Well this
has been a jam packed week for us. It started for me on this past
Sunday, when I left in the morning for Bend. There was an Oregon Employers Council Conference that was going on there that I had to attend. I had to get to Bend by 2:00 to make a presentation to the
OEC Board....it was a beautiful day for a drive over Mt. Hood and into Central Oregon. My presentation went well and I spent the night in Bend and stayed for most of the conference on Monday, leaving in the afternoon and getting back home in the evening.
On Tues, I had my only day this week in the office...and then on
Wednesday, Marlene and I got up at 2:45AM to get to the Airport by 4:00. Our plane left at about 6:00AM for Chicago. It was a good flight and we arrived at
O'hare around noon, Central Time. We took a taxi into Chicago..a $45 ride in horrible traffic. But we finally arrived at the Hotel where my meeting is...The Chicago Hilton, which is right
across from Grant Park. It's a classic grand old hotel. When it was built in the 20's it was the largest hotel in the world. One of it's claims to fame is that it was the site of the 1969 Democratic Convention, that ended in
violence and protests against the Vietnam War.
We spent the afternoon walking all over Chicago...mainly down Michigan Ave. all the way to the John Hancock center..which we went up, to the observation deck...94 floors up, with fantastic views of Lake Michigan and the city. Had a great
lunch at a restaurant on Michigan Ave,
called "The Gage" Great place, and I had a $17 hamburger!
With only a couple hours of sleep, and walking for many miles we were exhausted when we finally got back to the hotel in the evening. We slept well.
Today I spent the day in my meeting (The Employment & Training
Committee of the National
association of Workforce Agencies) and Marlene went back up Michigan Ave. ..this time with more shopping
involved.
Tonight we had dinner at a
restaurant that we saw on the Food
Chanel, several months ago, and wanted to go to as soon as we saw it...the
Webber Grill Restaurant. Everything in the restaurant is cooked over charcoal
briquettes, in
giant Webber Kettle
Grills. Fantastic food! I had baby back ribs, grilled meat loaf, and beef brisket. Marlene settled for a nice
fillet Mignon!
Well, we're back in the hotel now for the night which is good, because we are so stuffed we can hardly move!
Tomorrow I have a
nother half day of meetings, and then in the afternoon Marlene's brother is going to pick us up and take is back to Marlene's home town of
Rockford, where we will be until we come home on Sunday.
We have taken lot of pictures, and we get home I will get some of them on this Blog...
The title of today's blog is Views and News. The views are up above...more shots from our recent trip to Chicago: Along lake Michigan, Marlene inside the Chicago Hilton, the outside of the John Hancock building, The Old Water Tower, and the elevated rail..the "L"
