one town that won't let you down

I forgot how much I love Chicago.

It's funny, how when you're in college, in a busy, bustling city, you long for the trees and open spaces of home. But then you go back to that place and you miss it.

C and I spent last weekend in my favorite city (that is easily accessible).  I hadn't been to Chicago since December 2012 (to put that in perspective, Monkey, our only child at the time, was 6 months old). I fell right back in to Chicago like I hadn't left. Helping a person get to O'Hare, knowing where Starbucks was, and navigating the town like a semi-pro. At one point I mentioned something to C about not feeling like a tourist to which he replied, "you're not a tourist if you lived here." Oh.

Ok, so we didn't live in Chicago, but we were close and frequently made trips downtown for dinners and clothes we couldn't afford.

We flew in Saturday and spent the afternoon on campus (it was homecoming) and around Oak Park. I stepped so far out of my comfort zone on Saturday evening and watched the Indians game at a club called "Tunnel" (too cool for articles, apparently) with my brothers, Abby, and Catherine.

C spent a lot of time in this library. Greek will do that to you. 

I didn't take tough classes so I only visited. 

Alumni baseball game. The best of Concordia (not joking). 

 Before the storm. 

Sunday we grabbed breakfast at Wildberry (oh. my. gosh) and gallivanted through Michigan Avenue where I did NOT buy a single thing....that can be viewed as a good thing (if you're C) or bad thing (if you're me).  We met up with Lora for lunch (four years is way to long to go between seeing friends) and the evening at Wrigley (what an experience).

 Hot Chocolate 15k/5k. We ran right through it to get some pancakes!

 Almost ten years to the day, this guy asked me to marry him at this exact spot. 

It's hard to crop out the Trump Tower. 

 World Series!

I told C they were going to have to ship this car back to Cleveland. He pointed out they'd just get one there. Duh. 

Monday we went downtown again and just walked the side streets (one of our favorite things to do in any city) and went to the Bears game in the evening (the entire reason we were in town).  Drew has the coolest job. Hands down.

 Bears' Family Room. Yay for clean bathrooms and free drinks!

We wanted to go back downtown one more time Tuesday before we left so we hopped on the L and grabbed breakfast at Wildberry (again). Seriously, if you're in town, this place is great.

Thanks so much, Chicago. As always, you were great!