Chicago Vacation

The Sniper

After the insane beginning of my family vacation detailed in my Eight Lives Remaining post, we were picked up by my Uncle whom we were staying with (Enterprise rental car, whose slogan is "We'll pick you up!"? Yeah, dont believe THAT **** fellas!) we eventually made our way to Chicago and started our week long vacation. The girls and I had an absolute ball and it was the same story every single day we were in Chitown - wake up around 7 or 8 in the morning, enjoy a cigar with my Uncle on his back porch and solve the world's problems (yeah, my Uncle is a cigar guy. Of course!), wake the girls up, RUN RUN RUN all day painting the town red, get home around midnight or 1am, crash, get up and do it all over again all week long. Here are some of the highlights, in picture form...

At the Art Institute of Chicago, one of the very best museums in the entire world. My Uncle Jimmy was very excited to play tour guide and lay some culture on the girls! Note my daughter Courtney doing her best McKayla Maroney "NOT IMPRESSED!" pose... LOL





They were much more impressed with Millenium Park, featuring the world famous "Bean". I've never seen anything like this, and the girls & I were completely blown away!











We took an architectural tour of the downtown area by boat...





... before continuing on to spend an evening at Navy Pier.











We took in the Shedd Aquarium...





And stopped by Soldier Field (GO BEARS!) while we were in the neighborhood.








Spent an afternoon at the beach on Lake Michigan... sorry boys, ya dont get the pics of the girls running around in their bikinis! LOL





Also took in the Blue Man Group - best concert / live show Ive seen in my entire life! If you ever get the chance to check out one of their shows, jump all over it!





Took a Segway tour of the downtown area - the Segways were friggin AWESOME! If anyone is trying to come up with a Christmas present idea for me, a Segway would do just fine! Again, make sure you check a Segway out at some point in your life!





A nice shot of the wild bunch, with the Chicago skyline in the background (l to r - my youngest Ashley, me, my oldest Courtney, and my Uncle Jimmy).





We ended the trip with an evening at US Cellular Field for a White Sox game. A pic of the girls with The Cuban Comet, Minnie Minoso...





... one with Lady Liberty (of COURSE she's a White Sox fan!)...





... the aftermath of blue italian ice's....





... and it was a great night! Sox won on a homer in extra innings, it was Fireworks Friday, and if all THAT wasnt enough - yeah, it was ELVIS NIGHT TOO!!! LMAO!!!!





All in all, we had a great trip! All the fun times we had were enough to turn the trip from "WE ALMOST DIED!!!" from the accident that started in the trip in the girls minds, to "OMG we had SO MUCH FUN! We did this and this and this, and that and that and that, oh yeah we had a car accident... and we saw this and this and that and that and....". Had a ball and cant wait to do it again.

But next time, we're either flying or taking a train... ;-)

jliu

looks super fun! Chicago is on my places to go. you picked the wrong spot. you were supposed to drive to CA. not so smart with the old age eh? uhhh west. uhhhhh no. east

Toombes

Awesome pictures! Glad you had fun, aside from nearly getting mangled by the upside down flying car. Thanks for sharing you adventure with us, brohammer!!

jlmarta

Yo, Mr. Snipper-dude, what an incredible trip!! I'm glad you all had such a wonderful vacation and even gladder that no one was seriously hurt by the missile-car. What a strange turn of events.

I was beginning to wonder after looking through the photos if they were all going to be of your lovely daughters or if we were going to get to see SuperSniper himself. And then, lo and behold, there he is on his Segway. Musta finally figured out that he might get someone else to take the picture.

Anyway, Bro, it's good that your trip turned out so well. I'm happy for ya.....

Rail_Jockey

we used to live in the suburbs or Chicago....it is an awsome town........

jlmarta

Rail Jockey:

we used to live in the suburbs or Chicago....it is an awsome town........

I grew up in Detroit and I used to feel the same way about it. Anything you wanted or wanted to do was there. Restaurants, night life, all of it. Then, in 1956, I was hired by a major aircraft manufacturer and transferred to a dinky little town in the high desert of California. And to make a long story short, once you've lived in a small town you'll believe that the big cities are a nice place to visit but not to live there.

[Deleted User]

Glen, what a great looking trip, the ballpark must have been a lot of fun. Ooof, must be rough dealing with the boys (my daughter just turned 19 in June). Beautiful girls you have there sir. Thanks for sharing your pics. Saw the blue men in Vegas, good show but I enjoyed the music a lot.

The Sniper

jlmarta:

I was beginning to wonder after looking through the photos if they were all going to be of your lovely daughters or if we were going to get to see SuperSniper himself. And then, lo and behold, there he is on his Segway. Musta finally figured out that he might get someone else to take the picture.

Thought I'd do my best keeping it to pics people WOULDN'T get ill looking at Marty, so I stuck to pics of the girls. LOL

The Sniper

james40:

Glen, what a great looking trip, the ballpark must have been a lot of fun. Ooof, must be rough dealing with the boys (my daughter just turned 19 in June). Beautiful girls you have there sir. Thanks for sharing your pics. Saw the blue men in Vegas, good show but I enjoyed the music a lot.

Thanks for the compliment James! You will have to pm me a "how to survive a daughter's teen years" manual sometime. LOL

The Sniper

Bump, for those who saw the Eight Lives Remaining thread but may have missed the good stuff that came after. :-)

jgibv

Great pictures and a fun looking trip. Now you got me wanting to take a trip up to chi-town.....it's definitely a great city.

Did you stop at Giordano's for pizza while you were there?? Or did you at least get some good "Chicago-style hot dogs"???
IF not, I don't know if we can be friends any more...LOL

The Sniper

We did indeed have a blast! We of course had Chicago dogs (Vienna - accept NO substitutes!), but didnt make Giordano's... hit the original Gino's East downtown though, which pissed me off a little - if you want to sign the walls there now, you've got to bring in YOUR OWN Sharpie apparently! The waiters and waitresses wont even hand out a ball point pen, much less a Shaprie that they used to keep plenty of on hand. I mean, who does that? "Lets go get pizza!" "Hey, great idea - grab a Sharpie before we go!" LOL

Home Run Inn, Fox's, Salerno's, Lou Malnotti's... the choices for amazing pizza in Chicago are plentiful, and I expect that will be one of our excuses for going back. ;-)

jgibv

The Sniper:

We did indeed have a blast! We of course had Chicago dogs (Vienna - accept NO substitutes!), but didnt make Giordano's... hit the original Gino's East downtown though, which pissed me off a little - if you want to sign the walls there now, you've got to bring in YOUR OWN Sharpie apparently! The waiters and waitresses wont even hand out a ball point pen, much less a Shaprie that they used to keep plenty of on hand. I mean, who does that? "Lets go get pizza!" "Hey, great idea - grab a Sharpie before we go!" LOL

Home Run Inn, Fox's, Salerno's, Lou Malnotti's... the choices for amazing pizza in Chicago are plentiful, and I expect that will be one of our excuses for going back. ;-)

NICE!!! Vienna dog's are the best!!! There was a small stand around the corner from our hotel last time we were there....and we ate more dogs than i can count !!!
As far as dogs go - you ever been to any of the "exotic/famous" dog locations? Like SuperDawg, Gene & Jude's, Hot Dougs....we want to try and make it to one of these next time we're in Chicago.
And Gino's is on our "to try" list as well, never made it there because we ended up getting Giordano's multiple times.

The Sniper

jgibv:

As far as dogs go - you ever been to any of the "exotic/famous" dog locations? Like SuperDawg, Gene & Jude's, Hot Dougs....we want to try and make it to one of these next time we're in Chicago.

Actually we did now that you mention it - we went to Portillo's one day for lunch. I had the italian beef and sausage combo there and it was great! I asked the girls how the dogs were, and they replied "GROM GROM GROM GROM!", which I took to mean GOOD DAD since they wouldnt stop stuffing their faces long enough to answer me properly. LOL

Lasabar

Looks like an awesome trip! I was actually in Chicago yesterday for my old college roommates birthday. I love to visit the place, but the traffic and the hustle/bustle keep me from living there

brotheradam

Just was in Chicago for the first time this past weekend. What a great city, I absolutely loved it. Looks like you guys had a great time too.

The Sniper

It really is a great town, no matter what your interests might be. And Lassy's comment is dead on - if you get caught in rush hour, YOURE HOSED!!! LOL

kaspera79

The Sniper:

It really is a great town, no matter what your interests might be. And Lassy's comment is dead on - if you get caught in rush hour, YOURE HOSED!!! LOL

....Every day, twice a day. Yeah it svcks. But we do have great pizza and hot dogs.

brotheradam

kaspera79:

The Sniper:

It really is a great town, no matter what your interests might be. And Lassy's comment is dead on - if you get caught in rush hour, YOURE HOSED!!! LOL

....Every day, twice a day. Yeah it svcks. But we do have great pizza and hot dogs.

Yes, you do, got to have both Lou Malnati's & Giordano's pizza, fantastic !

Redtailhawkoz

DUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You did all the Good *** in Chi Town!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ive spent allot of time there..... My Sons Family is from Gurnee, north Chi town.... Ive been to the Taste of Chicago a few times, and all of the place on your photo Journey! WHat a Blast...... did you geet to the Shed Aquarium? if you missed that you have to go back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Miss you brother! Good Looking Girls too.... you do good work!

The Sniper

Redtailhawkoz:

DUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You did all the Good *** in Chi Town!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ive spent allot of time there..... My Sons Family is from Gurnee, north Chi town.... Ive been to the Taste of Chicago a few times, and all of the place on your photo Journey! WHat a Blast...... did you geet to the Shed Aquarium? if you missed that you have to go back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Miss you brother! Good Looking Girls too.... you do good work!

Hey Oz, great to hear from you! Yes we did do the Shedd, but will surely be going back every chance we get anyway. There's just TOO MUCH to get to it all in a week's time.

Funny Coincidence # 1 - Ive got family up in Gurnee also... all over the city actually, but mostly north and west sides these days.

Funny Coincidence # 2 - you mentioned Taste of Chicago. The day before I joined the Air Force a million years ago went like this: Taste of Chicago, Sox game, Blues Fest following those. Still one of the greatest days of my life! LOL Tons of hilarious stuff happened that day & night... unfortunately most of it is NSFW so I cant share it on the open forum, but trust me - that day could have been the script for the next Hangover movie! LOL