The Windy City

Jude and I took the boys to Chicago over the weekend for an informal reunion with some of her friends from Tulane.

We stayed downtown a block or two off Michigan Avenue.  The boys had a blast and I fell in love with Chicago.  Again.  It's such a user friendly city and so easy to get to from Nashville.  Highlights, in no particular order:

• My Saturday morning 4 mile run along Lake Michigan, followed by an awesome 5 mile run along the Chicago River Sunday morning.  The Sunday morning run was a top 10 run for the year. 
• The weather.  Oh, man, the weather was beautiful, particularly after the hot and humid beginning to the summer in Nashville.  
• Breakfast and coffee, Saturday and Monday, with the family at Le Pain Quotidian on Michigan Avenue.  Fantastic, creative, organic food and excellent coffee.  Great service, too.
• Watching J.P. and Joe interact with Terry and Meig's boys - Terry, Tommy and Holden - and Jim and Colleen's boys - Nate and Andrew.  
• The Chicago Sports Hall of Fame at Harry Carey's restaurant.  A big, big hit with J.P.
• Miniature Golf with Jude and the boys at Millennium Park.  
• J.P. rock climbing at Millennium Park.  Actually, that wasn't cool.  It scared the shit out of me to see him climbing the wall, 30 feet above the ground, even if he was attached to a harness and carefully monitored by an employee from below.  I've never felt so helpless as a father.  
• Musical beds in our hotel room, as I slept in a double bed with Jude, J.P. and Joe on different nights.  
• Taking the architecture boat tour on the Chicago River through downtown with Jude's friend, Terry Sullivan, leading the tour.  
• My brief stop off at the Hemingway House and the Hemingway Museum in Oak Park, IL, followed by a couple of beers at the Oak Park Brewing Co.  Quiet, contemplative time for me.
• Cooking out at Terry and Meig's house in Oak Park, IL, and watching the boys play football, hockey, basketball and baseball in the driveway and back yard.  
• Finishing "The Sportswriter" by Richard Ford as I sipped a beer at the Chicago Athletic Club bar and waited on Jude and the boys to return from the Aquarium.  Actually, not going to the Aquarium might have been the highlight of the trip for me.

It was a good weekend away.  Chicago is definitely somewhere we will return to in the future, hopefully for a longer stay.