Cold.
Scary.
Expensive.
Awesome.
Interesting.
Filling.

I love being there, I hate getting there.
A few weeks ago, for the first time in a looooooong time, I spent a few days downtown with two delightful, engaging, and wonderful friends. We walked, trained, Ubered, taxied. We wandered, dined, shopped. I took them to my favorite free destination, the Chicago Cultural Center. We saw The Bean, particularly captivating at night. We shared our leftovers with a friendly man on the street. We stayed in an historical hotel with a majestic lobby and sketchy doors and windows. We got enough snow to indulge our out-of-country guest but not so much as to hinder our visit. We did touristy stuff. We took lots of photos, watched lots of people, and had wonderful conversations. Mostly, we laughed and ate. Did I mention we ate? We had a great time*.

It was really nice to be back. I look forward to being there again.

Chicago may be a multi-faceted gem, the brighter the shine, the deeper the shadows, but it is…my kind of town.

*We beat The Wilding teen ‘protest’ by about a week. Grateful for our timing or this post may have had a completely different perspective.