CHICAGO IS MY KIND OF TOWN

My youngest daughter lives in Chicago and I recently went there to visit her and her boyfriend, Joey.  Now it's a direct flight that takes just a little longer than the 3 hour drive it used to take me when I lived in Iowa, though I have the added cost of an airline ticket.  She lives within walking distance to the shopping areas on Michigan Avenue and State Street, so I did some Christmas shopping while I was there.  We also drove to the suburbs to see my mom.  I've really missed her, and this visit was our little Christmas together since I won't be able to go back for Christmas.  I think this will only be the third Christmas in my entire life that I won't be able to be with my mom. 

 

 We had a couple of days of snow and the temperatures dropped significantly.  It kept most shoppers away, but not us!  The day before, we were walking around Wrigleyville in the rain!

This tree was at the Christkindlmarket.  It is a pretty neat oudoor area with food, hand-made crafts and gifts from Germany.  It was like shopping in little German markets, and the aromas from the food was wonderful!  We got some hot cider wine...but it was so nasty, I had to throw it out!  At least it came with a cute collectable cup...that I did keep. 

 

One interesting thing worth mentioning is that I used my daughter's car and drove into Davenport to visit family and friends one day.  Well, while I was driving down the interstate I realized I had a flat tire.  I pulled off the road into a gas station and called AAA.  They said it'd be an hour before the technician could get there and I wasn't willing to wait that long.  The station told me they couldn't put a new tire on but the WalMart across the road could.  I saw that the tire wasn't completely flat so I drove slowly to WalMart and by the time I got there, the other rear tire went flat.  Now, what kind of luck is that?  Luckily they were able to get the new tires on and after a 3 hour delay, I was back on the road again.  The reason why the tires went flat is because the car sits in storage and rarely gets driven.  The tires suffered from rubber rot.   The mechanic assured me the front tires were in good shape, so I didn't have to worry about them going out on me, too.