MARCHing to Atlanta and Chicago

Saturday, March 10 - We took a quick trip down to Atlanta today to catch one of our favorite singers, LP, at Centerstage tonight.  Ashlee's mom, Evelyn, and our niece, Ella, came along as well.

We got a great price on the historic and quirky Artmore Hotel just up the street from the where the concert was being held.  This little 3-story structure built in 1924 is dwarfed by the new high-rises all around mid-town Atlanta.

Before the show, Ashlee, Ella and I walked nearby to the Center for Puppetry Arts which has a great Jim Henson exhibit including his original work desk and office set-up.

Big Bird really is BIG in real life.  This original puppet used on Sesame Street was part of the collection.

Our friend, Rex, joined us for dinner before the show at DaVinci's Pizza Mid-town and then we walked over to Center Stage Theater for the packed show with LP.  We got there in time for the second opener, Noah Kahan, who was pretty good.  LP's show was tremendous and this was her last stop on a recent North America tour.  I think she's about ready for the big time and the bigger arenas.

Sunday, March 11 - Before heading home, we took some time to visit the World of Coca-Cola exposition in downtown Atlanta.  It's a great , interactive hands-on experience of every aspect of the soft drink giant.

One of favorite exhibits was the tasting room where Coca Cola products from around the world can be sampled.

March 16-18: One of our TRAVEL BUCKET LIST ITEMS got checked off this long weekend as we flew to Chicago to experience St. Patrick's Day in the Windy City.

Cotton-ball clouds on our decent into Chicago this morning

Friday, March 16 -  We took a very early direct flight to Midway Airport this morning and rode the EL in to downtown Chicago for a day of fun and exploration.  We stored our bags at the spiffy Conrad Hotel and headed off for some fun until our room was ready....a very affordable room thanks to Hotwire.com's "buy it blind" option.

Before heading out, we did grab a mimosa at the 20th floor lobby bar of the Conrad Hotel.  Cheers!

Our first destination was a couple EL stops south (for $20 you can ride the EL an unlimited amount of times in 36 hours!) at The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago's Money Museum:  a free interactive  learning center where you can actually see one million dollar bills stacked together in a cube...(that's too heavy to run with Ashlee...).  They also had a million dollars in $20 bills and another million in $100 bills...show-offs!  

Another cool (and free) stop was inside the Chicago Cultural Center which is housed in a large building built in 1897 and has two incredible large domes made of Tiffany glass. 

It was time for some more libations and fun so we hopped on the El and headed to the West Loop area and the Kaiser Tiger Curling Bar.  We came here because they boast at having Olympic curling lanes you can actually try out, but the food and drinks were great as well.

We found out quick that curling is much harder than it looks on TV.  We also found out quick that we won't be making any U.S. Olympic teams anytime in the near future.  

We were able to check into our room at the Conrad Hotel after lunch and we were very impressed with it.  We grabbed a quick nap since we had been up since 3 AM and wanted to stay up later tonight to meet our friends, Chris and Tarryn, who were driving in after work from Fort Wayne, Indiana, to join us for the rest of the festive weekend.  After our snooze, we grabbed dinner at Friends Sushi near the hotel and it was fantastic.  

Chicago was gearing up tonight for the big green weekend ahead.  

After dinner we walked down to Spin Chicago for a game we could handle a little better than curling.  This huge ping-pong bar and restaurant was a hoot and we had a "ball" playing...in between drinks, of course.  

Chris and Tarryn got in a little later than expected, so we all just sat around in the room enjoying some libations we bought at the Trader Joe's around the corner and  watched the historic March Madness upset of a tiny #16 seed, UMBC, over mighty #1 seed, Virginia, before turning in for an early rise and a long day tomorrow.

Saturday, March 17 -We began St. Patty's Day in Chicago early with reservations for breakfast and unlimited libations at Kerryman's Irish Bar near our hotel.  Here's two of the prettiest lasses in the joint with some of their "supplements."

  We didn't really know what to expect with the famous dyeing of the Chicago River Green, but it exceeded all our expectations.  The crowds were reasonable so there was lots of easy access to view the river, drinking wasn't out of control so the crowds were laid back and jovial, and the dye is just amazing.  This shot is completely unfiltered and one of a hundred good ones I took.  We highly recommend this inexpensive and easy access experience to everyone.  

We looked for the St. Patty's Day Parade that was going on but never found it.  We did get run out a building while trying to use their PUBLIC bathroom by a cranky old lady who then proceeded to follow us outside when I called her a name...well, that was her mistake because...any way, moving on...

We headed back to the hotel to change because we had a big evening ahead of us with tickets to see the super-popular (and thus super-expensive in terms of tickets) musical, Hamilton.

The show is and was fantastic.  Our balcony seats were not fantastic,  but it's really not that visual of a show and we are glad we experienced it and now we see what all the hub-bub is about.

Sunday, March 18 - It was going to be a Sunday-Funday in Chicago for us today before we flew back home late tonight and another early rise as we had an Underground Do-nut Food Tour scheduled for 9 A.M.

We had four stops on the Underground Do-Nut Tour that included Do-Rite Donuts, Firecakes, West Town Bakery and Stan's Donuts.  All the goodies we got were delicious and we had a pleasant morning stroll through downtown Chicago with our guide and small group.  The river was even still green from yesterday despite the fact that we had read it would only last about 6 hours.

Next up was a booze cruise on Lake Michigan aboard the Anita Dee II yacht.  This cheap Groupon find was a hoot and the weather was the best of the entire weekend during the 3 hours we were out on the water.

Chris and Tarryn had to start their drive home after our lake cruise, but we still had a couple hours to kill so we made one more stop and it turned out to be a dandy.   The Three Dots and a Dash Tiki Bar is a fairly new establishment known for a cool vibe and over-the-top drinks.  Thanks to our do-nut tour guide for pointing out how to find the place down a little obscure alley earlier in the day!

From left to right:  Ashlee's Chief Lapu Lapu (suggested for 2 people...balderdash!), our Captain Dino's Pu Pu Platter (serves 3 or 4...double-balderdash!) and my Aloha Felicia # 2 rum drink.  The food and drinks were amazing!  We can't wait to come back here with a larger group and try the Treasure Chest  drink for $385!!

Our late-night flight home was a few minutes late arriving back in Nashville, but we made good time getting driving and in the bed a little after midnight after a fun, fun GREEN weekend!