chicago.

it's that time of year again! chicago time! (my mom goes to her pampered chef conference and aunt linda and i play!) i was really looking forward to this trip, and it went so fast this year. we only did a few things. outlets. magnificent mile. eats at our favorite places.

it was our hottest trip yet. temps in the nineties and heat indexes in the hundreds. crazy!

this post contains a lot of pictures, i had a hard time picking and choosing, so most all go up!

this year we drove rather than flying. aunt linda picked up me and mom and we were on our way west! chicago here we come!

loaded up the car and we were off.

aunt linda was the driver. we were supposed to switch and I would drive into chicago, b/c she didn't want to drive in the city, but that didn't happen, she did great though!

mom.

me.

getting close to the indiana border.

crossing the indy border. indiana has lots of corn fields. and gary had lots of traffic.

hello chicago!

looking toward the city, it was very hazy....and very hot.

chicago, how i have missed you!

we saw some chicago sites during our drive in.

soldier field.

the willis (formerly sears) tower.

buckingham fountain.

chicago stock exchange.

ate at one of our favorites....the grand lux cafe.

we had a nice view of michigan avenue.

while in chicago i enjoyed some of my favorites there.

frozen yogurt from berry chill. (my choice in toppings this time were banana, strawberries, and mango).

yum! i waited a year for this treat!

i quite enjoyed it!

more frozen yogurt from sixty carrots in bloomies.

(we need fro yo in eastside cleveland! only one i know of is on the west side so far.)

yummy cupcakes from sugar bliss!

we went to the outlets in aurora one day, to see the new vera bradley outlet store, and to shop for bargains.

aunt linda enjoyed a cold drink while there! it was hot, heat index at 100 degrees this trip!

we got some purchases!

(and i was the driver for the rest of the chicago areas)

trump tower along the chicago river.

i heart this city!

there were big happenings while we were there. 2 movies were shooting. this truck was for the movie "transformers 3". (sadly we missed big movie action with the stars on michigan avenue by one day!)

this was one of the equipment trucks. it also was next to the 'extras' lunch area.

this helicopter was right near our hotel. it kept going up the river and back. it was for a new ron howard movie, called "what you don't know" (updated on 1/2/11...the movie is now called "the dilemma"). we watched it multiple times go up the river (along our hotel, had we been in our room we would have seen it thru our window), up to trump tower and back. i am assuming they were getting outdoor shots of the city. we'll see when it comes out next year!

it'll be fun to see these movies when they come out next year!!

views of trump tower and the chicago tribune building.

so pretty at night!

me and my mama!

me and my aunt.

love this city.

sigh.