THURSDAY
My flight to Chicago left about three hours later than scheduled due to thunderstorms in Chicago. During the delay, I got a breakfast burrito, then went to the United Club lounge since it was near the gate. My flight left the gate at DIA at 11:15 and landed at O'Hare at 2:40 PM. Since air traffic was backed up due to the delays, my flight had to wait on the tarmac for 40-45 minutes until the arrival gate was available.
I missed a lunch meetup at Gino's East since I didn't get to the hotel until after 4 PM. I met the cruise reunion group later for dinner at Howl At The Moon. While walking back to the hotel, I bought some water and cereal at a nearby 7-Eleven.
FRIDAY
I accidentally left the hotel with part of our group which was headed to a river boat tour. Thankfully, the rooftop bar crawl I planned to attend was a short distance away, so I didn't have to walk all the way back to the hotel again. My cruiser's name bead necklace came untied while I was walking and spilled the beads all over the sidewalk. Thankfully, people nearby helped me locate all of them. I may transfer the beads to a metal necklace to make it easier to add beads without constantly tying and untying the shoelace-style necklace.
The group went to Cindy's rooftop bar first, then to O'Brien's restaurant for lunch, followed by the London House. It was over 90 degrees when we got to London House. About half of the group ate and drank at the bar one floor down on the inside. I had dinner with a few group members at Bar Louie.
The evening ended with a trolley tour of the city. The group filled three trolleys and had an excellent time partying on the trolleys while visiting sites like Cloud Gate (the "mirrored bean" sculpture in Millennium Park ) and Buckingham Fountain (The fountain shown in the opening credits for Married...with Children.)
SATURDAY
The day started with brunch at Bub City. I ordered a red chili scrambler with cheesy grits, plus coffee and a mimosa. Another group member shared a brisket mac-n-cheese appetizer with the table.
A couple of my toes had been bleeding because I forgot to clip my toenails before the trip. I got a nail clipper at the hotel and trimmed my nails before the next event.
The group had reserved a large area at Caffe Oliva, located on the Olive Street Beach. Service was a bit slow at times, but that's because the location was more crowded than usual. The group had dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery that night. I skipped a couple of the later events so I could get enough sleep before my flight.
SUNDAY
I checked out of the hotel around 9:20 and took a shuttle to O'Hare at 9:55. My flight was only delayed by 22 minutes this time since it was raining. I spent an hour or so in the United Club lounge before the flight.
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If I stay at the Courtyard Marriott Chicago/River North again, I need to remember the rooms have mini-fridges. This wasn't mentioned on the hotel's website. I initially planned to bring my EZCoolDown vest to keep myself cool during the 80-plus-degree days.
One issue I worked on was pacing myself when eating and/or drinking. During the bar crawl, I made sure to use the restroom at least once an hour and didn't have too much food. The hot weather allowed me to sweat out some of the excess water as well.
I gained 6.5 pounds on this vacation. I was actually expecting to gain much more due to Chicago's reputation for having great food.
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