Chicago in October

Sam and I have taken a weekend trip to the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana with a quick detour in downtown Chicago. We were in downtown Chicago yesterday and had a very quick stay at the Westin hotel on Dearborn Street (Hotwire got us a rate of $90/night). I really love Westin Hotels. They have the best beds of all hotels and with my back problems, it's hard to find a bed (other than my own) that I find comfortable. I would buy a Westin bed if I needed one.We had dinner at Rockit Bar & Grill at the recommendation of the hotel concierge. At it was a great recommendation! Since it was a Sunday evening it wasn't a terribly long wait. The bar was hopping because there were several football games on TV. But when we finally got seated we were pleasantly surprised with all the wonderful choices for dinner.

Sam was starving so we started out with an appetizer - the "Rockcorn Shrimp" (crispy fried shrimp in a chili lime sauce). It was slightly Asian inspired in flavor. It was good but nothing I would get again or write home about. But when we were on to the main entrees that was ENTIRELY different! I ordered the "Grilled Turkey Burger" (turkey burger with sliced avocado, chipotle mayonnaise, and I added goat cheese to it). It was delicious! It was served with huge french fries that were crisp on the outside and soft and perfect on the inside... heaven! Sam ordered what Good Morning America rated the best burger in America - kobe beef patty, melted brie, fried shallots, and medijool date aioli and served with a side of truffle oil fries. Sam reported that the burger was the best burger he has ever had (and he's had a lot of them). But for the steep price of $19 it better be good (the rest of the food was reasonably priced, however). He washed his dinner down with a couple of Goose Island Seasonal beers and he declared it one of the best meals... ever. So we'll definitely visit there again!

(This picture is of a cartoon in the museum that used both Sam and my names - hilarious!)

This morning we woke up and went to the Museum of Science and Industry for a quick trip before leaving downtown for the University of Illinois. We were horrified when we pulled up to park and the price was a whopping $14!! Can you believe that? Parking in Chicago is a killer - we paid $48 to park our car at the hotel overnight. That's crazy! But when we went into the museum to buy admission we didn't care about the parking anymore because we happened to be at the museum on a free admission day! So the $14 for parking was all we had to pay.
The museum was interesting. Sam had been there with his parents to look at the "Body Worlds" exhibit several years back. But he didn't look around much. It is a huge museum with a lot of things going on. We enjoyed looking at the U-505 sub that was towed to Chicago in the '50s. It was the most interesting (and most mature) exhibit at the museum. Everything else was a little too child-focused for us. We just browsed the exhibits quickly before we had to leave to make the 2.5 hour drive to Champaign-Urbana (CU).We're now here in CU. I'm taking the evening easy and watching a little TV and putting my feet up. Tomorrow I hope to drive around the area and see what CU has to offer. It's a pretty small city. I googled knit shops and came up with one local store so I might hit that up.
I hope all of you had an enjoyable weekend!