Millennium Park to the Miracle Mile

We took the train downtown today to see Millennium Park, shop the Miracle Mile, get some Garrett's popcorn and just check things out in general. Of course I was also interested in getting the Hard Rock Hotel and the Hard Rock Cafe. On my last trip here I stopped by both for the city shirts, but they were out.

First mornings are always rough. The kids and I got out of bed about 10/10:30 CST. We picked up 'grammie' and headed to the train stop to catch the Blue Line into town. We ended up eating at Chipotle for lunch which made Jordan happy! Grammie had never been to such a place and seemed to be confused by the whole 'build it as you order it' thing. Some how she managed, though. Becca had never been to one either, but she some how managed to make it through without any issues. From now on Becca has responsibility to make sure Grammie gets her food the right way!

After lunch we went to Garrett's popcorn. This is a famous popcorn shop in Chicago that Britt saw on some food show and she wanted to go. Popcorn? No problem!

Millennium Park. Jordan saw it a year ago. Britt was only interested in shopping. Grammie and Becca live here and have seen it numerous times. As you can figure this was a big hit. First stop was "the Bean" as everyone calls it. Which it pretty much is just a big ol shiny bean sitting in the middle of the park. The cool thing is to go up to it and get a twisted view of the city. Last trip I got some of the city's nighttime skyline in the bean. I need to work those pictures so I can get one posted.

Buckingham Fountain for the same aforementioned reasons also seemed to be of little interest to the kids. And, funny, still no one laughed when I started to sing "Love and marriage, love and marriage, go together like a horse and carriage ..." as we stood in front of the fountain. Married with Children fans would recognized Buckingham Fountain from the show's opening montage.

From there we headed uptown to the Miracle Mile, passing the Art Institute. I'd love to go there, but cannot see the kids getting too into it and making it more of a pain in the butt than anything. I always liked the Lions standing guard outside the museum.

And of course, wherever there is a Hard Rock, I must go! This is the Hard Rock Hotel in downtown Chicago. Lobby looked sparse, not very Hard Rock like. Also memorabilia was very limited. And worst of all they STILL did not have a city t-shirt! Guess i will have to hit it AGAIN to get the stupid shirt!!

A view as we are trotting along on State Street. The Sun-Times building is the white building in the middle.

And now we can say we have been to Niketowns in California, New York, and Chicago. This was a cool display of Kobe Bryant going in for the slam for the new "Redeem Team". I wonder what they will do with this display when it is over. I wonder if I can get it home wiht me on the plane. Maybe if I bought it a ticket I could sit it next to me on the plane. Maybe I could even use it to get into the car pool lanes! Hmmm.

And the after Niketown, it all became a big ol' blur as we hit a few stores, including a giant 8-story Macy's and a Ghiradelli! Finally we ended up the night at the Weber Grill. They actually cook the food in Weber Grills that look like they are on steroids! It is a cool theme and another thing Britt saw on one of the food shows. It was cool being able to take her there.