Chicago!

Earlier this month, I had a race in Chicago.  I had a little bit of a dilemma on my hands though.  K was out of town that weekend as well, so she couldn't watch the dog for me. T was planning on coming to Chicago with me, so my options were either to leave Radar at the kennel or to take him along.  He hates the kennel, so T did some research and found a hotel in Chicago, the Palomar, that allowed pups.  When we checked in, they gave me a bag of goodies for the dog!

Radar did seem a little disconcerted by all the street noise, not quite sure what to pay attention to when we were out walking.  But he seemed to figure it out eventually.

I had dinner Friday night with M&M (ha!) at Moonshine.  It took me a while to get there, so they had chips and guac while they were waiting which I missed out on.  But I had a darn good beer and the pulled pork sandwich.  What really sold me on that was the fried pickles - which were delicious!  Then I headed off to pick up T at the airport, and it was off to bed.

Saturday was race day, and I was pleasantly surprised when my cousin A and his son came to visit.  We detoured to the nearby Lake Michigan beach during a break in racing, but otherwise it was a day to sit around and people-watch.  And A brought us (somewhat belatedly) my favorite sandwich (a Wreck) and shake (Oreo) from Potbelly's to eat at the race course. Hooray!

[Dinner Saturday night will be a separate post.]

Sunday morning T and I met with some family for brunch: J, T, C, and C's boyfriend.  We went to a place called Cafe Selmarie in Lincoln Square, not too far from C's apartment.  Someone had the bright idea the night before to fill the fountain in Lincoln Square with soap bubbles!  Brunch for me was a the breakfast burrito and a delicious cup of coffee.

By the time I finished pumping myself full of caffeine, we had to head back downtown to get the pup and check out of the hotel.  We spent the early afternoon strolling the campus at Northwestern, and I think Radar was very happy to have grass to play in and little animals to chase.   It was also crazy to see all the development that has been going on in downtown Evanston since I left - they were just getting started back then!

We three piled back in the car and drove the long and winding road from E-town back to the city for one last race - which ended up delayed by 30 minutes or so.  It was the last event of the day, and I think they had just gotten backed up.  But even that was okay, because Cousin A and his son were back, and this time they brought reinforcements - we found them under a tree with chairs and their barbecue pit.  I snagged a delicious hot dog, and Radar even got half of one too!

Eventually the race rolled around, and once it was over, there was a mad dash to get all the equipment packed up and ready to go.  We ended up heading south towards I-55 around 7:30, for a very tired arrival home right at midnight.