July 7th

Saturday morning came early so we slept in a bit while B&L&H&L&B went for their brunch at the American Girl Place. We grabbed a bite at the Corner Bakery and then met up with them for some trolley-ing. We took the red trolley down to Union Station and transferred to the green, which I thought would give us a lovely ride down to the museum campus. The driver we had was funny and kept us amused. I spotted this ad on a bus stop-- click on the pic to read it.


Down at the museum campus we got a great view of the skyline:


... we kept riding and riding until we got to Navy Pier. (Sorry, little B, you got cut out of the picture!)


By the time we got there we were all quite ready for lunch, so we grabbed some at the food court and set off for a little walk down the pier. The sun was blazing and people were throwing around the word "scorcher." I felt like Florida had thinned my blood enough that it wasn't that unbearable. We walked a bit and then decided to ride the ferris wheel.



As soon as we got on I remembered why I had never ridden it before. I have a significant fear of heights. On the way up I got to practice some deep breathing, and I also had a weird reaction I haven't had in a while. I just wanted to cry! It was strange-- my fear of heights got me all silly and I fought panicky tears for a bit until we got to the top and I had talked myself out of it. The ride down was lovely, actually.



We walked all the way to the end of the pier and picked up a trolley back to Michigan Avenue. We crashed at the hotel and rested for a bit while the others did a little shopping. Then we met for dinner at Bandera where I had chicken and mashed potatoes in an amazing tortilla sauce. Yum. The girls had grilled cheese on the most thinly sliced bread I think I've seen. I want to make it. Then we walked up to Ghirardelli where we got sundaes and sat in the little square by the water tower for a bit. We finished the night with a little shopping at Borders. (Thanks for the book, guys! Anyone else read Blue Like Jazz? I can't wait to dig in!)