Far From Refuge

Ooohh Chicago....get ready for a lot of pictures. Last Friday we embarked on our trip to Chicago for Ash's cousins wedding. I had never been before and so we decided to stay a couple extra days to take in the city and celebrate our first anniversary (albeit 2 months after the actual date). The first couple days there we stayed out in the suburbs where Ash's family live. The wedding was a great time and it was great to see all her family and meet the ones that couldn't make it to our wedding last year. One fun fact about Indian weddings: the parents of the bride give cash out to all the immediate family that attend. Since the father of the bride is my father-in-law's uncle, we all qualified. Ash and I both got $50! Hazzah! (I hope its not in poor taste that I just gave that info out. Still new to all of these foreign but awesome customs.)

The day after the wedding, we got to do something I have been wanting to do for a while now. WRIGLEY FIELD!!! That's right folks. I finally got to go to THE baseball stadium. The only other ball parks that even comes close to Wrigley are Fenway in Boston and the old Yankee Stadium which isn't around anymore. Needless to say I was excited. By the way, thanks Tia for NOT getting the Wrigley sign in this picture.

We sat in the bleachers and sweated it out for 9 innings. Oh man was it hot. I literally felt like I was melting. Even though the Cubs lost 9-8 it was still a fun and exciting game to watch. It was nice to see my boy Blake Dewitt (Dodger prospect traded to the Cubs last year) hit a 2-run home run.

On Monday we headed into downtown and checked into our hotel. We stayed in a Comfort Suites since we get the employee rate and it was pretty impressive. This place was right in the thick of things on Michigan street a block or two away from the river. It was far and away the nicest Choice Hotel we both had ever stayed in. We spent the rest of the day bouncing around the city seeing this and that. First we went to the famous bean. The above picture was taking in the reflection of the bean. It was kind of overcast so we ended up going back on Tuesday to take more pictures.
After the bean we headed to these face fountain things. These fountains have a video of a face on them (there are 2 fountains) and then the face eventually makes a face the one below and water comes out of the mouth.

Apparently they filmed over 1000 people from Chicago so its next to impossible to see the same face twice. Next on the agenda was the biggest stop on our tour; literally the biggest. THE SEARS TOWER-OWER-OWER-OWer-ower!!! I like to imagine that in a big echoey voice that trails off at the end. Before I continue, can we talk about how its not even called the Sears Tower anymore? Its the "Willis Tower". Poppy cock. One of the most ridiculous things I have heard. Its like renaming Mount Rushmore and calling it the Famous Amos Famous Faces.

Atop the Sears Tower they have a little diddy called The Sky Deck. The Sky Deck is basically just a glass box that sticks out the side of the building 1450 feet in the air. That's right folks. 1450 f#$*ing feet! Holy moly. Its also not comforting when the little girls in front of you are jumping up and down on said glass. It took a little for me to get out on that glass but not too much. I was freaking out though. I made Ash take the shot below because it freaked me out too much. She did, however, make me look down through the glass before I left. So scary.

After we took the above picture, we left and I got to do what you see in the picture below.

Nothing like some Chicago style, deep dish pizza ala Giordano's. Words can't express how good this pizza is so I won't even try. I'll just use one word: cheese.
Our last day in Chicago was a busy one. We a started it off by taking the Architectural Boat Tour. What a great idea. Tickets were only $26 and they give you a 75 minute boat ride up and down the river while educating everyone on the all the major and minor buildings in downtown. To some this might sound boring but I assure you it was a blast. It was Ash's favorite part of the week and it was my second favorite, behind the Cubs game of course. I took the picture above on the tour. I'm pretty surprised at how sweet it came out. Not bad for a phone camera right?

Sears Tower behind me.
Ash and I at the end of the boat tour. The Wrigley Building is the whitish building behind us.

After the boat tour we walked over to Navy Pier and road the ferris wheel.

Me on the ferris wheel.

After our trip to around the wheel, we were inspired by the beautiful sunny day and headed back to the bean to take some better pictures. Benji, Ash's broher, and Chris met us there. See...much better right?

This last picture was at a fountain in Grant Park. Kinda cool. This was the last touristy thing we did for the trip, unless you want to count a last minute stop at Dunkin Donuts and a train ride to O'Hare. "This is the blue line."

Our last night in Chicago was spent having dinner at a classy joint across from Millennium Park called Tavern at the Park. It was the perfect place to celebrate our first year of marriage. I had the Millennium Burger which was a burger with shredded duck meat, bacon, some type fish egg stuff, and a bunch of other delights. There was so much on it that I can't really remember it all, especially since it all had frenchy sounding names. It was awesome though. Ashley went a little more traditional and decided to get the Chicken and Egg Parmesan over the Lobster Mac and Cheese, although I want to return to Chicago just to go back and try that. We finished it off with a fried banana split for dessert. SO GOOD! It was a great way to end our trip.

All in all, Chicago was awesome. I absolutely loved it and it made me realize even more how much LA sucks. It was great to walk the downtown streets with my lady and see yet another new place.