A few more of Chicago...and..finally...NYC!

We caught a Cubbies game before we left town. They built stadium seating on top of the surrounding buildings! The Cubbies won by one against the Phillies.

We made it! More pictures of Brooklyn and our apartment to come.

We hope you enjoyed our cross country adventures. Stay posted for more photos of New York. We are thinking of changing the name of our blog to embracing our inner manalo blahnik! doesn't have quite the same ring, but we are in NYC so flip flops just won't do.

Chicago (it's a big city!) Part 4

Chicago Part 3

Chicago Part 2

Chicago, Illinois!

From Minneapolis we headed straigt to Chicago to meet mom and dad (donna and george) for my 35th birthday! It was a grand time. We ate at Charlie Trotters which was incredibly yummy, went on an architectural boat tour and walked through the sculpture garden at Millennium Park, which is an even greater example (than Minneapolis) of a city investing in public art. The video streaming water towers draw people from all over the city, especially kids, as do the nearby Kidney Bean and Frank Gehry's outdoor auditorium. I am not fond of Gehry's other work - Experience Music Project in Seattle and the Disney Performing Arts Center in LA - but i like this organic metal shape for an outdoor venue. It actually works really well and is the centerpiece of Millennium Park.

Mayor Daley seems to be doing a lot of things right - between investements in public art and ecological building he is putting Chicago on the map as a truly great city. It is giving Portland a run for its money. No more resting on the laurels of years past and Portland really needs to beef up its public art investments. I hope Mayor Bloomberg puts his money where his mouth is with all of his talk about greening New York City. but enough political banter....the pictures speak for themselves (i hope).

More from Minneapolis

did i mention the the lamb scottadito at the 112 eatery....yummmmy.

More from Minneapolis

Minneapolis

When we landed in Minneapolis on Sunday afternoon it felt like a ghost town - "where are all of the people?" asks Anthony. So we decided to walk around, but right before we left the phone rang....it was Charles and Anna! perfect! Charles lived in Minneapolis for 12 years so his timing was right on. We mapped out our route based on his recommendations and were on our way to the warehouse district, Loring Park, the sculpture garden and then back to the warehouse district for dinner.

Some photos from along the way and if you are ever in Minneapolis and are looking for a great restaurant try the 112 eatery. it was absolutely yummy! www.112eatery.com/

We were very impressed with all of the public art in Minneapolis. And it feels like their downtown in slowly revitalizing. I think in 5 years this place is going to be hopping.

leaving yellowstone....to Cody...and the Corn Palace!

As we were leaving Yellowstone Park we got caught in a traffic jam caused by this big ol' lazy moose. I think he must be the park rangers pet cause i swear i saw him tethered to a nearby tree. There was a little baby moose too but i was not fast enough to snap a photo of it because i was driving and trying to navigate through the swarms of people outside of their cars taking pictures. Kinda reminded us of our tiger tracking experience in India. These poor animals must get sick of us gawking at them.

We continued on to Cody Wyoming where there just happened to be a rodeo going on. Imagine that! And guess what. We were not the only "tourists" there. This is a nightly attraction in Cody meant for tourists, but it was still fun. We used it as an opportunity to eat dinner, which I must say, was not very appetizing. I found it very difficult to eat a hamburger surrounded by cows. And it smelled like a barnyard so between that and the dirty looks we were getting from our bovine friends we ditched our burgers and got a pretzel and some water.

After Cody we had a long drive to a very small town where we stayed at the beautiful and luxurious Super 8. I am not sure why they call them non smoking rooms when they reek of cigarettes covered up by nasty air freshener. Yuck. So we got up early and headed towards South Dakota.

I cannot find the pictures we took in the Black Hills and the Badlands both places were amazing! I will try to find them and post them.

A must see if ever in Mitchell South Dakota - The Corn Palace. It is the Taj Mahal of corn. It seemed apropos since Corn seems to be King in the great ol' U.S. of A. right now. Pretty soon everything will be made of corn. Don't get me started on the politics of corn......