We Arrive in the Windy City

Our travel to Chicago involved long lay overs in both SLC and Minneapolis/St. Paul, but we finally did arrive at about 8:30 PM on Saturday. While I waited for the luggage, Bubby went in search of directions and a Chicago Transit Authority kiosk where she could purchase seven-day "El" passes. During the process, she hooked up with a lady coming to Chicago to attend a Pampered Chef convention. The lady was from Kellogg, Idaho. We decided to be daring and ride the L in to our hotels (she the Sheridan, we the Embassy Suites). We caught the Blue Line and headed in. We could only get so close without changing trains, so we shared a cab ride to our final destinations.

It was nearly 10:30 PM when we finally arrived at the hotel, we could tell the hotel was pretty well booked. We were assigned a room on the eighth floor, a smoking room. We marched ourselves back down to the lobby and were informed that there was no other "room at the inn". Bubb asked to speak to the manager, and got the same story. We were not happy. We were assured that we would be given consideration for a non-smoking room on Sunday morning, before we marched back to our smelly accommodations. We found we could minimize the odor by closing off the bedroom from the rest of the suite. It seems most of the smoke is in the curtains and carpet of the front portion of the room.

We woke at about 6:00, and Bubby was in a foul mood. I am sure that many of will doubt that Bubb could ever been in a foul mood, but I have seen it, and this was one of those times. We went down to the fresh cooked breakfast, and she immediately started working the front desk for a new room.

One of the pluses of the Embassy Suites is a full, cooked-to-order breakfast each day. The photos are poor (small camera, not much flash) but I tried.



The line to get your made to order eggs goes into this door. In addition to this line, there are scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns and all the amenities in a buffet line. We were starved after the day before of traveling and eating a weird meal in SLC and chips and salsa at Chili's in MSP.



This photo shows the eating area from above. It was really crowded on a Sunday morning, even at 7:45.



Those who have stayed before know that the hallmark of Embassy is open atria around the central courtyard. Here is the view around the atrium on our floor.



Bubby got showered, and while I was in the shower, a room opened up! We were trying to get ready and make the L-run to to the Logan Square Ward and move all before 9:00 AM. We did notice that everything takes a long time here.

We accomplished our move by my finishing my shower and then moving and Bubby moving and using the new digs to finish with her makeup and hair. We left the hotel headed for the El at about 8:30, but were nearly 25 minutes late for church. Lots of false starts once we arrived at Logan Square. It is a good thing that people are kind to children, dumb animals, and tourists.

We ran into lots of people with southern Utah connections at church. I meet a member of the Pace family from New Harmony. Del and Lynnette Parson were there as well. Del is attending a workshop for a month. It was a very nice meeting and we enjoyed ourselves.

We settled on Italian for dinner last night. We visited a restaurant named Volare, which is in easy walking distance from the hotel. The food was fab, but so was the check. Bubb is always happy with Italian. There is a market directly across the street from hotel from which tasty beverage is readily available, so I think we will stay on until Thursday.

Buboppy