It's Not Little Caesar's Pizza

Tonight, for dinner, we are having a Chicago Vegetable Pizza. Elizabeth said, "It tastes strong. It's not Little Caesar's Pizza." First of all, one of the ingredients was broccoli, which we had them leave off. However, we left on the black olives, green olives, onions, tomatoes, green peppers, and cheese. The items were loaded on the pizza. It was very thick and spilling over. It filled us up and we have left-overs.

We have had an interesting time in Chicago. There is so much to see. We knew we would want more time here and we do! We haven't done a lot here because Elizabeth is still tired from being ill and Lorie became ill last night. In fact, Lorie has just spent all day sleeping in the hotel room.

Yesterday, we celebrated Elizabeth's 18th birthday with a trip to Soldier Field where the Bears play and a visit to the flagship American Girl Place on the Magnificent Mile. We took the subway to Soldier Field. We had to walk about six blocks from the subway stop to the field. We started out by going in the wrong direction, but figured it out pretty quickly. Soldier Field is at the end of the Museum Complex where Shedd Aquarium and the Museum of Natural History are. It was beautiful there and we really enjoyed seeing the outside of the buildings. When we got to Soldier Field, we went into the Bears shop. Elizabeth had hoped to purchase a jacket, but there was nothing there that she wanted. Lorie purchased a t-shirt for Elizabeth for her birthday that said the Bears were the "Monsters of the Midway". We walked around the outside of the stadium. It looks like a Greek coliseum from the outside. It is a beautiful building.

We walked back to the Museum of Natural History and purchased tickets for the Chicago Trolley and Double Decker Company - a bus that goes around the city with a tour, fifteen stops and on/off privileges. We rode the bus to the stop nearest our hotel room and enjoyed the tour along the way. We ate lunch at McDonald's, then went to walk on the Magnificent Mile. Following along with our usual method, we started out the wrong way. We probably ended up walking about an extra mile before we arrived at the Magnificent Mile, but we saw some great buildings and had a good time.

Our destination on the Magnificent Mile was the American Girl Place, the flagship store of the American Girl dolls. Everyone had told us that this store was the best of all and Elizabeth was very excited to visit it on her birthday. However, we were disappointed in it. The clerks were not as attentive or as focused on customer service as in the previous two stores. In both of the other stores, we had had personal shoppers. There were people that greeted you as you walked in and every employee acknowledged you. In the Chicago store, no one acknowledged us at all. The employees talked to you if you talked to them first, but otherwise, they talked with each other. Between the three stores, Mall of America was our favorite in terms of customer service and Los Angeles was our favorite in terms of store display.

After visiting the American Girl Place, we walked back on Magnificent Mile, enjoying stopping in stores along the way. There were so many people in this area that you were just carried along by the crowd as you walked. It is the first place that has been this crowded.

When we got back to our hotel room, we watched a movie and relaxed. Elizabeth felt that she had a good birthday.

Lorie became ill during the night, so we just all slept in this morning. Our original plan had been to get up early and keep exploring the city, but Lorie was in no shape for that and Elizabeth was still trying to catch up on her sleep from being sick.

Elizabeth and I ended up going out at around eleven. We rode the bus around the entire city tour and learned a lot. The new Transformers movie was being filmed in Chicago today and we saw several of the sets and two of the transformers. We missed the street being blown up, but we saw the evidence of it. Also, we heard that people had been "jumping" off Sears tower for the movie, but did not see it.

We feel like we just had a little taste of what is here to see and have a list for the future.

When we returned to the hotel room, we all took naps. Lorie is feeling a little better and we all had some pizza, as you saw at the beginning of this post. We have been watching TV for the first time this vacation, but neither Lorie nor Elizabeth feels like doing anything else. We hope everyone is feeling better soon. Elizabeth said that she had an appetite for the first time today, so that is good news.

Tomorrow we begin our trip home following Route 66.