The Chicago mini-vacay this weekend was absolutely wonderful. What isn't fantastic about two days off from work, 500 threadcount sheets, sleeping til 10, HDTV, a 16th floor city view, room service, and all the shopping you can handle? I can't think of a thing except returning to reality.
We got in at about 7:30 PM Sunday night and spent the first hour settling in, checking out the details of the room room and laughing over the contents of the minibar- including a bottle of Patron. I immediately cracked open an ice-cold Goose Island 312, poured it into a cocktail glass and gazed out the window to the promising city lights below.
The room was small, but nice, with all the features you would expect from the kind of hotel it was. Nicely decorated, well-designed, and the bed was really comfortable with no weird odors. There were white terrycloth bathrobes that I had to slip into just because I could.
My favorite feature was the red heating light in the ceiling of the bathroom, designed to make the bathroom nice and toasty while you bathe. If you turned off the regular light and just kept the heat lamp on, it cast a red glow throughout the entire bathroom. Being the sophomore I am, I kept turning on the red light, dancing around in the mirror singing, "sex party woot woot, sex party woot woot!" Seriously, it was total red-light district sex party lighting.
Since we had spent Sunday morning at the Cam Rock cx races and were in a hurry all day to get to Chicago, neither one of us really eaten much and were simply famished! It was getting a little late- after 9 at this point, but we set out to explore the surrounding dining establishments. We ended up wandering into Bin 36, a restaurant next door to Hotel Sax that features wine and cheese flights. I ordered the Sexy Reds wine flight- a collection of 4 spicy rich red wines, and Michael ordered the Shiraz flight. We got the waiter's recommendation on a cheese flight that would pair well with both of our selections. He recommended the house cheese flight but suggested we add a piece on, a semi soft cheddar, coated with ground coffee and lavender - from Beehive Cheese Co. in Utah. Wow! Lavender and crushed coffee beans, who would think? But awesome.
After sleeping in Monday, we hit the town to check things out. We walked and toured and shopped. They've really done a nice job with the Millenium Park area. There are interesting art structures, nice gardens, and lawns that really enhance the downtown area. Lunch was great- Chicago style pizza from Gino's East- and we had to walk a mile out of the way to get to it!
We got back to the hotel around 3:30 at which point I needed a NAP! I slept for a while, and watched some TV.
At 6:30 we walked 4 blocks to Starbucks to get latte's to keep us revved up for the concert. (Note: having an iphone with Google maps is a HUGE help in the city! We used it constantly!)
We then caught a cab to the UIC pavillon. I'm not a huge Wilco fan but they did thier best and the show was pretty good. We got back to the hotel around 11:30, and were simply starving as we had not eaten since lunch. The hotel package had provided us with a $50 gift certificate to any restaurant nearby that we still hadn't used. Most places were closed by then, but lucky for us, Smith & Wollensky's, a fancy schmancy steakhouse chain, was still open. We enjoyed $20 burgers and a piece of coconut cream cake. Maybe we were just starving, but it was delish! The view was gorgeous too- right on the river:
All in all, a fun fun trip. I didn't utilize the workout room, or eat clean, but isn't that what vacation is for? It's all about balance and enjoying yourself.
