So. Chicago. I didn’t realize until we got home that this was a necessary vacation for both of us. We’d had some family drama earlier that week, followed by the personal drama that is traveling 2 days for work, and then some work drama that went down the first day I was in Chicago. So the next several days of just the two of us being together; no plans to see family*, no reservations to anything, no watching what we drink because one of us has to drive? They were awesome.

And I had some uncertainty about this trip. Regarding finances. Because the money I’d planned for this trip didn’t really happen due to one of us (not me, cough, cough) filling out our W4 wrong and owing money when we did our taxes. Yes, OWING. So no nice chunk of Chicago play money that would sit and grow with interest over a few months. No. More like eating rice and beans while we saved up and put a few of the purchases on credit cards.

WHICH KILLS ME. But on the other hand? When’s the last time we had a vacation that was just the 2 of us? And who knows when we’ll have kids? Probably soonish. (I’M NOT PREGNANT) When we do finally get out of debt when we’re 95 35, and if we hadn’t spent those extra days in Chicago, would I look back at all the self-deprivation and think it was unnecessary? Probably. And aside from just the general awesomeness of the vacation, we got our proof that it was the right decision when we were in the elevator of a Holiday Inn in Peoria (thanks, Hotwire!). We got on with our luggage. Me with my carry-on and purse, Dave with his carry-on. The end. No shopping bags, no laptop bags, no grocery bags, no camera bags. And a guy got on the elevator with one of those luggage rollers that hotels have, I’m sure they have a name. And he had suitcases, a box fan, a play pen, 2 diaper bags, a Baby Bjorn and clothes just hanging loose on the rack. I think he must have read our thoughts because he said, “Traveling sure changes when you have kids.” I said, “Yeah? How many kids do you have?” “One,” he said.

Yeah, so glad we took this trip now.

Anyway, I didn’t really plan this trip at all until the week before we left so for months it had just been this big looming block of time that we’d be in Illinois. And then we were there. All of our standby flight stuff worked out better than we could have hoped for. So without going too much of “this day we did this, that day we did that” here are my highlights.

1. We flew through the Art Institute in about an hour and a half, maybe because we get bored easily, maybe because we already had a plan and didn’t go see every single section. At any rate, we’d seen what we wanted to see and decided to go look at the Miniature Rooms because WTF? Miniature Rooms? And OMG it was our favorite thing. And I don’t even like dollhouses, nor do I collect tiny things just because they’re tiny. But these little rooms were 15″ replicas of actual rooms and they were nothing short of fascinating. Pictures do no justice.

2. My friend suggested that we visit the Violet Hour for drinks. They didn’t open until 6, so we headed down to Wicker Park late on a Sunday afternoon and walked past cute little (closed) shops, fauxmeless** 22-year olds flirting with cute girls to get their leftover food, nice restaurants and that neighborhood was my favorite place. It was the first time I didn’t feel like a tourist in Chicago. There were students, couples pushing strollers, people just out and about and it just felt like . . . Chicago. (The way Montrose feels like Houston; not NASA, not the Astrodome, not the Galleria.) Even after dark, the actual Wicker Park park didn’t feel seedy, unlike every other park I’ve ever been to at night. And the Violet Hour was amazing. If you go, your iPhone Maps app is correct, even if you don’t see the bar. It’s behind you, where that man is standing by the wall. If you look close, you’ll see it’s really a door and the nice man will let you in.

3. Taza is a little Mediterranean restaurant in the Loop that was so good that if we had discovered it earlier, we might not have tried any other restaurants. Best. Falafel. Ever.

4. This hotel might be one of my favorite hotels yet. Well-designed, reasonable (they matched the non-bid priceline price), free wine happy hour every day at 5 (you can bet your ass we didn’t miss THAT), and dog-friendly! Not that we had IKE, but it made me like the hotel better.

5. Not running. I took a page out of my recent New Orleans trip notes and didn’t even bring the running gear. Instead I slept until 10 every day.

And outside of the wedding in Peoria, which was lovely and I absolutely wouldn’t have missed that, those were the highlights. We also went to Millenium Park, the Robie House, Lou Malnati’s, the Lincoln Park Whole Foods, CB2 (we don’t have one!), H&M (ditto!), Boystown, wandered through Hyde Park, walked by the harbor, went to (the edge of) Chinatown, and our rent car for our trip to Peoria turned out to be the hamster car. (You can get with this.) Which reminds me…

6. Not getting picked up by a tornado on the way to Peoria. Some of the craziest weather I have ever seen. No lie. Aside from the rain that stopped and started, we left 95° weather in Chicago. Then it dropped to 75. Then back up to 95. Then back to 75. Um…. yeah. While we didn’t see a green sky or a funnel cloud, I’m sure they were out there.

I could say more, like about how I looooove public transit and Chicago has inspired me to start taking public transit to work (starting today. I walked to the light rail station, took a connecting bus to a stop 5 blocks from my work and voila! No car needed.) and how I’d geek out every time I heard the announcer say “WBEZ Chicago” on the radio and how we took pride in not looking/acting (much) like tourists, meaning we didn’t wear cargo shorts or tennis shoes or generally look lost and people actually asked US for directions a few times, etc. but it’s late and I must sleep.

*We love visiting our families. We do it ALL the time, voluntarily.

** UGH, totally thought I made up “fauxmeless” and it’s totally in Urban Dictionary.