Chicago…My kind of Town

Chris Perez — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 02:00:18 +0000

A few weeks ago Christy and I took a trip to Chicago for Christy’s first Half-marathon.

Her friend Ruth had just completed a marathon earlier this year and convinced Christy to make her first attempt at the Chicago event, held over the September 11th weekend.

I didn’t quite grasp the significance of that weekend until a week or so before our departure but thankfully all went well and we didn’t find ourselves in any logistical security nightmares.

I’ve been to Chicago several times and quite a few times with Christy. She even stuck it out in freezing temperatures with me waiting in line outside Niketown for some exclusive Air Jordan’s (the T.O. Eagles colorway of the Retro XIII’s to give you an idea of how long ago that was). But through all my visits I never had a chance to go when temps were warm (which to me is above 70), and never had a chance to do the architecture cruise. So I was pretty excited about this particular trip.

Day one, Christy and I started it off right by going to a famous Rick Bayless restaurant, Frontera Grill. This is a place we’ve heard a lot about from our Food Network viewing and foodie conversations with friends. We went for late lunch on Friday, and took some seats at the bar. The menu was awesome and filled with several unique dishes you’d be hard pressed to find anywhere else. We started it off with a couple cocktails, nothing quite like a good drink after traveling…

We then placed our orders and got treated to a few specialties including this lamb shoulder roasted in a mixiote…

The food and atmosphere of Frontera were great, and I think they had the best corn tortillas I’ve ever had (artisan masa, baby). Everything was quality and unique, and the menu left you with many reasons to come back, and I definitely plan to (although next door was another Bayless joint Topolombo, we need to try him out too).

We explored the town a little bit on the public transit and got plenty frustrated with the inaccuracy of that little blue dot on Google maps. That son of a B wouldn’t stop jumping around.

Later that night we met up with Ruth, Scott and their friends who lived in the area for dinner.

I looked up a $ late-night dessert place (why doesn’t Austin have one of these?) and convinced Christy to go there for a night cap. The place is called Mindy’s Hot chocolate and it’s completely legitimate. Put it on your “Must” list if you’re a dessert freak like me.

Day two, Christy wanted to hit up the Navy Pier to pick up her race registration gear.

The race had an Expo going on so we looked around there for a bit and met up with Ruth and crew for the architecture cruise. I was hyped about this and like a new Britney Spears song, it didn’t let me down.

After the boat docked we explored the arts district of Chicago and made the mandatory stop at the Bean…

That night we got a good and carbs loaded pre-race meal with the girls at La Scarola. Despite the wait, the food was good and servings were plentiful so we all left with leftovers.

Day three, Race day. I plotted the half-marathon course on our phones, got them loaded with google latitude, and got Christy situated with directions (you know her and her lost skills).

I got to the race later than I wanted thanks to buses that didn’t seem to run to normal routine and taxi cab drivers that couldn’t navigate around all the street closures. But I still saw my girl and cheered her on to a strong finish.

Christy completed the race hand-in-hand with her friend Ruth and got a cool medal to prove it (and I got some Lou Malnati’s)

Later that night we all went to Joe’s Stone Crab for a celebration dinner. They didn’t have the dungeness crab my friend Samir had hyped up, and we had terrible service, but the food we did get was good and we all had a great time.

Day four, Christy and I started the day early to get some coffee at the Intelligentsia. Which BTW is the bomb of coffee nom.

We then explored a few more buildings in the downtown area before packing our things and heading back to home sweet home.

That wraps up this great trip, if you’re hungry for more pics check the slideshow below.

I’m real proud of my wife for completing her first half marathon. She trained hard and overcome more than you know to get there. Congrats, my rubia.

Honeymoon in Spain

Chris Perez — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 14:26:22 +0000

If your monitor is cool enough, click here for HD Version

Quickview version is below….

Las Vegas and The CES

Chris Perez — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 09:26:20 +0000

Sleepless in Seattle

Chris Perez — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:09:36 +0000

Reno!

Chris Perez — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:11:24 +0000

MetropoChris » Vacations

Chicago…My kind of Town

Honeymoon in Spain

Las Vegas and The CES

Sleepless in Seattle

Reno!