Summer School

I returned to school this past weekend and endured the grueling elements of life on the campus of a major college university....Just kidding! Katie and I decided to take an impromptu trip down to Chicago to visit our darling daughter/sister who is attending Summer School Second Session at Loyola University. We left the day after the Fourth--Thursday--and returned late last night. It was all made downright delightful because we could stay with her in her apartment-style dorm (she has a single), for FREE, overnight parking was only $5.00 a day (I kid you not, I know, I know, it's CHICAGO!), once we parked the car, we could walk to movies, restaurants, and THE BEACH and if we wanted to go anywhere we could hop on the EL because there was an EL stop ACROSS THE STREET.
While we were driving down, the car thermometer actually read 106 degrees for a split second. But no worries, there was the coolness of forced air and...

THE BEACH!!

We enjoyed the shade and watching parents carrying babies through the sand in strollers, kids making sand castles, dogs leaping through the water to catch frisbes and tennis balls, college kids playing bean bag toss, and sailboats gliding across the water.   

We did our share of eating out. The BEST restaurant was the hamburger joint Becky took us to called Bop N Grill. It was featured on a television show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives with host Guy Fieri!! The featured item on the menu was the KIMCHEE BURGER (fried egg, chili paste aioli, and cabbage slaw. I know it sounds weird, but Becky assures us, its delish. It's her favorite burger and it's Asian!). But I didn't get that one.

I got this one.

It's called the UNAMI BURGER and is laced with smoked Gouda cheese, mushrooms confit, and sundried tomatoes. It was WONDERFUL. Other note: the bun was phenomenal. Katie got the BAVARIAN BURGER and she said that too was delectable. That burger was on a special pretzel bun and had onions, bacon, mustard and cheddar cheese.  Not to mention the fries! They were truly scrumptious. Next time we go back (and believe me THERE WILL BE A NEXT TIME) we have vowed to try one of their rice dishes.



The best part of our trip was the shopping in downtown Chicago. We went to J Crew, Nordstroms, H & M, Forever 21, Banana Republic, Papyrus and many more stores.

My favorite store: discounted designer clothes!

After all that exhausting shopping we treated ourselves to chocolate chip Frappes at McDonalds.

What a fun trip!! Thank you, Becky!!!!!!!!