Trip to Chicago

Last weekend we spent a long weekend in Chicago visiting my daughter who moved there in January. The weather was really cold but the city was great!  We loved being with Chelsea and seeing how much she loved living in Chicago. 

Friday night we went for Chicago deep dish pizza at Giordano's.  It was worth the 40 minute wait for it to cook!  We had an appetizer of fried cheese, mushrooms and zucchini to tie us over.  The pizza was sooo good and really cheesy!

Every morning we went to the The Original Pancake House on Bellevue. They serve large portions and everything we tried was really good. If you go to Yelp.com you can see pics of the food. You have to go early or there is a long line out the door.

On Saturday we went to Willis Tower (Sears Tower).  In the past, we always has good intentions on going to the tower's observation deck but we never found the time.  This was first on our to do list for this visit! When we entered the building, the first thing they told us was that there is an hour and half wait AFTER we purchase our tickets.  We took the elevator to the next floor to buy tickets and the line was so long! We stood there for about 15 minutes and really contemplated leaving but we stayed and it was a good choice! From the time we walked in the door until the time we left it was about 3 hours.

After the Willis Tower we headed to Portillos for hot dogs.  Darn it, we did not take a picture of all of them.  We had chili dogs, Polish dogs, and below the dog with everything. They were yummy!!

The buildings were so cool.  We loved walking around and seeing all of the architecture! 

For dinner we went to Quartino's.  This place was delicious and the service was really impressive.  The table we were given was incredible!  It was a round corner table by the window.  There were six of us so it was out of the way and perfect!  It did not take us long to decide on what to order and the food came quick.  This restaurant is a Tapas Bar so we ordered 6-7 dishes.  I can only remember 6.  Pizza, gnocchi with pesto, short ribs, Alfredo with peas and prosciutto, veal meatballs and Penne (Pic below).  This is Chelsea's favorite restaurant so I am glad we got to experience the yummy food.  For dessert we stopped at the Ghirardelli Chocolate shop for ice cream! That was divine!!!

On Sunday we jumped on the train and went to Wrigleyville, Lincoln Park, and Old Town.  In Old Town we went to the Spice House and Old Town Oils. These were the neatest shops.  We tried quite a few Olive Oils before we decided on Tuscan Herb.  This week we have dipped bread in it and also added it to pasta.  It is soo good.  I will get more the next we go to Chicago! At the Spice House we bought spices for a rib rub. The ribs are marinating in the refrigerator as I type this!!

Sunday night we went to the Grand Lux Cafe on Michigan Ave.  We were lucky enough to get a window seat that faced Michigan Ave!!!  I got pasta, it was good but not great.  TJ got a Seafood salad (Pic below), it was huge and tasted really good. Chelsea got the avocado-chipotle cheeseburger that was delish. Baylee got the chicken burger sandwich.

New York City

OK, I am playing catch-up with my pictures! These are from November when me and my husband went to New York for our 25th Wedding Anniversary. It was our first time to New York and we were a little intimidated by the city. We arrived on a Thursday and during the transportation from the Airport to the Hilton Newark Penn Station in New Jersey, the driver suggested a pizza place not far from the hotel that served New York Pizza. It was called Queen Pizza and the pizza was sooooo good. It was very thin and the sauce was perfect. I wish we took a picture of the pizza, we were so hungry, we just dug in immediately!

The hotel was hooked to Penn Station so it was a snap to hop on the PATH train and head into the city. It took about 15 minutes and we would be at the World Trade Center station. We could also transfer halfway through the ride to another train and it would take us to Times Square, so it was nice to stay away from the city but have easy access by the train. The hotel was not fancy but very affordable! We could hear the traffic outside but we were so exhausted every night we fell right to sleep, without using the earplugs the hotel supplies.

Once we got into the city, we mostly walked. We wanted to see all of the quaint side streets and little shops. We walked through Soho, TriBeCa, Greenwich, Central Park, down by World Trade Center, and Battery Park. We also loved walking through China Town and Little Italy.

One of our favorite sites was Top of the Rock. I thought it would be an expensive ride to the top of the building to look out at the city in one direction. Well I was wrong! Once you get to the top, you can walk all the way around the building and see every side of the city!....... and then go up another level......walk all the way around again .......and then go up again and then again!!!!! At the top there are no glass panels, like the lower levels, so you can get some pretty nice pictures. I think I have about 40!

Can you tell, we had awesome weather for November! Another favorite was walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. It was beautiful!

We went to Times Square twice, once during the day and once at night. Actually at night we only stayed about a half hour and we saw enough! Police cars lined two blocks and it was super crowded, so we booked out of there. It was cool to be there but maybe not on a Friday night.

We did not go out to the Statue of Liberty but we did walk along the water at Battery Park and got a great view of Lady Liberty. We will see her next time!

My husband saw the Doughnut Plant on TV so we searched it out and had their fabulous doughnuts. We were starving when we got there and had to wait over a half hour in line to get the doughnuts. Due to the lack of food and waiting in the long line, we kept drowling over the list of fresh doughnuts and ended up getting two doughnuts each. Unfortunately we ate all of them lickety split! They were the most fabulous doughnuts ever but we were not hungry for the rest of the day. We walked to China Town and Little Italy right after getting the doughnuts and I was a little disappointed because the food in Little Italy looked amazing. I loved how all of the restaurants had the sidewalk tables open and people were enjoying their lunch outside. The food looked and smelled wonderful......but I was full of doughnuts! Eating in Little Italy is on my list for next time!

We did have some excellent food during our trip. This was a seafood dish from a Portuguese / Spanish restaurant called Iberia Restaurant. It is on Ferry St in Newark New Jersey. The sauce was so buttery and the Lobster, Scallops, and Shrimp were to die for!

Several nights we went to a little bar near the Hotel called MMM Bellos Pub. They have great Portuguese specials, the picture below is their version of Picadinho. My husband loved it.

We are looking forward to our next trip to New York. We are pretty sure we will go back in the spring.

Kiawah Island

In August we went to Kiawah Island South Carolina for our family vacation. It is a beautiful island with hard white beaches. We have been going to Kiawah, off and on, for 25 years and really enjoy every time we can get a beach vacation together.
The island has 30 miles of bike paths, a couple of look out towers, a park and a couple of golf courses. It is lush green with condos, houses and a 5 star hotel.

Since the ride from Ohio to South Carolina is around 12 to 13 hours, we decided this year to break up the ride and stop on the way there and the way back. Our first stop was Chimney Rock North Carolina. This was so neat. We stayed the night at the Mountain Lodge Conference Center in Flat Rock. I was extremely nice, we will stay there again.

Vista Rock was about halfway up the climb to Chimney Rock.

The views were fabulous.

This is TJ on Chimney Rock . We were in the Opera Box

and were able to take a picture across the mountain.

This was Lindsey, Baylee and myself in the Opera Box.

Hickory Nut Falls is about a 1 mile hike. It was pretty flat

and easy to walk.
When we arrived at Kiawah, this was our view. Terrible right?

We stayed at Windswept Villas

The beaches are hard so you can ride you bike on the beach!

This was in Charleston. The pineapple fountain was dry, but

we still had fun.

On our way back to the island we stopped at Angel Oak.

This is the oldest oak tree in the states.

This is one of the lookouts on the island. It looks out

over the marsh.

On our way home we stopped at the Biltmore Estates in Asheville North Carolina. It is a beautiful estate but it poured down rain non stop for 4 hours. We did not get to see everything and enjoy it as much as we should, but these lovely rain ponchos made the visit a little more bearable.

We waded in ankle deep water to the farm and enjoyed the animals.

We toured the estate and went through the museum.

The girls were amazed by all of the stories. We drove

through the gardens, it was too wet to walk.

The vacation was a really good time. We did get wet several times throughout the week,

but all in all, we did have more pretty days than rainy days so we did well!!