Mr & Mrs take the Windy City

I love Chicago. If I ever bought a lottery ticket and hit it big, I would definitely spend time exploring the neighborhoods of Chicago. Last weekend Amy and I checked into the Willows hotel in the Lakeview/Lincoln Park neighborhoods. I great little boutique hotel walking distance to some cool stuff. We really only had two goals in mind for the weekend, breakfast at Ann Sather's in Wrigleyville and Robert Pollard at the Metro on Friday night, the rest of the weekend we were leaving to chance.

After some noodles at Tie Me Up, we shot over to the Metro. I was pretty excited to see how far this band had come since the show at the Southgate House in February. We found a spot right beside Wrigely Field and marched in. Now, Mrs. C was not as thrilled to be here as I. I think it was mostly the late hour. We found a spot in the left rear of the floor and waited. The result of several more shows under their belt was astounding. This is as good a band as Bob has ever had and the songs were amazing. He played 4 new songs from Normal Happiness, which won't be released until October. Supernatural Car Lover was absolutely crazy good. This album, according to Bob, is 16, 2 minute pop songs. Needless to say I loved the show, Mrs C said her ears didn't ring too bad, and we were back in the hotel by 2 am! Check out these great pictures from the show.

A few hours later we were sitting in Ann Sathers on Belmont waiting for the world's best cinnamon rolls. I convinced myself to order something different, traditional eggs benedict everytime I go, and had the swedish sampler. Very tasty, especially the meatball. The thing about this place is you get 2 giant cinnamon rolls with whatever you order. Its a gutful and delish.

From here I decided to take Amy to Old Town and walk around to see the sights and architecture. We did a little shopping, a lot of walking, and a lot of ruminating about what it would be like to live in this kind of environment. Final result was a draw, Me = yes, Mrs C = maybe. From there we drove back to the hotel and walked to Yak-zies (Chicago dawg, fries, and toasted raviolies!) for a late munch and some more walking and gawking. Later we had dinner at Tarantino's back in Old Town and it was a nice find. Cozy little corner Italian that you would love to live around the block from. Bonus-found parking on the street and saved some cash. Parking, as with most large cities, is the worst thing about the trip. We had a great time together and drove to Marshall on Sunday to see nephew Jason off to Germany for 4 years. He's in the Air Force and is being stationed in Rammstein. It was nice to see everyone and we let 80 mph winds push us home!