Chicago - 9 Miles Walking & Talking

I made it back to KC after being gone almost two and a half weeks, so I have lots of blogging to catch up on. I’ve been gone so much I actually feel like KC is another city I’m visiting, and I’m staying in an awesome Airbnb! The bed is super comfy and this lady keeps all my favorite foods stocked. I made it back late Sunday night but just in time to join my fun running friends for the end of summer Fun Day on Monday. For me it just felt like a continuation of vacation. We started with breakfast at Blackdog in Lenexa. My usual vacation choice of a cappacino and a slice of cinnamon roll coffee cake. I ate it too fast for a picture but it was great. Then off to Shawnee Mission Park to rent paddle boards. The weather was perfect and everyone did great! Then a quick change at Jen’s Home and we headed to Top Golf in Overland Park. It was my first time and I’m not a golfer but you don’t need to be.

The food was great and they have all kinds of golf games you can play. Just try and hit the ball at one of the targets.

They have everything you need and it kind of reminds me of a bowling alley but fun with a group. And our group was very fun!

Tiago was our mascot and he was the only one that was taking it seriously.

The Fun Day wasn’t over yet. Time to head to Happy Hour - something we are expert at. So off to La Bodega we went. La Bodega specializes in Spanish tapas and has a really great happy hour. We got there early and scored the outside couch which was perfect.

My running friends and we didn’t even run. We just have a great time together.

What a great way to ease back from vacation - pretend you are still on vacation. But reality hit on Tuesday - hello laundry and catching up on life.

So now back to my trip - the action and gypsy life continued for me. One thing I regretted was bringing too much with me. Since I was driving I kept adding things to my suitcase and to the car - I ended up with a suitcase 3 times the size of what I took to Europe for a month! Never again! I have been asked a number of times to list what I took to Europe and I will do it for sure. It was such a pain to drag that suitcase in and out of the car, up and down stairs etc.

This trip was the first time since I moved from Chicago 26 years ago that I had time to explore lots of the neighborhoods, and so much has changed in that time. Mostly for the better. So many great neighborhoods to live in now. One thing that has gotten worse though is traffic. I was able to borrow Keeley’s public transit pass and that’s the way to go. There is an APP called City Mapper and it’s free. It’s not just for Chicago. It started in London and New York City was the second city. Now there are lots of places available through the APP and Chicago is one of them. You enable the location finder and type in where you want to go and it tells you how to get there. For instance I was wanting to get to North Michigan Ave and it told me to walk to the end of the block and catch the Chicago Ave bus that comes every 6 minutes. And exactly when the next one would be there. It told me to take it for 15 stops and get off at number 16 and walk 30 feet and get on the Blue Line Subway and where to get off. It was unbelievable! And free! Worked perfectly. Thanks Matt!

I met up with Robin and Mike and Keeley and Matt for dinner in Wicker Park at a restaurant Robin suggested called The Pasta Bowl. It is local and now has 3 or 4 locations around the city. The food was great - Italian of course! A decent selection of beer and wine too. It was really fun to all be together.

I had the pesto with shrimp. Ever since Italy I am obsessed with pesto.

The next day I met up with Julie and Peggy, a couple of my great high school friends. We met at Julie’s awesome place on Lake Shore Drive and spent the day together eating, drinking and walking - 9 miles of walking and talking.

Another awesome APP I want to share is Park Whiz. Parking is so expensive in the city and by using this APP you can make a reservation in a garage close to where you are going and save almost half the cost. Just download the APP and it’s easy to use. It gave me a spot in her actual building which was awesome. There are a couple other similar APPs but that’s the one I use.

We headed over to the River North area which has a great selection of restaurants and bars right on the water.

We picked the City Winery because they have a nice meat and cheese tray. Wine of course too!

We look like we coordinated our outfits! Great minds thinking alike!

There are lots of boats on the river. Architectural Boat Tours, Water Taxi’s, Kayaks and party boats! And on a beautiful day tons of people out enjoying it.

After a leisurely lunch we headed over to Millenium Park. Always fun to see the Gehry Bean.

Chicago has done an outstanding job of landscaping and flowers!

Next up Grant Park and Buckingham Fountain - one of my favorite spots in Chicago.

Then we headed to Navy Pier for Happy Hour and finished with a great dinner at Coco Pazzo on Hubbard St. I can never eat too much Italian food!

We shared a fabulous chopped salad, pizza and pasta dish - all delicious! And of course wine!

Another great day with wonderful life long friends. Next up I’m off to Lake Geneva for a long weekend of fun!