We are back from Chicago!!

So we have returned from Chicago with no injuries...only stories to relate. So i will try and share some of these stories and how we we VERY BLESSED in a few postings as I have time....

We arrived in Chicago Monday, October 1st, 2007 around 4:00 their time. We walked around the airport trying to get to the budget rental car pickup, but due to some construction we were misled and found ourselves becoming a little tense and starting to wonder if we were ever going to find it. Eventually we did. We got on the shuttle and proceeded. We got to the rental site and Bryan had the option of a new Hyundai sonata or a ford Taurus...he chose the Hyundai...not a big surprise to me. Well since they are such a busy lot in Chicago, they don't do a walk around the car. So after I made a big deal that the car had scratches on it, Bryan went back to the counter and waited in line again only to be told to document it at the window...so he told the lady at the window as we were driving out that the car had scratches on it...and she said in a VERY RUDE voice..."you have to be more specific than that SIR!" So we were... WELCOME to CHICAGO!!!!

So we were off to find the hotel...we took a little detour around the city due to me not realizing that the rode I told Bryan to get on was the toll road. We eventually found the hotel...and it was OK...nothing great but probably worth the money we paid for it...it was better than paying $150 a night!!! Then we decided to take a drive to downtown Chicago to find the place that Bryan had to be at the next morning at 8:30. That was a SCARY experience for me...Chicago drivers are CRAZY...Bryan put it best when he says that all traffic signs and lights are suggestions to cab drivers! That basically states it all! They will be driving along and swerve at a 90 degree angle to get in front of you. So the rest of the week, I made Bryan drive while we in down town.

The next morning we had to get up early to make sure that we would get Bryan to school on time. It took us an hour to drive down town...which Google says will only take 30 minutes. So I guess it wasn't TOO bad. Then I drove a couple of blocks and found a parking garage and walked around the rest of the day...Parking was $14!!! and that was only because I got there before 9 and we left between 3 and 7pm.

I was a little early for my personal tour of Chicago, so Kambria and I walked around downtown...

This in Kambria in front of the Milennium ParK Fountian

This is what the locals call the "Bean", but according to AT&T who sponsored it, it is the Princess Phone. And you can see the reflection of the city in it...you can also see where I am in it with the flash from my camera.

This is the outdoor ampitheater. It is called the Pritzker Pavillion. It was pretty cool to see!

This is the Crown Fountain. What was cool about it is that it has two fountains that normally just had water coming from the top. Then all of a sudden a picture would come on it and it would smile for a while and then all of a sudden it would start streaming water out of the girls' mouth! It was really fun to watch!