Chicago: Michigan Ave

Millenium Park:


The Bean:






The Hershey's Store:


The American Girl Store:



Lego Store:

Chicago foods: Ricobene's!

Grew up eating Rico's since they were simply a hole in the wall. Literally. Their store front was just a little nook on the side of the building, serving their breaded steaks off the streets. One of my most fondest memories of Rico's was when I was around 7 years old, with only a dollar in my pocket, (Not enough to actually get a whole steak). "Rico" was willing to sell me just the bread dipped in his famous sauce. So awesome. So good! I lost my tooth in the first bite. Only realizing the missing tooth after finishing the entire bread.

Now, Ricobene's a citywide chain.


Chicken Vesuvio:

My favorite.. Italian Breaded Steak!

Chicago: Married...with Child(ren)

Triple D in Chicago: Smoque BBQ

When it comes to BBQ Ribs, I hold Barnelli Ribs as my gold standard. It's cheap, fast, tender meat that falls off the bone, with great BBQ sauce. After a visit to Smoque, I think I've found an equal! YUM!!!



We ordered 1 full slab of Baby Back ribs, 1 full slab of St. Louis ribs, and one Pulled Pork sandwich. Each comes with 2 sides. (we got fries, mac and cheese, peach cobbler, coleslaws) ALL YUMM!!!

Chicago: Day 5

The usual quick park trip in the morning:



Then off to the Museum of Science and Industry.


Dr. Seuss Exhibit.




Green House Exhibit.
It's a showhome to illustrate how "green" a house can be. To a Vancouverite, I wanted to see how comparable it is to a 'typical' home. Besides the silly electronics, it's actually very comparable. The construction and the materials it uses are very common stuff at home. From the radiant heating under the floors, to expanding insulating foam in the walls, to recycled materials in countertops, to motorized blinds, to solar panels in the roof, to the bamboo flooring... it's actually very common. Fancier stuff is centralized computerized "brain" that can control every electronic device in the home. From lighting to electric stovetops. There's also the single-home big wind turbine outside that can generate enough juice to power the showhome. Not exactly sure how efficient it can really get though. I'm not convinced that the cost to make one of those would be less than the power it can generate. The blades being so small.. and so close to ground level. The best and consistent winds are WAY up higher.



A cool Rube Goldberg machine:

Chicago: Day 4

We've decided to take a slow day today. So, we hit Gurnee Mills Mall next to Six Flags Great America. It's an outlet mall, and it's HUGE.

First, a stroll along the park.



A pre-lunch warmup with Lou Malnati's deep dish pizza! YUM!!

Dim Sum with grandpa and grandma

Then the mall:







The finish a great day with dinner with grandpa and grandma at Lone Star: Steakhouse and Saloon



Peppercorn Ribeye

Johnny Walker Salmon