Chicago

Here is a word about digital maps: they are only as good as your connection to an active data network.  Without this active data network what you have is a cell phone and if you lose your signal, what you have is a piece of metal.  Pieces of metal, when you are diving in a new city during rush hour traffic, are helpful only for throwing at your husband's head while exclaiming "we really do not have the name, phone number or address nor directions to this hotel written down anywhere???"
(disclaimer: I am not given to fits of violent rage, especially not in front of my children and I would not potentially incapacitate the driver of a car in which I was riding)

Needless to say, we made it after no small amount of horn honking, fist waving and general dumb luck and stumbled, wind blasted and bewildered into the lobby and somehow made it to our room with all 17 pieces of luggage (people think we are joking when we say we are carrying a year's worth of clothing).
After peeing and apologizing, we were back in good form and ready to go exploring.

First stop:  a walk to Santorini's in Greektown at Sammy Amato's recommendation.  From the outside it looked like the sort of place one would pass on their way to something interesting.  But enter through the doors and....holy delicious Greek food Batman.

                    

Cold Weather Query: can the air make your face so cold that you can't move it?
and
is this what Botox feels like? (note to self: never get Botox)
Since we couldn't move our faces, we were unable to smile and the photographs of ourselves looked like we were auditioning for a documentary about the Great Depression. So there are no usable photos of us at Santorini's but what a view from our table, huh?

Breakfast the next morning was slightly less elaborate although that truck is pretty sophisticated, I must say. (Cupcakes? Yes, don't judge, we are on vacation)

                                                       

                        

The plan for the day was to go to the Field Museum where we heard they had a dinosaur exhibit: education and entertainment, the modern American way.

After some confusion regarding which bus to take, we hopped on one and met Richard, the nicest bus driver in the world who, rather than kicking us off declaring "you fools are on the wrong bus", instead let us stay on without paying him any fare (4 passengers, mind you) and gave us detailed instructions regarding where to buy day passes for buses and trains as well as which buses to take to get us back to our hotel.  When he found out where we are from he told us that his son lives in the Filmore and that he is a jazz musician and that he loves San Francisco and had a great time riding BART while there.
                                   Cheers to you, Richard: Chicago Bus Driver Extraordinare!
On to the Field museum which was so cool that even after a breakfast consisting of one cupcake, the boys did not want to leave after over four hours of exploring but alas, when Leigha gets hungry, things get ugly.

Look at this place.  What boy would not want to spend the day here?                                  

                                      

                 
One photo with the Lake Michigan skyline in the back ground is obligatory even if it's minus -something - ungodly and there's actual pain involved while posing.

                             
At last Luci got his deep-dish, Chicago-style pizza.  After hours walking in the museum and then out in the cold it was a little (or big) slice of heaven.

                                        
Then, since we hadn't been out in the cold quite enough, it was off to the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower for some hair raising moments at the observation deck and a spectacular view on a gorgeously clear night

Just to prove how doggone cold it was....

                                         Good thing we had our Practical German Coats

Next morning, at the recommendation of Derric, we hopped on the bus and headed to a famous Chicago breakfast joint where, much to the boys' delight, they hand you fresh baked donut holes right when you walk in the door.  Lou Mitchell's philosophy appears to be something along the lines of: "cholesterol?  calories?  bah!"  Interestingly, even in February with several inches of fresh snow on the ground (also to the delight of the boys), they offer ice cream as an after breakfast dessert.

                                         

                                          We will brave all kinds of weather for good food

Omaha to Chicago

...and the rest of the story goes....
Into Amatos we go for ricotta pancakes before we hit the road to Chicago.  Its bitterly cold (18 with windchill, overcast and reports of snow on the way) but once inside, our glasses fog with the warmth and we are greeted with the smell of maple syrup and coffee.  Its just before 7 am but the cook from last night is behind the grill again.  The waitress says "sit wherever you'd like" and we pick the booth in the corner, passing a priest at one table, a public utilities worker at another and two medical personnel from the health center across the street.  After we sit down, a business man in a dapper looking wool coat comes in and the conversation goes something like this:
            Waitress: "Hey Tim."
            Dapper man named Tim "Good morning"
            Priest "I saw your niece in here the other morning, Tim.  She said she had a good trip."
            Tim "Yes she did."
I feel like I'm in a Carson McCullers novel only without the gut wrenching angst.
In the middle of breakfast Sammy Amato comes in and announces to the patrons "These guys here are moving to Romania."  Before this we had merely been a quartet of unkempt strangers but after the announcement we are suddenly people of interest.  Sammy pulls a chair up to our table and he and Mihai, being fellow Butcher, Baker, and Sausage Makers, discuss various methods of cheese making.

Unkempt stranger

                                                     
Sammy gives us some restaurant recommendations for Chicago and beyond and we dutifully note these since this man clearly knows good food.  As we leave he volunteers to come with us as our cook and the patrons wish us safe journey and 'see you on the return trip back' and somehow I feel that if we were to show up for breakfast one year from now, we would more than likely find Tim, the priest and the utility worker tucking into triple berry ricotta pancakes just like today.
                          
                                               Out onto the road....
Its cold.
It looks pretty much exactly like the last 500 miles we've just driven through.
I mean no disrespect to Iowans or to the state of Iowa; I have been here several times and I know from past experience that it can offer some beautiful scenery and no doubt some great eats.  Found within the boarders of this state are the birth place of John Wayne, the birth place of Tony Dean, and if you are still not convinced of its merits let me remind you of a certain bestseller/Meryl Streep/Clint Eastwood movie The Bridges of Madison County.
So it wasn't due to a lack of interesting places to see that kept us in the van and barreling through from Council Bluffs to Davenport it was just that quite frankly, it was below freezing, we were really tired of snacking on gas station food and we couldn't wait to get to Chicago and stretch our legs in the city.  So here is Iowa, the abbreviated version:

Does it look cold?  No?  Well it was. 

(but still pretty for all that)