Before we made the 2 hour trek out to Dixon for the wedding and after we picked up our rental car, we headed over to the Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio in Oak Park. I have been here twice in the past 10 years and have always wanted Dave to tour the home. Yes....Wright was rather an unsavory character in his personal life but the man was a genius! Dave LOVED it!!! {as I knew he would}. We also walked some of the nearby streets to see some of Wright's other houses. Oak Park has the highest concentration of Wright homes in the world. It is amazing!
After the wedding reception, we drove back to Chicago and met up with my Aunt Mary and Uncle Dave who live in the village of Forest Park. Aunt Mary has been my mom's best friend since they were both in 6th grade and both she and Dave are family!
On Sunday and after we had attended Mass at the historic St. Edmunds (absolutely beautiful!!!!), we left for a day trip to Milwaukee with Mary and Dave.
Our first stop in Milwaukee was a Culvers where Dave told us that we just had to try the Butterburger, the fried (make that double fried) cheese curds -- heaven -- and the cement custard!!! Yum, yum!
Our second stop was the Pabst Mansion -- yes, that is Pabst....as in Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer. Capt. Pabst's Mansion is right next to Marquette University and is the only large home left. In the 60's the city (as did many other cities) thought "Progress" meant the tearing down of historic buildings. So incredibly sad. Anyway, the Pabst mansion was 6 days away from being torn down to become a parking lot for the Channel 12 news building next door but it was fortunately saved in the nick of time. 
Our last stop in Milwaukee was their fabulous new art museum! Here are Aunt Mary and Uncle Dave with me as we are about to enter the museum.
The museum resembles a boat and the piece that has quickly come to symbolize Milwaukee (besides flowing beer and endless cheese) is the mast and sail on top of the museum. We were lucky that the sail was up when we were there as sometimes it is closed.
Here is Dave Franeck having a quiet moment of reflection as he gazes out at Lake Michigan while inside the museum.
Dave Pedersen was taking some time looking at the art but the rest of us were pretty tired so we opted to sit down and take a moment to relax. As we waited for Dave P., Uncle Dave decided to entertain us by renaming some of the artwork pieces. :-) So much fun!
Monday was our day to take the city by storm. We took the train from River Forest into the city and then hit the streets. Unfortunately, Uncle Dave had to work and Aunt Mary was flying out to San Francisco. But Dave P. and I had a blast! So....the Blackhawks (Chicago's hockey team) is in the Stanley Cup race and Chicago is sports crazy!!! So here are the lions out in front of the Art Institute with Blackhawk hockey helmets!
And here is a Grecian statue with child in the Field Museum. The child is wearing a Blackhawks jersey!
I've said it before and I'll say it again -- Chicago is my favorite city!!!
After a fantastic time at the Shedd Aquarium, we sauntered over to the Field Museum where they have the largest complete T-Rex -- Sue.
On our way back to my Uncle Dave's office, we decided to take a lovely walk down Lake Shore Drive, right next to the water.
After Lake Shore, we journeyed over to Millennium Park where we ran into a beautiful botanical garden area and then spent time with the Bean. :-)
Here is the view from my Uncle Dave's workplace. This was from the conference room. I am not quite sure how I would do sitting in a chair at the conference table while being 42 floors up. It made me a little dizzy.
This picture is for my mom! :-) A E dairy is legendary in my family. My mom adores their cottage cheese. Well.....we had A E Key Lime yogurt for dessert....after some pretty righteous (just for you Uncle Dave) chicken fajitas made by Uncle Dave himself!
Tuesday was not as beautiful of a day in the city as Monday was. In fact, with all the weather, we wondered if we would be able to successfully fly out of the city that afternoon. In the morning, we dropped off our bags at Uncle Dave's office and headed to the John Hancock Building -- which boasted of having the best view of Chicago. They did not lie! Even with the weather....we had great views!!!!
Behind me are the Trump Tower (the one with the one large spire) and the Sears/Willis Tower.
After the Hancock, I was beyond tired and beyond hungry. So...we ended our Chicago experience with a trip to The Berghoff. Uncle Dave assured us that this was one of the Chicago institutions that everyone had to try at some point. It was unbelievable!!!! And their root beer -- fantastic!!!
We then caught the EL to O'Hare Airport and had no difficulty getting home. It was an amazing and wonderful trip to my favorite American city! And Dave got to see so many new things! We are so lucky to have such wonderful family in such a wonderful city.
So....Uncle Dave, someone wants to thank you!
We love you Aunt Mary and Uncle Dave!!!!
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