean, we walked a hundred steps to overlook the skating rink.  What a beautiful place to spend some time in the winter.  Since we didn't get a chance to go skating at Rockefeller Center, we went skating in Chicago's equivalent at Millennium Park.  

SO much fun!!!  But, I thought I'd be a bit better on skates.  It's been quite a few years, but I thought it'd come back easily...I was wrong.  Luckily, by the end, I could go around by myself without holding on to anyone.  :)

Grant, Whitney and Guillaume, on the other hand, were like pros.  Can you tell Whit used to play Girls Hockey in high school?!

Such great friends! 

A trip to Chicago isn't complete without a traditional Chicago-style deep dish pizza at Giordano's!  Crust on the bottom and the top...sure!  Extra cheese and toppings with delicious homemade sauce...you bet!  You can't go wrong!

According to Grant and Whitney, the Christmas tree wasn't as big this year as it has been in the past years.  It was still beautiful!   

Another must-stop place in Chicago is the John Hancock Observatory.  It reminded us a lot of the Prudential Building in Boston.  The view of Chicago at night is absolutely beautiful!  To the left of this picture (cut off) is Navy Pier...another beautiful site at night.  Great friends and tasty drinks...what a fun evening!!! 

The famous HOPE sculpture by artist Robert Indiana.  Indiana is best known for his LOVE sculpture and US postage stamp.  The HOPE sculpture was installed on Michigan Ave. at the beginning of November and will remain there through the holiday season. 

What a lovely evening for a stroll!  It was great to get some fresh air and exercise after the very filling pizza supper!  Outside the John Hancock Building.

The next day, Whitney and I shopped on Michigan Ave. while the guys spent some time at an eight-story sports store (perfect, eh?!).  We reconvened for lunch together at The Cheesecake Factory.  They have a HUGE menu (8-10 pages long) with a long list of cheesecakes.  Grant and I were so excited to eat our cheesecake.  :)   

On our way out of town, despite the rain, we made a quick stop at Navy Pier.  It sure is dead in the winter time (and when it's raining out).  

Navy Pier.  We'd love to visit again in the summer!

A view of downtown Chicago from Navy Pier.

Shelby - this picture's for you!  We had to make a stop at Neiman Marcus to see if  they had their famous Neiman Marcus chocolate chip cookies.  Sure enough, they did!  For $24, I bought this box with about 50 cookies in (two layers).  They were good, but I think I'll stick with the cheaper, homemade version.  :)

Our trip to Chicago was a blast, and we had an amazing time visiting Grant and Whitney in Iowa!  They were absolutely wonderful hosts, and we were so glad that we got to spend such quality time with them. We look forward to living a bit closer one day.  Thanks again, Rasmussen's!!  

Our next destination: HOME!!!!  Stay tuned for our next blog about our visit to Minnesota.  In short, we're having a great time....however wishing there was at least a dusting of snow on the ground.  Hard to believe it's mid-December and we have zero snow.  Oh well, we're having lots of fun!!!