The Windy City - Day 4

Sunday was our last full day in Chicago.  We, as usual, had a lazy morning, but surprisingly we were out of the apartment and on the bus before noon!  Austin had gone into work again that morning, so Julie, Colin, and I took the bus down to the Mexican place Julie and I had discovered the night before to show Colin our green chile find and the best guacamole ever!  The original plan was to just get chips and guacamole, then head downtown for some Chicago style hot dogs, but we were all starving so we ended up just chowing down there.

It was actually the coldest day (in my opinion), but the calmest wind-wise.  It wasn't too much fun waiting for the bus, but it had to be done.  We took it down to the train and had to wait there for quite sometime.  There was a couple headed out to the Bears game that was also waiting for the train and indirectly showed us that you can stand under heat lamps to not be so chilly!  We ended up striking up a conversation with them based on their Bears attire and Colin talked to the guy for forever about fantasy football.  We got on the same car, but didn't sit next to each other.  I remember seeing them get off the train a few stops ahead of them, but then when we made the transfer, we ended up sitting right behind them in the next train!  Crazy!

We walked downtown and since it was the last day of the buy one get one deal at Starbucks, we decided to take advantage of it and hang out for a bit.  Plus Colin needed to charge his phone.  Julie was basically getting stir crazy about the lack of shopping we did in the city, so she took off down State Street to shop around.  I'm seriously not a big shopper, especially when I'm not looking for something in particular and I'm not in a standing and wandering kind of mood!  Colin and I hung out for a while so he could charge his phone, then Austin met us after he got off work.  We could have done something else, but none of us really felt like it and Starbucks was so warm, so we ended up just hanging out there for probably three hours.

We had plans to meet up with Liz and Krista again for dinner, so when Julie came back from shopping we hopped on the train to meet them at Giordano's for some world famous pizza.  Julie and I had been craving it the whole trip due to our bad experience when we were in Chicago last summer.  She had been talking it up the whole drive into Illinois, but when we finally went to one of the locations, it ended up being a major disappointment.  If I remember correctly, they could only make us personal pizzas for some reason and I think only cheese.  And they weren't that great.  But they did let us watch The Bachelorette (Ali) finale.  YAY for that.

We met the girls there and waited about 45 minutes before being seated.  Luckily, they let you put your pizza order in before you sit down so it doesn't take as long, but we still had to wait close to 20 minutes after we sat down.  Krista, Liz, and I split a pizza with pepperoni, black olives, and mushrooms.  Colin, Austin, and Julie split a pizza with just pepperoni.  It was so good.  To die for, actually.

Best pizza in Chicago

Pepperoni

Pepperoni, Black Olives, Mushrooms

Me & Krista

After dinner, Austin went to meet up with Devin, and then Liz and Krista took the opposite train at the station.  Julie, Colin, and I just headed back to the apartment to clean up a little bit and so we could all get ready to leave Monday morning.  By that point, we were all beat and a little Chicagoed out.

It was so much fun though, and so incredible that Austin let us crash at his place for the long weekend.  It's always fun to travel with friends and Julie and I are definitely slowly conquering the country.  Next time it's either the West Coast or the Northeast, right Julie?

I had to catch a cab at 3:15 in the morning to get to Midway in time for my 6:00 flight.  That's definitely not a fun departure time, but it had to be done to a conflict that of course was rescheduled.  Unfortunately Midway only had two flights to Denver that day and they were at complete opposite times of the day.  It was strange.

It didn't take as long as expected to get to the airport, so I actually arrived thirty minutes before the front desk (and security) even opened.  Since everyone was just arriving at 4:00, I breezed through security and just hung out for about an hour and a half before my flight.  For once, I actually slept a good portion of it!  It was good to be back in Colorado and smell that mountain air, but I missed Chicago already.