Avoiding Thanksgiving
I have a really hard time with Thanksgiving; it's always been a slightly awkward holiday in my family, and it's when, years back, that it was clear my mom would not make it. So we like to try to get away over the weekend when we can (past trips have included London, New Orleans, and Vegas). This year, for some reason, it felt especially like we needed to get away, and so we decided to replicate a trip, twelve years ago, when we went to Chicago to stay at the Palmer House and escape the first Thanksgiving after my mom died — and we were off to Beatrix's first Chicago trip!
On the way, though, we had the bonus of stopping to see our friends Michelle and Steve in Madison (who we also had not seen in forever). Let's just say that hilarity ensued, and it was one of the most fun nights I've had in forever!
The next day, after a stiff cup of coffee, we drove on the couple of hours to Chicago, starting out at the Driehaus Museum, in all its Gilded Age glory. It was beautiful, and gosh, I wish our home was that lovely. We then had lunch at Beatrix's namesake restaurant, and then headed over to the Art Institute (where the lions were not yet wreath-adorned).
For both the Driehaus and the Institute, our Walker Art Center gained us reciprocal admission. We explored a few parts of the museum, especially the Impressionists and the special Warhol exhibit. By the time the museum was closing we were very ready to check into our posh (yet cheap) room at the Palmer House.
That night we wanted to hit a couple of taprooms, and I have long had a Rick Bayless restaurant on my bucket list. So we hit Cruz Blanca, where there was a wait so we had dessert first at Jeni's next door (and then got seated super-fast after being told there was a long wait, so brought the ice cream in with us.). I swear, though the beer at CB was good, it was the best taco I had ever had in my life. Afterwards, we went to hunt down Moody Tongue taproom, and thought it was quite the search (in a few locations), the atmosphere, the beer, and the german chocolate cake were 1000% worth it. What a place! I would go back every day if I could!
We started out Thanksgiving with the traditional huge parade, then headed over to check out Millennium Park, including the video walls and the bean/Cloud Gate. And then, what do you do for a non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner but deep-dish Chicago pizza at Pizano's? Many Chicago museums are open on Thanksgiving, so then we headed over to the Field Museum (more reciprocal memberships, this time with our Science Museum membership!). We don't always get a chance to get to natural history museums, so it was fun to do something different (and I had no idea how much Beatrix admired Jane Goodall).
We then replicated our 12-years ago Thanksgiving dinner at the Fireside. Truth be told, the day almost took a dive there, but we rallied and had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner, in an evening which finished with eating leftover german chocolate cake on the hotel room floor.
Black Friday was our last day, so we hit State Street and Macy's for the real experience (and realized that Beatrix has rarely seen department stores!). The night before, we had noticed some cute shops along Clark Street in Andersonville (while Beatrix, our "feisty tiger" had fallen asleep on the way to the restaurant so we ended up driving around more than usual). We first found the Brown Elephant, a thrift store in what I think was an old theatre space. We went to a ton of small shops, including a feminist bookstore and some great vintage and antique places (I called it getting in touch with my eastern Norwegian side).
From there we had lunch at the Bad Apple, which had a good local tap list (everyplace we went had great local taps). We squeezed in a quick trip to the Museum of Science and Industry (another reciprocal membership!) to see the Coleen Moore dollhouse and a few other exhibits. Finally, we grabbed dinner at a lovely Mexican place in Oak Park with my cousins Frank and Sandy before white-knuckling the drive home.
On the way, though, we had the bonus of stopping to see our friends Michelle and Steve in Madison (who we also had not seen in forever). Let's just say that hilarity ensued, and it was one of the most fun nights I've had in forever!
That night we wanted to hit a couple of taprooms, and I have long had a Rick Bayless restaurant on my bucket list. So we hit Cruz Blanca, where there was a wait so we had dessert first at Jeni's next door (and then got seated super-fast after being told there was a long wait, so brought the ice cream in with us.). I swear, though the beer at CB was good, it was the best taco I had ever had in my life. Afterwards, we went to hunt down Moody Tongue taproom, and thought it was quite the search (in a few locations), the atmosphere, the beer, and the german chocolate cake were 1000% worth it. What a place! I would go back every day if I could!
We started out Thanksgiving with the traditional huge parade, then headed over to check out Millennium Park, including the video walls and the bean/Cloud Gate. And then, what do you do for a non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner but deep-dish Chicago pizza at Pizano's? Many Chicago museums are open on Thanksgiving, so then we headed over to the Field Museum (more reciprocal memberships, this time with our Science Museum membership!). We don't always get a chance to get to natural history museums, so it was fun to do something different (and I had no idea how much Beatrix admired Jane Goodall).
We then replicated our 12-years ago Thanksgiving dinner at the Fireside. Truth be told, the day almost took a dive there, but we rallied and had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner, in an evening which finished with eating leftover german chocolate cake on the hotel room floor.
Black Friday was our last day, so we hit State Street and Macy's for the real experience (and realized that Beatrix has rarely seen department stores!). The night before, we had noticed some cute shops along Clark Street in Andersonville (while Beatrix, our "feisty tiger" had fallen asleep on the way to the restaurant so we ended up driving around more than usual). We first found the Brown Elephant, a thrift store in what I think was an old theatre space. We went to a ton of small shops, including a feminist bookstore and some great vintage and antique places (I called it getting in touch with my eastern Norwegian side).
From there we had lunch at the Bad Apple, which had a good local tap list (everyplace we went had great local taps). We squeezed in a quick trip to the Museum of Science and Industry (another reciprocal membership!) to see the Coleen Moore dollhouse and a few other exhibits. Finally, we grabbed dinner at a lovely Mexican place in Oak Park with my cousins Frank and Sandy before white-knuckling the drive home.
Comments