Isla and Jordan take on Chicago

Jordan and Isla in the Windy City (as told by Jordan). A few months ago Isla and I went on a trip to Chicago.  Why Chicago? At first Isla sold me a bill of goods she wanted to see snow, I later learned the largest American Girl Doll store resides in Chi-Town.  We landed and Isla really wanted to "take the subway."  We got off about 3 blocks from the Drake, the temperature was 18 degrees, windchill of 8.  Isla who is basically a native Texan was shocked by the cold and complained her eyes were watering.   Undeterred we pressed on....

First stop was a brokerage shop I do business with, SCB.  They were super nice and even made a "Welcome" sign for Isla.  A special thank you to the Jen's and the rest of the crew.

Up next was the Sears Tower.  Historians will tell you it has been renamed the Willis Tower but they can screw off, it is and forever will be the Sears Tower to me.  The Sky Deck was really cool, you can stand 103 floors up and look straight down.  My palms were a bit sweaty but Isla was brave and unfazed.

We only had 3 days two nights in Chicago so we took an uber over to the real reason we came to town.  The largest American Girl doll store in the free world.  We shopped, picked out an outfit and got Isla's doll, Lea a pet.  We hit up the salon and got Lea a fresh new cut for her trip to the big city.

Later that night Isla and I accompanied Chris and Kelly to dinner at a fancy restaurant.  Maybe it was the cold nip in the air, or the fancy lemonade but tonight was a night of many firsts for my little travel companion.  First on tap was calamari, Isla popped it straight into her mouth and even went back for seconds.  Then came the main event, sushi.  Egged on by Kelly and a promise of cash from me, Isla shoved a tuna roll in her mouth, she promptly spit it back out but I was proud she tried it.  Thank you Kelly and Chris, hope you had as much fun as we did.  Cute post story... Isla asks about Chris and Kelly at least twice a week.

We went to bed pretty early tuckered out from our travels but got up bright and early to head to the Shedd.  Super dad had his tickets printed out in advance and when the doors opened we skipped the ticket line and were the first ones through the door.  The Shedd is huge and for the first 30 minutes or so we had the place all to ourselves, it was magical.

Isla's favorite place in the Shedd was the dolphin experience.  She stood there alone for 30 mins trying to "talk" to the dolphins.  She would say

eek eek

 as they swam by.

When we left this giant tank was swarming with people.  In hindsight if someone else was there I probably could have gotten them to take a picture of us together.

After the Shedd we went to get a right-of-passage for anyone new to the Windy City; deep dish pizza.  Isla made a pretty good sized mess but loved it.

We were one of the few people

dumb

 adventurous enough to walk the lake on a sub 20 degree day.  We had the park and skyline all to ourselves.  Isla would sprint from time to time to keep warm.

After walking around the lake and burning 1/3 of the calories we ingested at lunch we headed to Millennium Park.  We walked around the Bean and the rest of the park.

After the Bean I took Isla ice skating for the first time on The Ribbon, an outdoor skating rink that is more like a motocross course than a rink.  It has twists, turns and even a few hills.  As a hockey player it was neat to skate on something other than a circular rink.  Isla did great for her first time, she fell which is to be expected but did not give up.  I was very proud of her.

Tired from a full day of adventures we got back to the Drake.  They have an American Girl Doll package which Isla LOVED.  They had drinks with your doll, brought a special little bed into the room for your doll, even a turn down service for your doll.  Isla got a Shirley temple and I had an old fashioned.

After our cocktails we went for one more stroll and Isla ran into Abe Lincoln.  Not sure the significance of this statue and never bothered to look it up but Isla was impressed.

We ended the night with room service and fell asleep with ease after a wonderful day.   When we woke up Isla looked out the window while I packed us up.  She was a trooper and a wonderful traveling buddy.  Can't wait until our next adventure.