Chicago Trip, Day 3: My Favorite Day

Sunday morning I managed to drag my butt out of bed to do one of the things on my Chicago wish list. I wanted to run around the lakefront path on Lake Michigan. It was literally just across the street from our hotel and I am so glad that I didn't let laziness get the better of me and miss out on it. Wes came with me, despite the fact that his ankle was still nice and swollen, and we did 3 miles in the morning "heat". I use the air quotes because I think it felt hot to the people of Chicago, but to us the low 80's temp and cloud cover with low humidity felt positively refreshing! I wish I had brought my camera - but alas, it is pretty annoying to run carrying that. That lake is so amazing. It makes the lakes here look so.... dinky, unimpressive, small potatoes, etc. I mean, it is so vast that you cannot see to the other side and I really felt like I was running next to the ocean!

After getting cleaned up from our run, we met up with the gang to head for our next adventure: An architectural boat tour along the Chicago River. Of course, as we boarded our bus ominous dark clouds were building in the sky. And, you guessed it, as we were hopping off at our stop the sky literally opened up and it started POURING! Wes, Amy, Andrea, and I immediately ducked into a small doorway off the sidewalk to wait it out. (Adam and Jeremy kept walking for reasons unknown. I can only assume that they don't know their wives as well as Wes knows me. No way was I going to spend the morning looking like a drowned rat!)

We waited a while and killed the time checking the weather apps on our phones (what did we do before technology?!). Amy assured us that the rain was supposed to pass through by our 11am boat tour.

When the downpour finally let up we decided it was time to make a break for it. We came out of our hiding place and eventually caught up with the other two. We made it to our destination and ended up waiting under a bridge overpass by the river. Yes, I am sure you can imagine my delight at having to do that! And it was not made any better when Jeremy started telling me that there were pigeons waiting right above my head waiting to swoop down and attack me.

But let me tell you, Amy and her smart phone were dead right. At the stroke of 11, as we were boarding our boat, the rain stopped and the sun came out and the day was beautiful!

See? We were very happy! Oh, and this is right about the time that Andrea was explaining that Adam does not "lean in" for pictures. Apparently he is way too macho to execute a lean for the purposes of a cute picture.

See? No lean. Andrea is always the one doing the leaning. I think that makes her a very good wife :)

Wes and Jeremy are clearly comfortable enough with their manhood that they don't mind a lean in for a picture with their wife. (Adam, take notes!)

So back to the tour. It was awesome! It was an hour and half of riding down the river listening to facts and history about the buildings of downtown. It sounds a little boring I know, but it was actually a really great way to learn about the city.

After our boat tour we ate lunch and spent the afternoon relaxing - and possibly some of us did some more shopping. That evening, on our way out of the hotel, we took our only group picture.

(Thanks Andrea for sending me this group pic!)

That night we headed to see a performance at Second City. This is the improv theatre were literally all the SNL cast has come out of. Tina Fey, Chris Farley, the Belushis, Dan Aykroad, etc. I had not realized how prestigious this place was until we got there. Needless to say I immediately got really excited about seeing the show.

We were shown to our seats - front row, center thank you very much! - and ordered drinks and prepared to laugh our asses off. Which is exactly what happened. There were 6 cast members that put on a 2 hour show of sketch comedy. (Similar to Saturday Night Live, but each sketch had a unifying theme.) Sitting in the front row was quite the experience, especially when one guy was playing a horse and chewed up an apple and spit all over Wes. Or when another guys randomly took of his robe to reveal his hot pink bikini underwear and started dancing complete with high kicks!) We were not allowed to take pictures or I might have taken a few. Or maybe not. It probably would have taken away from truly enjoying the experience. After the main show the cast came out and did an extra hour of straight improv using suggestions from the audience. For this they brought out some special guests who were Second City alums. One was a writer on SNL and the other was Jason Sudeikis! Wes and I got really excited because we had just seen him in the movie Horrible Bosses and it was the closest we had ever been to a real celebrity. The improv was hilarious, especially when it got so ridiculous that even the cast started laughing. We were very sad to see the show end - I think we could have gone and watched it all over again. I highly recommend going if you are in Chicago.

After that it was late and most of us were tired. Poor Jeremy tried to persuade us to go out and party but he was met with much resistance. He informed us that at this rate if we go on another vacation in ten years, all we would be able to handle would be heading out for the early bird special at 4:30 before crashing in bed at 7:00. I think he was trying to call us old. Whatev. Call me old all you want, but a big beautiful king size bed with feather pillows was calling my name!