Adventures of the Crazy Cat Lady: The Windy City

Has it really been nearly a year since my last blog post?!! A lot has happened since that last post... I finished school and graduated, I got a different job, and we (unintentionally... really!) added to our crazy cat family! But, let's begin with a road trip...

Last summer we took a one-day bus trip to Chicago with my mother-in-law and brother-in-law. In one short, but yet very looooong day, we visited Mexico, China, Italy, and everywhere in between! Come along on our journey...

Our day started bright and early with a drive to Middlebury to catch our bus. I couldn't help but take a few photos along the way of the beautiful sunrise. This one was my favorite...

I also couldn't resist the cheesy pictures of Dave and me, as well as Sue and PJ, while heading west...

Well, at least MY smile was genuine. ;-)

The day started out quite overcast when we finally arrived...

We saw lots of unique and beautiful architecture and sites along the way - big buildings, little buildings, ornate buildings, plain buildings, colorful buildings... each beautiful in its own way.

We also saw lots of art along the way - some of it gang graffiti, some of it welcome art, some of it in museums, and some of it built into the city and serving a purpose...

La Villita / Little Village - Mexican section of town

At the National Museum of Mexican Art


At the National Museum of Mexican Art. This is thousands of teeny, tiny little beads!

At the National Museum of Mexican Art

At the National Museum of Mexican Art. Close-up of the beautiful dress.

At the National Museum of Mexican Art

Flames or not... the letters "BBQ" would've drawn me inside of this place!

Chinatown

Chinatown. Dragons and China go hand-in-hand.

Our first stop... A Mexican candy store and a bakery in La Villita. It was a sensory AND a sugar overload!

After driving through Little Italy, our second stop was at the National Museum of Mexican Art. The pictures are above.

Our next stop... Chinatown! We had lunch at the Evergreen Restaurant. It was several courses of family-style Chinese dinner. Poor Dave, though, went away quite hungry since they didn't offer American cuisine.

We drove through various neighborhoods and saw more neat architecture...

We saw an army of headless "people" sculptures...

Naked sculptures...

Graceful sculptures...

Cat sculptures...

The BIG bean...

And, Marilyn Monroe...

We saw BIG, TALL buildings...

The lake shore...

And, our favorite, Old Towne. It was not only our favorite because of the neat architecture and quaint little shops, but because Dave finally (!!) found some good ol' American food... at McDonalds!

This was, perhaps, my favorite place in all of Chicago. It was a quiet little garden center full of beautiful plants amid its urban jungle surroundings.

And this was, perhaps, Dave's favorite place in all of Chicago... The Fudge Pot! Mmmmmm, yummy!

Samples of several of the chocolate molds they've made.

Dave, Sue, and PJ enjoying some of the treats they found at The Fudge Pot.

This place smelled soooooo good - inside and out. You could smell the spices as you got close.

I couldn't resist taking our picture in the reflection of the silver ceiling overhead...

On our way to Little Italy, we saw an interesting fence. I wasn't sure what to make of it. Was it art or do people actually "park" their bikes this way?