Russell Mania

Last week Rob went to Chicago Monday through Thursday to attend training for work. Knowing Chicago is not too far from my dear friend and college roommate Stephanie, I decided to combine (Rob's) business with pleasure and make a weekend out of it. I flew out on Thursday to the Midway airport. Apparently Chicago Midway and Chicago O'Hare are two different airports - oops! What would have been a 5 mile taxi ride was going to be about 35 miles. Luckily Rob was out of his training session when I landed and told me he would pick me up in ~40 mins. Un-luckily, (yes, I just made that word up), he got into a bit of traffic and took about an hour and twenty minutes to get to the aiport. Alas, he made it and we hit traffic on the way back to the hotel. Rob was tired from his trainings and I was tired from traveling so we decided to have a low key night. One of the things I wanted to do was try Chicago pizza. We went to Giordano's which is a popular pizza chain in Chicago.




I thought it was good but decided I like "traditional" pizza better. When I asked Rob which he preferred, he struggled with his answer. Finally he said "I think I prefer the Chicago style." I told him we should open a pizza joint in Morgan Hill like the Scavo's on Desperate Housewives but he shot down that idea pretty quickly.

That night we decided before we headed out on our road trip to Michigan that we would at the very least visit the Sears Tower. The next morning, sleep sounded better so needless to say, we really didn't see much of anything in Chicago. We would like to come out again someday and stay in downtown and really see the sites.

On our way to Michigan, we drove by the town of Hammond. I'm not sure if anyone lives in Hammond but I thought it was pretty cool.




We also saw the beautiful leaves - the pictures really don't do it justice.


We told Stephanie and Jason we would be in Ann Arbor, Michigan around 4:00. We had to call and tell them it will more likely be 5:00 because we hit some traffic leaving Chicago. We realized on the drive that Michigan is one hour ahead of Chicago - oops! So, we had to call back again to tell them it will be more like 6:00. We finally arrived and it was so good to see our friends! We spent the weekend with them by hanging out, going out to dinner, going to a comedy club, going shopping and cooking chili and baking cupcakes on a very crisp fall day. They thought I was crazy, but I loved the chilly weather, it was a nice change from the bay area. Much to my surprise it was a bit chilly when I came back on Monday, good thing I still had my scarf on!

Stephanie and I at a restaurant that served small plates. It was called Small Plates.


Jason, Stephanie and Bailey: Thank you so much for having us, we had a great time and can't wait to see you in December!