I was fortuntate enough to accompany Mike to Chicago for the Academy for Otolaryngologists -Head and Neck Surgery Annual Meeting and OTO Expo. Mike was asked to present one of the cases he had worked on and written a paper for. Thank you to my mom who so kindly flew up and watched the kids for five days. She is a trooper and a wonderful grandma! Here we are at the Expo in front of his poster. It was an honor for Mike to be asked to join the conference this year. Usually only the chief residents and staff go to this meeting. I have to brag a little about some of the events that occured there. Before we headed home Mike was awarded second place for his poster in the military sector and was also awarded for his paper that he presented in Orlando during the springtime. I know how hard he worked and I am so proud of all his accomplishents. It was also nice that they awarded him with not only two plaques but a nice check! He was kind enough to let me buy something special with his award money!
Of course we walked the streets of Chicago during most of our trip sightseeing and shopping and just having a great time. Little Abby was such a good traveler and was so happy. It was such a joy to be able to spend so much time with her and Mike without any distractions. I think Mike especially enjoyed the time he had with her.
One of the first things we did was take a River and Lake Tour of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. The weather couldn't have been better the entire time we were in Chicago. Although referred to as the windy city, Chicago during our stay was warm and sunny. It was in the mid 80's the entire time we were there all the while raining back at home. One of the things I didn't know about Chicago was how much fog they get. It was pretty hazy looking at the skyline from the boat. We loved being able to see all the sailboats. They are such beautiful boats. Here we are with our friends The Crawfords. We had a blast spending most of our days there hanging out.
One of the other touristy things we did in Chicago was visit Millenium Park. What a cool place! Right in front of this fountain was a decent sized grassy area. It was nice to see that in the middle of the city.
The first thing we went to see was what is known as the Cloud Gate. It was designed by the British artist Anish Kapoor and is among the largest of its kind in the world. It is a 110-ton elliptical sculpture forged of a seamless series of highly polished stainless steel plates, which reflect the city's famous skyline and the clouds above. There is a 12-foot-high arch in the middle that acts as a "gate" to the chamber beneath the sculpture. It is pretty crazy to look up.
Also at Millenium Park are these two 50 foot glass block towers known as the Crown Fountain. In between each is a shallow reflecting pool and water is constantly flowing down these two towers to the water below. The towers project video images from a broad spectrum of Chicago citizens. It was pretty cool to see someone's face up on the tower, watching them blink, and then to watch water flow out of a spout so cleverly positioned in the middle of the persons mouth. Pretty cool stuff.
It was so grateful for the time I had to spend and talk with Mike one on one. Of course we love good company and were so happy to be able to spend a lot of time with our friends shopping, talking, eating Garretts popcorn, and just hanging out. It was also nice to be pampered by all the Pharm reps and get some really great free dinners! Of course my favorite places we ate at were PotBelly's Sandwhich and Ghirardelli's for dessert. YUM YUM!!
This is Marissa and I in front of the Cloud Gate.
Ok so I have to explain this picture. As we were walking along the Magnificent Mile (so named because of all the great shopping) we came across the Chicago Tribune building which in itself is a neat looking building. One of the coolest things about this building is the various rocks and stone from all different parts of the world that are embeded into the stonework of the building. This particular stone is one from Mt. Rainier...a place that is very memorable to us Northwestern folk.
This is a unique building some refer to as the popcorn building.
We stayed at the Palmer House Hilton which is one of the oldest hotels in Chicago. It was renevated to look like it did when it was first built. It was gorgeous inside and this is my crude attempt to capture its beauty. It simply does not do justice to how amazing it was.
