Attridge Family: Chicago

My office decided to send me to a professional conference this year. My boss picked the CUSP Conference in Chicago. I decided to take Bryan along since we would only have to pay for his flight.

Not only was the conference awesome but we got to tour Chicago too.

The conference was held at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Bryan and I decided to take advantage of the conference being in the museum so we toured it during all my breaks. The museum has one of Wolfgang Puck's restaurants called Puck's. We had to try it out since it may be my only time to eat Wolfgang Puck's food. It was yummy!

Tuesday, September 21

We flew in, checked into our hotel and then headed to the Giants game.

We stayed at the coolest boutique hotel called The James. I would definitely stay there again. (especially because of the events on our last day - see below)

I found out that the Giants were playing the Cubs while we were going to be there. I of course had to get tickets. We weren't able to see Lincecum pitch but we did see Matt Cain and Carlos Zambrano.

We had crazy weather before the game started. One minute it would be down pouring and the next no rain at all. The poor workers had to keep running out to the field to pull up the tarp when the rain stopped and then put it back when it started again. After about an hour of waiting - the rain stopped enough that they were able to start the game.

The Giants pulled out a victory by scoring the only run of the game in the bottom of the 8th. It was a good way to start the trip.

Wednesday, September 22
I spent most of the day at the conference. After my last meeting we took an architecture cruise, then went to the Buckingham Fountain and then to dinner.

I really wanted to do an architecture cruise on the river and what would be a better time than at sunset. We were about a week late to do the normal Sunset Cruise where you see fireworks at Navy Pier. But we decided to go with the sunset cruise anyway. That wasn't the best decision because apparently sunset cruise really means open bar cruise. So, most people spent the whole time drinking. We did see some really pretty views of the city though.

After the cruise we walked around the city a bit on our way to the Buckingham Fountain. The fountain was so cool. They do a light show to music on the hour every hour after dark. I would suggest checking out the fountain at night if you're ever in Chicago.

After watching the fountain show we headed to dinner. Our taxi driver told us that the place to eat in Chicago was Lou Malnati's. So we of course tried it out. I for sure liked the pizza in New York better. Bryan liked Lou Malnati's. I was in my first trimester....so, maybe my taste buds were just a little off.

Thursday, September 23
I was back at the conference the whole day and then we went to Johnny Rockets for dinner and then to Billy Elliot.

While I was at the conference, Bryan toured Chicago. He went to the Rock-N-Roll McDonald's for breakfast. Apparently it is huge and people go their to just hang out. He said it was pretty cool. I wish I could have checked it out too!

Billy Elliot is definitely not my favorite Broadway Show I've been to. It was just sort of boring. We chose Billy Elliot because all of the music was written by Elton John. Sorry to say Elton sorta disappointed.
(I do catch Bryan singing the songs still sometimes)

Friday, September 24
Friday started out pretty good. As Bryan and I got in the elevator at our hotel to do our last chance touring of Chicago we were attacked by a dog. Not really attacked but the dog was excited and kind of jumping on me. The man with the dog was apologetic and kind of chatting with us about his dog. I never even looked the guy in the face because i was just looking at the dog. The guy left the elevator before we did and as I got out Bryan grabbed my arm and said Es, look at who that is, because he could tell that I didn't realize who we were just chatting with in the elevator. As soon as I looked over I saw that it was Josh Hartnett! I was so sad I missed my opportunity to ask him for a picture. I had such a big crush on him after Pearl Harbor. I regrouped myself and we walked out of the hotel while Josh was at the front desk. A few seconds later he walked out of the hotel and passed us on the sidewalk. Bryan decided to get me a picture. So, he pretty much chased him for a couple blocks. I was just the slightest bit embarrassed about stalking him and being so start struck but Bryan was like a seasoned paparazzi hiding behind garbage cans and trees and what not.

I held us back from getting a good pic. But this was the best we got
Josh with his dog after we left the hotel

here's a better picture of his face from the internet

We decided to do a hop on hop off bus tour to see some of the highlights of the city. Our first stop was Hancock Tower (formerly Sears Tower).

Here we are standing on the glass ledges at the top of the tower. It really is a cool view to be able to look down at the city without anything obstructing your view.
Bryan was a little hesitant to step onto the ledge at first :) Apparently he still is a little scared of heights!