A spur of the moment trip to Chicago

My husband has been in Chicago quite a bit for business. The other day, he asked if I wanted to join him, but last minute plane tickets were too high, so we decided against it. Then, the next day, I got to thinking that I should just drive up. Within about an hour, I was packed and out the door.

Too bad I didn't think of that the night before, I wouldn't have stayed up til 1 am getting caught up on "Unreal."

Stopping at a few antique shops and doing a little hat whispering on the side kept me alert during the drive. I didn't shop much at all, mostly I was stretching my legs and waking up.  

Instead of going straight to Chicago, I stopped over night in Indiana to stay with Bobbie.

Sissy took the morning off and came to visit, as well as her two daughters.  We had a nice breakfast, then I continued to Chicago, where I was meeting my husband DOWNTOWN at about 5pm.  

uhmm, I'm a bit of a wimp about downtowns and traffic.

I can drive cross country all by myself with no worries, (as long as I have a book to listen to and stay on interstates) but get me into a city I don't know…. a big city… with people who honk (there isn't much honking where I live), I slightly freak out.

Well, maybe I freak out a lot. But I just cry a little.   And drive around blocks forever trying to find the address, even though the GPS is clear, I have trouble with making the correct turns with traffic downtown.  And there was a lot of that. I spent 45 minutes with the GPS saying I was ten minutes away from the hotel, til I finally made it into the parking garage.

We had a beautiful, king suite at the Trump Tower over looking the city.  While I am not, and never have been a fan of Donald Trump, but I have to admit, he has a spectacular hotel.  Luxurious, and detail oriented.  With the world's best sheets and most comfy pillows.  

I was a little too overwhelmed by my traffic dilemma to take photos, though.  I did snap this one. See the black square in the mirror? It's a TV screen! That hotel is a pampering palace, with a magnificent view.

Especially from the outdoor terrace bar, way up above the city.  Where we heard a helicopter going by, and I of course, looked up, like you do when you hear one close. But it was railing height, not up above us and I missed seeing it right there at our level,

We went to a friend's restaurant for dinner, and when the taxi pulled up, I kind of wondered if this was correct.

No worries, once we stepped inside, it was an urban, hip, wonderland.

With a bar made of old suitcases.

Funky art.

And even a resident artist who paints in the dining room.

After a beautiful walk through the city, back to our hotel and up to the bar with a view, we talked about trying to find a puppy while in that part of the country. I'd looked within a couple hundred miles of Lawrence, and had no luck.  

So when we saw a post on Craigslist about a horse ranch an hour out of Chicago that had 8 week old pups, we gave them a call to see if we could take a look on our way home. But the rancher had to deliver a horse that day.  My husband really wanted a puppy and this one sounded exactly like what we were looking for.  

We had another night booked at this fab place, and reservations at The Mid America Club for dinner, which I was very excited about.

But, a puppy was waiting for us….

You know what we chose.

Luxury and pampering don't hold a candle to snuggling a fuzzy, new friend with puppy breath. We checked out a day early, cut our trip short and headed out to the farm to get this little girl and take her home.