Thursday, October 24
Our night began at the Des Moines International Airport, where Amanda, Emmie, and I quickly made it through security and spent a solid hour in the terminal prior to boarding our flight to Chicago. (I’m continuously reminded that I’ve never regretted being late to the Des Moines Airport; there’s always plenty of time.)
Emmie was ready for her third plane ride.
The flight to Chicago was smooth , and Emmie was a good traveler. Following the flight, we took a small walk through the airport to board the CTA Blue Line into town. Emmie was a CTA-traveling expert after our June trip to Chicago, when we stayed near the airport and took the train daily into town.
When we got to the station, the five-block walk to the hotel was longer than it looked on the map, and fairly chilly. Nonetheless, we made it, checked in, and I picked up the surprise package delivered to the hotel for Amanda: a box of 50 cupcakes from Baked by Melissa in New York.
Emmie really wanted a cupcake.
Friday, October 25
The marquis event for Friday was Amanda’s Ultimate Day of Relaxation and Rejuvination at Spa Nordstrom, which was a short walk from the hotel and located on the third floor of the Shops at North Bridge, adjacent to a full Nordstrom store.
Once Amanda was checked in, Emmie and I spent the day exploring Chicago, and walking a ton. Within minutes she had fallen asleep, and remained sleeping as we rode up eight flights of escalators in Marshall Field’s before finding the children’s clothing section.
After some shopping at Water Tower Place, Emmie and I hopped on the Red Line to visit Chicago’s City Target. New to me, the store felt much like a standard Target but made good use of old department store space amongst a number of stores on State Street. While shopping, we did Face Time with Noah (and Grandma and Grandpa) and picked out a car to take back.
After City Target, we took the Red and Brown Line trains to get to Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, which had just opened a Chicago location. I managed not only to keep Emmie asleep during our entire stop, but also hold her and a three-tiered waffle cone without losing a single drop of ice cream. The most memorable flavor in the cone was the Loveless Biscuits and Peach Jam.
Jeni’s Ice Cream was truly splendid.
We met up with Amanda late in the afternoon, and proceeded to walk together to Pizzeria Due, where we shared a small pizza (half sausage, half pepperoni) plus cheese sticks. It pretty much tasted like Chicago pizza, and the longer wait for the Chicago-style pizza ensured Emmie was ready to leave by the end of the meal. Afterwards, we stopped by Bloomingdale’s to purchase an ornament commemorating Emmie’s first Christmas before returning to the hotel to watch The Internship.
Saturday, October 26
Our morning started relatively early with brunch at NoMI restaurant, located on the seventh floor of a Hyatt and featuring a great view overlooking the park across from Water Tower Place. Unfortunately, beyond the view, the restaurant fell flat. Service was surprisingly lackluster, and the ham on the eggs Benedict was nearly as salty as the infamous foie gras burger at Highland Tap in Denver.
We rode the bus to our brunch spot, NoMI.
Afterwards we made another stop at Jeni’s Ice Cream, during which Emmie once agin took a nap. We then spent some time in the hotel before heading to Evanston to leave Emmie with Matt and Nicole.
Amanda and I had a nice ride on the Red Line back into town, getting off at the North & Clyburn train stop. We perused an Apple store, a cooking store, and a Carter store, but walked away without making any purchases. Dinner at Balena was phenomenal from the start, and service was impeccable. They immediately asked about timing obligations, and we noted our plans for an 8:00 ONCE performance at the Oriental Theatre.
We started with a duo of cheese and meat plates, with the blueberry elk salami standing out among the six meats and cheeses sampled, enough so we special ordered it for our Thanksgiving celebration the following month. Meals were also great – Amanda had a pasta with pork and red sauce; I had a light potato/chive ravioli. I ordered (and ate myself) tiramisu for dessert.
We continued south on the Red Line to the theatre to see ONCE. While the cast was of course difference from the original Broadway production, it was still phenomenal.
Following the show, Emmie was dropped off at the hotel and proceeded to not sleep. In fact, I was in the lobby with her until nearly 2:00 in the morning.
A tired selfie, with Emmie sleeping, in the hotel lobby at 1:59 a.m.
Sunday, October 27
Our walk to the CTA was easy, as was the reverse trip to O’Hare Airport on the Blue Line. Lunch was forgettable among lackluster terminal eating options. The return flight was pretty smooth, and we were greeted by Noah at the Des Moines Airport.