Week 39 - Connie in Chicago

Anne and I got up early and enjoyed chatting with Black Hills bound people in the hotel breakfast room before heading to Brown Sheep. I was like a kid in a candy store and bought WAY too much yarn. Go figure. But here's my litany - I don't drink, smoke or do drugs. I buy too much sock yarn and can live with that. My friends and family seem happy with my sock knitting addiction so I'll call it good. Since I had driven all day Sunday, Anne drove us home on Monday so I got to knit, you guessed it, socks! We got to Lincoln ~5:00 and I was home ~6:00. I skipped knitting in favor of unpacking and getting ready for work on Tuesday. 

My short work week was jam packed. Tuesday was service awards, where I got my 20 year award, which was an engraved wooden box. I must have picked it but didn't remember. I trained one afternoon, had several meetings, went to the ortho doc for my still funky thumb (I strained the cords and have early trigger finger - nothing to be done but I was relieved it wasn't something more serious), got my hair cut and had book club. After all that, I threw some clothes into a carry on and headed to work on Friday ready for the next adventure.

Since Connie and I had so little time when I was in her area, I was flying to Chicago on Friday afternoon. Connie had been there at a conference all week and had extended her trip by a day so we could play in Chicagoland. Not Chicago but the burbs - Naperville to be exact. Luckily I had asked an online friend for things to do there so we had lots to keep us busy. After taking a $50+ cab ride to spare Connie driving in rush hour traffic, we hit Granite City, which was right by the hotel, for mac and cheese spaetzle, salad and bread pudding. We split them all and it was delish and just the right amount.

We opted for breakfast at Starbuck's instead of the hotel and then checked out downtown Naperville on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, downtown is basically a mall with zero authenticity so we walked along the river and even rented a paddle boat. We walked around town a bit more, asking clerks and random people on the street if there was a cute town nearby. When we didn't get any firm ideas, we just picked a road and headed down it in search of real. We found a plaza with a Trader Joe's, which Connie doesn't have in SD so she had a ball. We bought stuff for a hotel picnic and then went across to an old mom and pop restaurant called Colonial Inn. I ordered chicken and waffles, which were delicious. I was congratulating myself on our choice only to find it on my friend's list of things to do and places to eat in Naperville. She even recommended the chicken fingers. Subliminal messages maybe? I had read the list a month ago but had no recall of specifics. : )

Having found real life on the road we chose, we kept going on it to see what we'd find. We stopped at a farm stand and bought gourds. Yes, we'd be flying home with gourds. Ha! Then when we saw an Ikea, Connie lit up! She'd never been in one so we stopped because I'm always up for Ikea. I bought 2 jars of lingonberry jam for Natasha since they were out when I hit Ikea in Minneapolis this spring and a few other things. It wasn't until we were back in the hotel that I realized I couldn't carry the jam on so would have to check my bag. Good thing I was flying Southwest. We had a hotel picnic with our Trader Joe's goodies and watched The Phantom Thread. Odd movie that I can't recommend but it was on HBO and started right as we turned the TV on. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I went down for coffee Sunday morning and brought it back to the room where we had lunch leftovers for breakfast before heading to Morton Arboretum. We had fun walking around taking pictures and enjoying nature plus I got a couple of nice pins in the gift shop. We started on a 2nd walk but it started to sprinkle so we packed it in and pointed the car towards Midway. We stopped at Panera for a salad and shopped a bit but I could see Connie getting more nervous with every passing minute. She is not a confident big city driver and had to drop me at Midway then drive to O'Hare to return her car and catch her flight. Since we were getting close to the airport and not finding anything fun on the way, I told her to drop me early and be on her way. I sat and knitted at the gate for almost 3 hours but that was fine. The flight was uneventful as was the drive home and I was in my house at 10:00 so I pretty much went right to bed. It had been a fun weekend but I was exhausted and looking forward to being home and getting back to normal. If only!