I always like walking in Forest Park, but Marcoa was gorgeous.  There were 6 of us who drove out together:  Leslie and I from the Merrywalkers drove, and we brought Lena, Joan, Dar, and Rachael, and of course, Abby, Leslie's dog.  Starr also made it to the walk, but about a 1/2 hour later, but she did it!  We met up with her at the end, and I can't believe how good she is looking.  But the Mossbacks outdid themselves again and found a wonderful place to walk.  it's always fun to do their walks and be able to feast on all of their baked goods.  After the walk we headed over to Brownsville and did another 5k after lunch.  We didn't get back till almost 4, but it sure was fun!

Mary Ann and I decided to do the walk in Beaverton with Dick and the gang.  As you can see, we all have on our New Balance shoes on underneath the NIKE sign!  We had a great walk and the weather was perfect.  I had a surprise at the beginning of the walk. 2 Merrywalkers actually received awards.  Sharon Klein received a nominee award for Inspiration and I received one for Enthusiasm. Karen Kelly also received an award that day.

It felt good to see the Snails this morning, it had been 2 weeks!  I found out that Ralph and Alice have 5 babies now and we even had a chance to see one of them this morning.  It's a little hard to spot, but if you look at the pictures, it was in the left hand corner.  We missed some of the regulars, like the 2 Pams and Lynette, but hopefully we will see them soon.

Today we started the day by walking along the Lake front viewing the boats getting ready for their race to Mackinac Island.  Then we headed over to the pier to watch the parade of boats,  After we walked down the Magnificent Mile and up the Hancock.  We then walked over to the 4th Presbyterian Church and they let us have a peek in there, then it was down to Rush Street. After having an Italian ice we headed towards the Ambassador East Hotel where they let us graciously sit in the #1 booth in the Pump Room, right where Johnny Depp sat a few weeks ago.  Then tonight we picked up a combo at Portello's and then we had wonderful seats at the Grant Park Symphony.  Tomorrow we do the Gospel Brunch at House of Blues. Wow!

Started out by heading over to the Palmer House to get the recipe for the brownie.  It turns out, Bertha Palmer invented the brownie and now we have the original recipe, which we will share on our recipe page.  We thought we might bring one to our next picnic so you can try it out. After we headed out to Wrigley and then over to Graceland Cemetery.  After the Marys were able to try their first Chicago dogs.  Tonight we saw the Million Dollar Carl Quartet.  It was a true story based on a chance meeting of Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins.  The actors were amazing and you could hardly believe they weren't the real thing.  After we headed out for pizza at Lou's, which was only down the street and then home.  Tomorrow we are going to do the Lakefront Walk so we can see the start of the Chicago to Mackinac Island boat races.  We heard today they will start right from Navy Pier,  
I can't believe tomorrow is our last full day here. 

Today we had a clear day so we headed over to the Sears Tower, taking in the Chagal at the Bank of America Building, the Board of Trade, Federal Reserve and all of the buildings in the Financial District.  After that we had dinner at the Italian Village and stopped off at the Palmer House, then Fields for some Frango Mints, then the Art Institute.  Tonight we just keeping looking outside of our window amazed at the beautiful colors of Buckingham Fountain and the lights over at Navy Pier.  Everyone here is resting and reading and then every once in a while we look out at the lights again.  Tomorrow we may just do a walk.  I hope I can dream about the lights and not the Ledge!

We relaxed for about an hour and then headed off to the Near North Side, seeing Bug House Square (where you can give a speech on a soap box) and ending up in Old Town.  We decided to take in a performance at Second City and we just laughed all night.  Some of the performers who have come out of Second City are Bill Murray, John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Harold Ramis, Bonnie Hunt, Mike Meyers, Shelly Long, George Wendt and so many more.  Tonight we had a chance to see the "new talent",

Today we did the walking tour starting with the old Chicago Public Library with the Tiffany Glass.  Then we did the tour around Millinium Park.  After, we had pizza for lunch and then took the a tour on the Chicago River.  Tonight we are heading off to Second City.

"Take me back to the Windy City": Doris Day in Calamity Jane.

Everyone is now here.  Last night we headed out right away for Navy Pier and the big ferris wheel.  What a view.  The view from the hotel room is unbelievable.  Today we are headed for the tour with the Chicago Greeter and then over to Hottix to see about the tickets for the nightlife.