Chi-ca-go

Last weekend Don and I went to Chicago - I had to be there for the American Library Association conference. We spent Friday night and Saturday sightseeing; Sunday I was in meetings all day and Don went to a Cubs game. Some of the highlights:

--The huge Picasso sculpture a block away from our hotel. I remember seeing a cool photo of it in one of my elementary school textbooks, or maybe the encyclopedia. Yes, I was a nerd and actually read the encyclopedia for fun sometimes.
--Meeting up with my old friend Sara and her husband, John. They took us to a cajun restaurant and Don ate a huge plate of crawfish.
--The weather was surprisingly good -- just humid enough.
--Navy Pier at night. We walked all the way there from our hotel. We ate ice cream and played mini golf. We said hello to the guy who was handing out clubs, and he said that we were the first people who struck up a conversation with him in his entire shift. Kinda sad! He gave us a free round but the people in front of us were super slow - I think they thought they were playing against Tiger Woods or something.
--Tall building tours. We went to the top of the John Hancock Center building on Saturday, and went to the top of the Sears Tower on Sunday. They have this new thing at the Sears Tower where they've built these glass observation booths onto the side of the building, on the 104th floor. I think they've only been up for a few weeks. You step out from the main room onto a glass platform -- it's kind of freaky but amazing at the same time. Here is our view from one of the booths. Too bad it didn't turn out better, I forgot my real camera (shocker) and had to use the camera on my phone instead. Click on the photo for a better view!