We departed Oklahoma City a week ago Saturday, and drove 13.5 hours to Chicagoland, where we landed at my sister and brother in law's house.
On Sunday, my sister and brother in law had a party to which most of the family, and many friends came. It was so much fun, even if the weather was record-breakingly hot. It was SO good to see everyone!!
Then, Monday was Memorial Day, and the first of two trips to Wrigley Field to watch the Cubs beat the Padres. My sister, brother in law, and niece took us to that game. It was TONS of fun....again, record breaking heat. Real pizza afterward at a place in Wrigleyville called Pequod's.
For Tuesday's game, it was only in the 80's, and we drove up ourselves (my car's first ever trip into Chicago, and Dave's first time ever driving there), and met my nephew and his girlfriend who live in Wrigleyville. We walked to the game from their place (at least a mile walking one way), and afterward, had dinner at Goose Island, Wrigleyville, enjoying their locally crafted beer.
We got a LOT of exercise those two days, walking all around Wrigleyville!
Wednesday, my sister came with us downtown, where we visited the Shedd Aquarium, had lunch at the Berghoff, and a vodka at the Russian Tea Time tearoom. Dave experienced his first Chicago taxi ride.
We were going to go over to Millennium Park, but it was only 50 degrees out that day, so we came on home. Dave and I then went over to some friends' house to have dinner and enjoy their hot tub. I spent a LOT of time at that house, and in that tub, when I still lived up there! It was sooooo nice.
Thursday, it rained all day. We met another of my friends for lunch, but mostly just stayed home while it poured rain and never got above 45 degrees. We mostly just relaxed, and watched a couple of movies, and spent time with my other nephew (who lives at home for the moment).
That night, went out for my much anticipated Greek food! OH my god. It was so, so, so extremely good. My niece came out and met us for a beer at a local bar afterward.
Friday, it was all about going to stores we don't have down here and stocking up on stuff....Brought home a bunch of yummies!
We also got to spend a couple of hours at the Morton Arboretum, which we had planned to do on Thursday, but did not because of the rain.
Friday night, back to the bar for some last minute visits with friends and family, and we departed early on Saturday (yesterday) morning.
It took over 15 hours to get home, because we stayed out too late Friday, and were both exhausted when we got up. Dave stopped every hour. I was supposed to help drive, but my dry eye issue was really bothering me, and I had a splitting head ache most of the day, so I only drove for one hour of the trip.
Plus, we got stuck in gridlock traffic outside of St. Louis for almost 90 minutes. THAT was fun.
We got home after dark, to find that one window had been broken by the strong storms that happened down here while we were gone, but all else was fine.
The cats were VERY happy to see us, and both of them slept with us in the bed all night.
Today, we got our errands done to re-stock the fridge and pantry, and I am off to cook us a late supper.
All in all, it was probably the best thing for me in a long, long time. I really needed to be around people who talk like I do. People who think like I do.
People who really know me, and love me anyway.
It helped me find part of my "self" again, that has been largely missing since I moved down here. I smiled and laughed out loud like I have not done in almost 3 years.
Gotta hold on to that now....
Now that we've made the trip, we know how to do it....as long as we stay healthy, and have no more catastrophic bills like, you know, from the hospital....we plan to try to make this trip at least once a year. Maybe not for as many days. Maybe not with spending as much money!! (*laughs*) But at least once a year.
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