the OC girl does the windy city

Chicago was great, despite the visions of babies coming out of hairy vaginas that are still dancing in my head (the visions are dancing, not the babies or vaginas). For that story, check out Tuesday’s post. While in Chi-town, I tried to do things that some of my loyal blog peeps recommended but I didn’t have enough time to do everything. I wish I had gone out more. But I’m sure I’ll be back in Chicago again!

My Saturday was mostly work/conference time. On Sunday, after I left the conference, I met up with Roo Roos, who was in town to see his friend Colin. They took me to Boystown (considering how much I heart the gays, are you surprised?), where I got to see my first bathhouse (no, I did not go in). After dinner at Las Mananitas (which has delicious Mexican food, not surprising since Chicago has the most Mexicans outside of Cali and Texas), the boys took me to Wrigley since I’m a big baseball fan. I thought it was cute that Roo Roos was all excited about Wrigley since he’s not really a sports fan at all.

Here’s the famous sign at Wrigley Field


Here are me and Roo Roos on a late night stroll along Lake Michigan

I was very, very sad to leave Roo Roos that night. We had a lot of fun and it felt just like old times.

The next day marked the end of the conference and afterwards, I had a few hours of daylight left where I decided to explore the city some more.

Here is the renown Art Institute of Chicago


And here is a close up of one of the lions that guard the Institute

This photo is for dcweddingphotog, who loves the lions!

After I left the Institute, I hung out in Millennium Park. On my way there, I encountered the coolest thing—an outdoor chess tourney that anyone can play.


It was a warm day in Chi-town on Monday so the Crown Fountain was particularly popular.


Here’s “The bean” at Millennium Park. It has an actual name but I can’t remember it now. It reminds me of the Tiffany Bean.


Here’s a view from inside the Bean

I encourage you to click on this pic to enlarge because it’s pretty neat.

From there I walked to the Navy Pier, where I got to take some pics of the Chicago skyline.




After that, I walked back to my hotel in the theater district and got a photo of the Chicago sign there.


It was a great trip and I’m glad I had some time to explore the city. To everyone who offered ideas on what to do, thank you so much. I wish I could’ve done everything you recommended!

For the full collection of photos, check out my flickr page.