Last fall, (2010 goal:  timely blog updates!)  the Katies and I boarded a train to Chicago, and we had a blast!  Traveling by train was a new experience for me, and it wasn’t too bad, although I really could have done without the all-night denture-sucking from a gentleman a few rows back.  The is the same gentleman who, when it was announced that our train would be slightly delayed, concocted a ridiculous lie and dialed up some poor third party and forced them to deliver it to his boss.  Instead of, I don’t know, saying “my train was late?”

After checking into our hotel, freshening up, and enjoying a bountiful breakfast at The Original Pancake House, (potato pancakes and bacon pancakes and dutch babies, oh my!  You’ll soon realize that we devoted most of our trip-planning research to our meals.  What can I say, we love good food!) we decided to hit the streets and as you can see, Katie instantly picked up on the fashion style of the windy city:

That night we had a fantastic tapas dinner at Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba, (tapas are fun!  And delicious!  Except for the fried green peppers.  We do not recommend those) where sangria proved to be too strong for Katie:

After dinner, we headed to The Second City theatre, where they seated us practically onstage.  Really.  I am pretty sure I was resting my elbow on the stage in the picture below.  Thankfully we had the opportunity to relocate to a less neck-craney section before the show started.  The show was hilarious, and we were treated to an extra session at the end where the cast tried out new material.

The next morning, we got up, walked down the street from our hotel (Hotel Indigo) and ate breakfast at The 3rd Coast. (Their Eggs Benedict were fantastic!)  Then we headed over to Navy Pier and took an architectural river boat tour.

It was interesting and maybe just a little too long for our tastes, but was pleasant enough.  Apparently the Katies got bored and started posing while I continued to give the architecture the attention it deserved:

Next was the ferris wheel which was way higher than it looked.  This is me being nervous:

Ah, solid ground, much better!

Then we headed to The Signature Lounge in the Hancock Building to take in the view and enjoy some cocktails.  The view from the ladies bathroom is supposed to be one of the best in the city!  (we hear the mens room has no view at all!):

We finished up the day with a meal at The Home Bistro, a restaurant we will forever be indebted to for introducing us to the brilliance of bacon wrapped dates.  Seriously.  Go wrap some bacon around some dates.  SO good.

The next morning we went to Wrigley Field, where Katie realized her dream to play in the majors (I think really she might just want a statue modeled after her):

We decided to take a tour of Eli’s Cheesecake World, where we answered cheesecake trivia and won approximately 8 billion individual slices of cheesecake.  And an entire cheesecake.  Seriously, we were giving cheesecake away.  Our cab driver got a slice (which was inadvertently thrown AT him through the cab divider by a well-intentioned Katie,) our waitress at Kuma’s got a slice, random passersby got a slice.  We had more cheesecake than we knew what to do with.  Lots and lots of cheesecake, I, I guess… I guess would be the main bullet point of this presentation.

As if we weren’t full enough, we further punished ourselves by eating lunch at Kuma’s Corner, which from here on out will be reverently referred to as the Home of the Best Hamburger I have Ever Eaten in my Life.  SO GOOD.  If you go to Chicago and have only one meal, make it this one.  The Katies and I split a Make Your own Mac & Cheese and the YOB (Smoked Gouda, Bacon, Roasted Red Peppers, Roasted Garlic Mayo on a Pretzel Roll) and it was divine.  I want it RIGHT NOW!

After we rolled ourselves out of Kuma’s, we hit the scary glass boxes at the top of Willis (Née Sears) Tower where some awful person decided to jump up and down to test the glass we were standing on, oh, 1,353 feet off the ground.  (We survived.)

On our last day we ventured out to The Museum of Science & Industry, where we visited the Harry Potter exhibit (Katie elbowed her way to the front of the group to be the first to get sorted- Gryffindor, of course,) watched baby chicks get hatched, and made lots of weird faces.

Chicago, you were funny, delicious, and exhausting.  Let’s do it again sometime.

It has been snowing here for the last three days, and let me tell you, the novelty, it has worn off.  I am definitely daydreaming of warmer times.  Like the mini-vacation Josh and I took last July (I know, I am ridiculously behind on my blogs, but I am slowly getting caught up!) to Arizona to visit with one of my oldest friends, Jen, and to shoot her engagement photos.

On our first full day in the desert, we drove to an adorable nearby town called Bisbee.  Bisbee was founded during the mining boom, and in the early 1900s it was home to the most productive copper mine in Arizona.  If this town has a theme, it is most definitely: copper!

I put Josh to work as my assistant for the duration of the trip, and I gotta say, he is getting good at this photography stuff!  The shot of the cactus below was one of his, and I love it!  One of my favorites from the weekend!  Here he is looking into a copper mine pit.  Oh wait, am I supposed to be taking photos of those lovebirds in the background? Whoops!  I got distracted.

This is the Lavender Pit, obviously not named for its color, but for a man named Lavender.

A quick snap while we enjoyed some fabulous Mexican food!

One of the coolest spots in Bisbee was a hotel that has been open since 1902, The Copper Queen Hotel.  Apparently, John Wayne actually stayed in the John Wayne Room several times!

As you can see, Josh is always ready to pose:

or to blow smoke rings (okay, clouds) on demand (also, holding Jen’s purse!  Ha ha!):

or to pretend he doesn’t see me trying to snap a shot:

On the second day of our Arizona adventure, we got up early and trekked all over Sierra Vista, where Jen and Clint live.

Would you believe that all of these next shots were taken in their backyard?  I am jealous.

We got some great shots at the top of a Spanish Mission in the mountains:

and some on the base where Clint works:

Josh strikes a statue pose:

And look!  A friendship rainbow appears!  Josh is getting good at this!

Later that night, we headed out to  Tombstone and the Bird Cage Theatre.

I have to say, I was a little disappointed by the preservation methods.  I mean, Master Locks?  And uh, not to be picky, but, guys?  It’s “their”, not “there,”

And what is up with all the freaky mannequins?  I know I wasn’t there, but I don’t remember zombies or side swept bangs being part of the old west…

Lame. Tombstone, lame.  Let’s not even get into the fact that the pool table that Morgan Earp died on is now inside a souvenir shop and piled high with t-shirts and magnets.  Gross.

We had to head home early on our last day, but on the way to the airport, we decided to stop by Saguaro National Park in Tuscon.  A pretty amazing cactus forest, even though it was SUPER hot out!  I was hunting out some shade while Josh told a certain cactus to put ‘em up…

check out the little critter I spotted:

We had an awesome time out west, and I am just sorry I don’t get to see my Jen more often!