Chicago

                   This past weekend my Mom and I took the train down to Chicago and walked around.  And walked.  And walked.  My body really hurt the next day.  It is not used to doing that much walking or for that long.  But I had a great time so the pain was worth it.              

                After getting off the train and leaving the station, the first place we went to was Xoco.  It is a restaurant owned by Chef Rick Bayless.  Last year I went to his Frontera Grill restaurant, so I knew the food at Xoco would be good.  I had the yogurt and granola.  For the most part I am not a huge granola person, but this one was fantastic.  It was full of nuts and quite filling.  I also tried the Aztec hot chocolate.  If you like thick drinks and spice, definitely give this drink a try.

                From Xoco we went to down to Michigan Avenue.  The first stop was the Hershey store.  I love seeing the merchandise that is based off the Hershey’s brand candy.  There were some really cute shirts.  Next was Water Tower Place, a several story mall.  Our goal was the LEGO store, which had a great LEGO dragon that went along the walls, but we also ended up at American Girl Place.  As someone who collected American Girl things when she was younger, it was fascinating to see how the brand has grown.  I knew about some of the changes, but what I saw in this store was incredible.  There were so many things girls could do with their dolls.  The store even had a doll hair salon.  It was all really cute.

                Next it was off to our reservation at Siena Tavern, a restaurant owned by Top Chef contestant Fabio Viviani.  While there I of course had to feed my pizza addiction, although there were other things I would have tried.  I ordered the Margherita pizza.  When it arrived, I could not believe how big the pizza was.  I could barely eat half of it.  The rest of the very tasty pizza came home in a box.  Despite how much pizza I ate, and the fact that I had soup before it, I still had room for a little bit of dessert.  The Salted Caramel Gelato was a great choice.               

                Our final stop before returning to the train station was the store Blick.  A two story art supply store, I could have walked around for hours.  There was so much to look at!  I wanted to pick up everything and read how to use it if I did not know already.  My mom asked me if there was anything I was going to buy.  With so many things I would have loved to experiment with, there was not one item I could choose over another.  So I did not get anything, but I would have loved to if I could have only decided. 

                Other than our return train leaving late and the aching the day after, my mom and I had a fantastic day. We are already planning our next trip. There are so many things to see and explore, I do not know where we will end up. But that is part of the fun.