I figured I should split this up, so I don't overwhelm you with pictures. I took a lot. Big surprise, right? Jarred & I got to Chicago almost a day before Dixie & Kent so we had a chance to explore some and kind of get a feel for where we were. Unfortunately, I was turned around everywhere we went. At least Jarred knew which way to go. After we checked in, we decided to walk around and find some pizza and the Sears Tower. (It's now called the Willis Tower, but we were told most Chicagoans still call it the Sears Tower.) Here are the pictures from our first 2 days.
Chicago River with tall buildings on each side.
The tall building on the left with the spire on it is Trump Tower. It is Chicago's newest skyscraper. We thought Trump would want to make it bigger than the Sears Tower but it is the 2
nd tallest building in the US. We then thought, maybe, Trump was a little sentimental about big buildings and wanted to let the Sears Tower keep the title. After doing a little research, I found out Trump did want it to be the tallest but after 9/11 he decided to scale back.
I'm standing at the bottom of the Sears Tower looking straight up. You can see what looks like windows sticking out from the top. That is "the ledge". It's all glass and you can walk out over the ground. It's just 1353 feet or 103 floors up.
It would take just over 346 of me to be as tall as the Sears Tower.
or about 289
Jarreds.
This is looking out over Lake Michigan from the top. The piece that sticks out the water is where the Adler Planetarium is. The Field Museum,
Shedd Aquarium and Solider Field are also all in this area.
The black building with 2 spires at the top is the John Hancock Tower, with Lake Michigan in the background.
I zoomed in really close to get Wrigley Field.
Sitting out over the Ledge. If it's too windy, they pull the windows back in.
Jarred looking straight down.
Jarred on the Ledge.
We found Route 66. I have no idea where we were when we found it.
Waiting for the El.
The Field Museum
Sue, the biggest, most complete T Rex in the world.
The old water tower. One of the few buildings to survive the fire of 1871.
Looking over downtown from the top of the John Hancock Tower. The purple (supposed to be pink) spire is the Trump Tower. The 2 pink spires are the Sears Tower. They had a lot of buildings lit up pink for breast cancer awareness.
Looking north from the John Hancock Tower.
The Chicago Tribune building.
The tribune building had stones from other famous buildings from around the world. The
Taj Mahal, Great Wall of China and, of course, the Alamo.
Friday morning we took an architectural river boat cruise and learned all about the different buildings and types of
architecture. This is Trump Tower. If you look closely, you can see some window washers.
We all had to look up to see all the buildings. Our necks were sore when it was over.
This is the Merchandise Mart. It is 2 city blocks long and used to have its own zip code.
We went back to the top of John Hancock Tower in the day. This is Navy Pier.
"The Bean". It's actually called "
Cloudgate" but it looks like a bean. This was in
Millennium Park. The park was full of sculptures, fountains and a place that has concerts. It was pretty impressive.
The Bean was a fun place to play with the camera.
I title this one, "Reflection". If you look close, you can see Jarred is actually taking the picture and I'm walking.
Group photo.
Buckingham Fountain lit up pink for breast cancer awareness.
Another group photo.
That's the end of day 1 & 2. Stay tuned for the next 2 days!
The last tour of Wrigley Field was the Saturday before we were there. I guess we'll have to go back & actually see a game here.
There are apartments for rent across the street on 2 sides of the stadium. They have bleacher seats at the top and although they were closed, we guessed that you could rent it out for the weekend or during games.
We ate lunch at Cemita's Puebla, which was featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. Let me tell you, it was a Dive! I think we were all getting a little worried about eating here the further outside of town we got. The food, however, was delicious! I would definitely go back again. If fact, we kept saying we were just going to keep going back and eating there, and we were only partially kidding! If you ever go to Chicago, you definitely need to try it.
This is the little man that owns it. He was so proud that he was on the show and I think it makes his day whenever anyone comes in who's seen it. He made sure we got the things featured on the show and told us whenever we came back to Chicago, we always had a home at Cemita's Puebla!
Here's the outside. It really looks like the places I went when I was in Puebla, Mexico. The owner is from Puebla so now we're old friends! I'm pretty sure I would not have chosen this place if it hadn't been on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives.
Our next stop was an ice cream shop. (I told you we ate a lot!) It was closed until 2 so we had a little time to kill. We found a fun vintage clothing store and soon found lots of "cool" outfits to try on. We were having a great time until the owner asked us to leave. He was mad because we were just having fun and didn't plan to buy anything. Puh Puh.
Kent looking suave. I was picking out Jarred's outfit when we were asked to leave. Jarred is very upset he didn't get to try anything on. 
We were getting ready for a group picture with the city behind us. Jarred snapped this as he was getting it all set up and I thought it turned out pretty neat.
Group photo at Navy Pier.
Dixie & I look good in Chicago. :)
The Navy Pier ferris wheel.
The city from the ferris wheel.
Looking back at Navy Pier. 
Me & Jarred high above Chicago. 
Jarred got artsy with the Sears Tower.
This is the German Sub U-505. It is a real submarine and was captured by the US in WWII. We toured it and got to see how 59 smelly Germans lived for about 100 days in a small cramped sub. I think this was one of my favorite exhibits. It was impressive to be inside and hear the "attack" and know that there were a bunch of Germans aboard who wanted to kill us but didn't.
We also toured the Jim Henson exhibit. It was so fun to see all the puppets and different characters he'd created. This is Rolf.
Awww, Miss Piggy.
Bert & Ernie
Group picture at Second City. The show was so funny. This was another place I'd definitely go back to. We had a great time in Chicago. I really hope I get to go back again someday.
