Chicago, Day 1

Today has been a very long day. We woke up at 4:30am to get ready in time to leave the house by 5:30-5:45am. We drove to Carbondale to catch our train that was leaving at 7:30am. We'd never been so didn't know what to expect, that's why we allotted ourselves more time. Turns out it wasn't necessary at all. There's not much to that station. 

The train ride was long and boring, but in my opinion much better than driving! The hubs and I got to chat and make plans and look at menus and activities. We got to play some games together on our iPads and I got to read some in a book. I was glad the train didn't make me motion sick, however, I did end up with a headache. 

I also got to hear all about some guys life. How he'd just gotten out of jail and was still going to be on house arrest and then mocked his family during a telephone call for 'getting their lives together' and thus not having time for him. Gee, I'm glad I made it past 8th grade. 

We arrived just a little bit after 1 o'clock. I was quite flustered upon arrival due to some information that the hubs gave me about not being able to check into the hotel until 3:00pm. 

So we toted all of our luggage to a Native (? something) restaurant. I was whiny about that too. At least we got to eat outside. It was a vegan restaurant too! How awesome! I had some 'chicken' wings. And I thought they were pretty delicious. 

Then we were off to the hotel arriving just after 2 o'clock and they did let us check in early. Thank goodness!

After taking a bit of a rest and then settling into our room we were out for some exploring. We went to get some popcorn from the famous and highly recommended Garrett Popcorn Shop and then headed to Millennium Park to eat it. It was amazing popcorn and though at first I said it was too expensive, it really wasn't anymore expensive than popcorn at a movie theater and it was enormously better than movie popcorn. 

The park was beautiful. I was so excited about the mirror ball - as I call it. It was everything I'd hoped it be. I know, weird, excited about a mirror ball. I plan on visiting it a few more times though.

We wandered through the park enjoying the views and then ended up at the lake (Lake Michigan!). 

After that we headed to get some medicine and bandaids. Someone please tell me why I decided to get and wear new tennis shoes purchased the day before a trip that would require tons of foot travel? And I could not shake the headache that I'd gotten from the train. So, admittedly, I was a little whiny today. I've been exhausted and in a slight amount of pain. So that makes for a cranky Tessa. 

After that Cory had a surprise for me. It was a tour through the city on a  Segway!! I was so thrilled, I've been wanting to ride a Segway so bad ever since being obsessed with Arrested Development (tv show). It was a blast. Though, my knees hurt so bad afterwards. As first timers, you're not suppose to bend your knees, because you want to keep your weight balanced as best as possible. 

Man, getting use to driving that thing took some time. It's so weird that you don't really have anything to turn and that you don't even lean into turns like on a bike or shooter. You just shift your weight in the slightest and it just goes. It was just so awesome! Great surprise, love! :)

It was also like a two hour tour! I enjoyed it. We got to see a lot of cool things. Our instructor / tour guide was pretty awesome too. 

After that we walked a ridiculous amount of time - like an hour - making our way to a Lou Mallnati's pizza that a friend had highly recommended. 

Cory thought it was amazing. I thought it was just alright. Which are still huge compliments coming from us. We got turned into pizza snobs after our New York pizza class in December. Lol. The crust was amazing and so were the toppings, but there was something about the sauce that I didn't quite like and I'm not sure why. I kept trying to pinpoint it the entire time and never could. 

We walked home, completely exhausted not really knowing why until we put together the obvious: been up since 4:30am + 6 hours of traveling + 7 hours of walking around. 

On the way back to the hotel I had stopped to take some pictures of some cool little light things when a drunk guy was doing some weird crap in the middle of the street. Without saying a word, Cory put his hand on my back and basically pushed me forward. Only a few blocks later there was a large group of late teenage to early 20-year-old boys that were… questionable in character. I personally watched one of them run back and forth across the street to 'hit on girls' or in accurate terms 'harass them.' 

I told Cory if they even tried anything I'd probably get us killed because I'd push or smack the crap outta someone. 

The inevitableness of them crossing - illegally - back across the street to our side happened. At which point they continued to walk diagonally across the side walk until they were on each side of us and behind us. I glanced at Cory, a little too exhausted to really scared, but I'm sure he read the infuriated anxiety on my face. Luckily we dodged across a cross walk barely in time which caused the flow of traffic to block their follow. 

And finally, we're in the hotel room! I'm so excited about taking a hot shower and then cuddling into that comfortable bed to snuggle with my hubs :)

Randomness:

• During the Segway tour we stopped at this place were a little cove-like jutting in the lake created a section of water before the next line of land with an outstanding city view! The sun was just setting, so the sky was a deep purplish, blue which reflected exactly on the surface of the water - along with the silver and steel buildings across the water. I can't wait to go back tomorrow after dark and get some pictures!
• I'm pretty sure tomorrow we're renting bikes. With all the walking we did today, I think I'll conquer my fear of them which is just a psychological impact of my accident that broke my pelvis. I haven't been on a bike since then, but I am so ready to get on one now!