Chicago

I went to Chicago in early October. I don't even know how to put into words just how spectacular the WHOLE thing, from start to finish was. I am tempted to give you a blow by blow of the whole weekend – but I will attempt to be succinct:

Flew from Seattle to Houston to Chicago – initially I thought I would be exhausted after such a long day of travel. But I discovered something: Flying alone is MONUMENTALLY different than flying with kids. To say that I enjoyed the flights is an understatement to say the least.

I flew in 24 hours before the conference was to start because I met my dear friend Joy there and that gave us a chance to catch up and do a little sightseeing.

We had dinner at the most interestingly decorated pizza parlor I have ever been to.

 

We took a really fun tour of downtown with the Chicago Architecture Foundation called ‘Modern Skyscrapers.’ It was 2 hours for $15!! It was fantastic. We would have loved to take another tour, but with travelling time and trying to find parking, we didn’t have any extra time.

       

The weather was PERFECT and we had a nice time!

 

Then Friday night and Saturday we attended an absolutely amazing conference put on by Apologia – a Christian Science Curriculum Publisher. The owner’s wife is responsible for putting this on – it is a women’s conference for homeschool mom’s. Churches do women’s conferences all the time – which are wonderful, but this conference really approached things from a homeschool mom’s perspective. I cannot tell you how wonderful it was. I was standing during the last set of music on Saturday afternoon and suddenly it hit me – It’s OVER!! And true to form, I totally fell apart. I just wanted it to go on and on!

 

 

Then Sunday morning, we slept in (do you hear the angels singing???), packed up, drove into downtown again and saw the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower). It was great, but I wish we would have had a little more time.  There is so much information to read and learn, but we just had time to take in the view. I did not know how FLAT it is in Illinois! I guess I am so used to the hills and mountains of the NW, and even of California when I was there.

They have these plexiglass boxes that hang out over the side of the 103rd story that look down to street level! It was really one of those check-the-box experiences.

  

I came away from this weekend completely refreshed and restored and rejuvenated. It was absolutely amazing. I would love to go again next year… I know Joy is in…Any other Homeschool moms wanna join me??? You will not regret it… Now – for airfare $$…