Lee was fortunate enough to attend a pretty cool conference in Chicago this last week (June 18 - 21).  We took advantage of his business travel to buy me a ticket to join him on the Thursday night.  We had three days there and enjoyed every moment of it.   Lee's conference was over by noon on Friday and we had the privilege of spending Friday afternoon with my cousin Vanessa.  We went for a late lunch/brunch, waited out a thunderstorm and walked down the Magnificent Mile to Millennium Park.  That park is fabulous.  I absolutely loved it and was infatuated with "the Bean".   After Vanessa had to leave us, we continued to wander through the park and up the shoreline to Navy Pier where we killed time until our twilight architectural boat tour on the river.  That was a pretty cool thing to do at night and extra fun with all the spirited lighting rooting on the Blackhawks.  The evening ended after walking what felt like forever to find a place to eat dinner that didn't have a 2 hour wait at 10pm.  The result - Weber's Grill Restaurant.  Not the most amazing meal (we have had better at home using their cookbook), but it was a place you can only eat at in Illinois and didn't have more than a 5 minute wait - so it worked.

Saturday was also a very fun day. We had a slow start and then caught the train out to Evanston where we spent the afternoon and evening with the Burgons.  We loved it.  We really enjoyed spending time with them, seeing where they live, getting time with their darling daughters, exploring the beautiful botanical gardens and just catching up. The day passed far too quickly.  If only we got the opportunity to see them more often.

Sunday was another day full of walking and exploring Chicago.  It was the first (and only) day we had in Chicago with blue skies and melting heat.  Although it made for a hot afternoon, it also was the ideal day for us to go to the top of the Sears Tower (now called Willis Tower).  We had read that if you were there just before or when it opened, the wait was actually bearable.  That couldn't have been more true and was definitely worth the earlier start to be there before 9am.  We didn't have a wait at all and had the opportunity to even be the only person or two on "the ledge".  The ledge was pretty trippy and worth the visit - especially on a gorgeous day.   We had brunch at the Bongo Room, which was delicious and HUGE portions.  The only downside was that we wished we had been there with more people so we could have tried more things on the menu.   The rest of the day was spent walking around and sitting in the park before catching our plane home.  We really had a terrific weekend and were really impressed with Chicago.