Insomia/Chicago

So I can't sleep, and the camera happened to be right next to me, so I decided to undertake my first real blog post. The subject of this illustrious first-ever blog post: the evolution of the common-law doctrine of promissory estoppel.

Haha! I bet you believed me, right? I didn't think so. Chicago was the real answer. Both Belle and I are the type of people that naturally hate fake holidays like Valentine's Day, which is fine when you are single, but doesn't work so well when you are married and have a built-in Valentine. So instead of chocolate or hearts, we decided to give each other what we really wanted: a vacation. We went to Chicago for the weekend! Belle really likes cities, and I really like excuses to spend money, so this had success written all over it.



I've always wanted to take the train to Chicago for no apparent reason, so we did it! We got on the train Friday after work, and took it to Chicago where we spent the night and then saw everything we could see in a day.

We started out day at this little bakery, and this was the view from where we ate.

After that we went to the Chicago Art Institute, which to our great delight had free admission for the month of February. I'm not really into art things, but we all know Georbes Seurat’s famous pointillism painting, “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte.” Or as I know it, the cool painting that is just little dots. For those of you that care, we took a close-up picture of it so you can see the detail.

After the museum, we went the Chicago bean. Which I just found out is really called Cloud Gate. We thought it was really fun, and I ran into this handsome man in the reflection...

Back to spending money... I love oysters. The fresh ones, on the half-shell. I went through all of the trouble of finding a place that had half-priced oysters only to find out once we had sat down that the deal didn't start for another hour. Oh well. When we got married, I made Belle promise me that she would eat at least one oyster in her lifetime. She is off the hook for the next 60 years because she did it this weekend!

They really aren't that bad, and even my fish-phobic wife said that the taste was good, but the texture was weird. Great job babe! It only takes once to get hooked!

We also went the Shedd Aquarium. In case you hadn't guessed yet, it is an aquarium.

There is a great view of the skyline just outside of it, but we asked a stranger to take a picture of us, and this is what we got...

I think together we make up a whole head. Now just mentally photoshop a beautiful skyline behind us. Yep, that's it... perfect!

It was a great weekend. Love ya babe.

And finally, a tribute to my mother.

(forgot to take it off of video...)