In February, I suddenly realized that I hadn’t gone anywhere without a child in 3 yrs (Samantha’s age), and that come May, I’d be nursing for another year.  Quickly approaching the mark in pregnancy when they won’t let you fly, I called a friend, and said- let’s go somewhere! 

Not real enthused about the idea of being mistaken for a whale in dire straights, I avoided all beach vacations like the plague, and settled on Chicago.    Thank Heaven for friends like Jackie who are as desparate as I am to go anywhere as long as it means nobody’s diaper will need changing.  It snowed most of the time we were there.

Having lived in Fort Worth and Austin, I never considered myself a country girl, but I gotta say… Chicago made me reevaluate.   Having decided on a restaurant for dinner that first night, we hailed a cab, gave hime the address, and were on our way.  When he stops in the road in front of the restaurant, I paid the cabby, who conveniently took his tip from the bill I handed him- almost 30% of the tab.   I almost asked for change, but shrugged it off, and went to opened door.  I could hear he was saying something loudly in a very heavy accent, but it took a while to process, “watch out for the bicycle.  As a side note, I’d like you to know that  every person we encountered in Chicago seemed to be from a different country.    Anyway, I opened the door right into a man on a bike who stumbled, and laid his bike down. 

I felt terrible.  I asked if he was okay, but he was very busy yelling at me and  the cabby that we needed to watch out.  Mr 30%  immediately starts saying he told me, warned me… I didn’t listen.  I wanted my tip back, but I had to admit this was my fault.   So this goes on for a minute or two – me asking if he’s okay, offering to call for medical assistance, telling him it was my fault (not the cabby’s), and him just yelling at both of us.  Then some girl shows up saying she’s part of some bike organization, and that he can sue the cabby if he wants.  She writes down the number of the cab, saying he’s supposed to pull up to the sidewalk, that I need to be more careful; I could kill someone like that.  Off drives the cabby, and I still don’t know if the man is injured.  When all is said and done, turns out the man thinks he’s okay, and rides away.  As we walk up to the restaurant we have so carefully chosen, and maimed womeone to get to, we see the sign:  Closed for renovations.  Chicago was not looking very hospitable.

Despite the rough start, we did have a good time.  Here we are at the Field Museum. If you’re ever in chicago, don’t miss this.  Nerd that I am, it really was bliss to wander around the exhibits of natural history.  Among many other things, we saw a special exhibit on the Aztecs, and toured an ancient Egypt exhibit with a life-size model of a tomb.  We probably needed another ten hours in there just to see the exhibits on the other levels.  We missed out on one exhibit about a slave ship turned pirate ship, but we had to take this picture.

Jackie convinced me se should see the Sears Tower, which I could have cared less about, but when it was all said and done, I was so glad we went.  The view was just spectacular, and being up there was fun.  It ended up being one of my favorite things we did.