Tammy and I had our first big weekend away without Mazie. We went to Chicago and took advantage of the long weekend. Tammy did all the preparations and built an entire weekend agenda around what she knew I would like to do. We indulged in a fancy hotel, great restaurants, museums and shows.

I like nice hotels – I admit it. I’m not high maintenance, requiring them. But it’s nice to enjoy a great hotel. The Chicago Peninsula hotel was certainly spot on. The service was lavish, the rooms were opulent and the amenities were amazing. The rooms were wired up with central controls for all light, entertainment and heating controls. All the controls for pretty much everything were right there on this great console next to the bed. The Spa services were amazing, although very overpriced. It was a shame that we didn’t get there until 2:30 am on Saturday morning to enjoy the hotel!

On Saturday we had a full day. We had a great breakfast at Yolk, a new restaurant south on Michigan Ave. After that we went to the Field Museum for a short trip through one of the wings. We only had less than 2 hours at the museum. Then onto our massages and an hour at the gym before heading to dinner at Trattoria No. 10 followed by two seats at Wicked.

Wicked was simply great. Neither Tammy or I are huge theater people, but we enjoy an occasional show. As such, my view of Wicked is far from thorough or scientific. That aside, I really enjoyed it and it was the first musical that I would happily go to again. You should check it out if you have the opportunity. It is worth the effort!

We had a more relaxed day on Sunday with breakfast in the room and a somewhat cheesy Untouchables Bus Tour of Chicago. We got to drive around the city and get the lowdown on various gangster shootings and see some the places that Capone and others hung out during there times.

We did a little shopping on Michigan Ave, including an obligatory stop at the Apple Store to marvel at the glass staircase. Walking across the glass bridge on the 2nd level was a bit eerie. We tried a new place for deep dish pizza, Paisano’s. I was a bit disappointed. Gino’s East is still my preferred. Paisono’s just wasn’t deep enough. Not enough sauce.

It was a great weekend. A huge thanks to both Grandma’s for watching Mazie while we were gone. It was a little hard leaving her behind for so long, but was great to know she was in great hands. And an even bigger thanks to my great wife for setting up the whole weekend! You rock dear!