The Traveling Idiots-Where The Tuck Are They Now?: Chicago by way of Texas

After a few weeks of the annual beach house extravaganza on Anna Maria Island we headed out last Friday for Chicago. We didn't take the direct route, stopping first in Texas for a very important event. Sweet Baby James is now Sweet Big Boy James! He turned one this past Sunday and the celebration lasted all weekend. There was a party in Burleson on Saturday hosted by Joey's parents Rick and Oleta. There was great food and fellowship with family and friends. James soaked up every bit of the attention and cake that he could, smiling the whole time except during the singing of Happy Birthday. Throughout the entire song he had the most puzzled look on his face as if he was thinking "what is going on?" or man that's some bad singing!
After the party Sarah, Joey and James headed back to Fort Smith where there was another party with church friends on Sunday afternoon. I can only imagine how disappointed he must have been Monday morning waking up to no party, presents or cake.
We enjoyed having Ben join us for the party on Saturday as well as spending most of Sunday with him. He was kind enough to treat us to lunch Sunday afternoon and that evening we took in a Cleburne Railroaders baseball game. The Railroaders are a new minor league team in their first year of operation. They have built a nice little ballpark called "The Depot" which features some great information and exhibits on the areas railroad and baseball history. Minor league baseball is hard to beat!
http://www.railroaderbaseball.com/
Monday it was on to Chicago which will be our home for the next 12 days. We got a great deal on the downtown Hyatt Regency on Priceline. I wrote the hotel prior to our arrival letting them know we will be celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary while we are here and they were kind enough to upgrade us to a suite overlooking the river and the Wrigley Building.
Chicago is such a great town and while it's far from frigid we did find one of the things we were looking for which is a little cooler weather. Coming from Florida and Texas it wasn't too difficult, but it is that time of the year when it's hot pretty much everywhere. I'm reasonably sure this global warming stuff is Al Gore's fault but this isn't a political blog.
Not long after unpacking we were off to find one of our favorite things..........food! Chicago is a food lovers paradise and nothing quite says "Chicago" like deep dish pizza. You can't go wrong at so many of the local places like Gino's, Giordano's, Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinders or hundreds of other places. We chose a place we had enjoyed before that wasn't too far from the hotel (at least it wouldn't have been if I hadn't turned us the wrong way), Lou Malnati's. It was every bit as good as we remembered it being. The only challenge with Chicago Deep Dish Pizza is the wait from the time it is ordered until it's ready to devour. These masterpieces take a little longer than a normal pizza. The wait is somewhat torturous but well worth it.
https://www.loumalnatis.com
Yesterday and this morning we enjoyed nice long walks along the lake shore. Southward yesterday down to the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planetarium. Today we walked north on the lake shore directly into an approaching thunderstorm as we headed towards the Lincoln Park Zoo. We almost made it before the heavens opened up and we had to take shelter in a pedestrian underpass with several other folks for a bit of time until the storm passed. It wasn't exactly what we had in mind for our picnic spot but watching it rain made us hungry. The zoo is an outstanding one made even more outstanding by the fact that it is free. It's a nice place for kids and kids at heart.
http://www.lpzoo.org
Tonight we have the first of our three concerts. This one was a late addition. We're seeing the Doobie Brothers and Chicago at the Huntington Bank Pavilion. Pat Simmons, one of the original members of the Doobie's turns 70 soon. Robert Lamm of Chicago is 70+, Jimmy Buffett who we are seeing Saturday has passed the 70 mark and James Taylor, our Monday night performer will hit the big 7-0 in 2018. Dang, I'm feeling younger by the minute!