Well, if you've been following my blog with any semblance of consistency, you might be able to gather that I love me some Chi-town! I bonded early with the city of Chicago because the weekend I turned 13 my Mom wisked me away and we conquered all that Chicago had to offer in a weekend's time! We stayed in an older hotel downtown, shopped at Bloomingdales, Macy's, the Magnificient Mile, etc..I got my makeup done, we saw Cabaret at the Shubert, went on a river tour and walked everywhere! It was awesome, and made quite an impression on the young Shelby.
Well, my love affair just continued with the city as we visited cousin's and saw the brutal windy, cold version on my perfect city. And finally, October 11, 2009 sealed the deal. I ran the streets for 26.2 miles in the Chicago Marathon. If I could live anywhere, I'd love to live in an apartment/loft downtown and have TONS of money to spend...:) Having prefaced with all that, allow me to share my most recent tour de Chicago...
Our first night, just walking around....love that river!
I took 2 students and 1 parent to the Windy City to attend FCCLA's (Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America) National Leadership Conference. We spend 5 nights at the Hyatt Regency with about 6,000 other youth from around the country which translates to: impossibly packed elevators, ridiculous lines and mass hysteria (at times..).
View from the top of the Hancock building, beautiful, clear morning!
Gold Coast...could be my favorite part ;)
The girls listening to the Audio Tour atop the Hancock. David Schwimmer gave the guidance and entertainment of the tour.
Looking back from the beach, you can see The Drake! I didn't know my phone camera was set on black and white, but I kinda like it.All these pictures were taken from my new phone: MyTouch 3G Slide from T-mobile.
Pretty sweet little guy, GREAT Camera! 5 megapixels, 1.4x zoom.
I'M ON A BOAT! with a helicopter on the back..this was just one of the many wonders of Navy Pier on 4th of July night as FCCLA owned the Pier and had our own private party off the back of it! There were entertainers, a huge dance, yummy food, lots of popcorn and cotton candy, and ofcourse, fireworks!
This pic barely reveals the MASSIVE amounts of people cramming into McCormick Place for the main sessions!
We HAD to eat at Gino's East! soo great!
Did a little tour of the Field Museum..saw some mummies...got a little bored...
I was in charge of all places to eat, not a huge surprise to anyone, but Carnivale was a MUST because.....
TA DA!!! Delicious, and don't worry, I shared;)
The final night was the Gala, where we celebrated FCCLA's 65th Anniversary and danced the night away:)
We had to pose like the Blues Brother's...
This was a life-sized cut out of a mobster that I really liked. I took a picture of this and sent this quote to friends, "I believe ya, but my Tommy-gun don't!" name that movie?! _____________That ends the adventure...I hope you could enjoy Chicago, my way;)
