Dave and I were in Chicago last weekend. See?

That's a self-pic near the end of Navy Pier, looking back toward the Loop on Sunday afternoon. We came into town on Friday night and left Monday morning. The main reason for the trip was to see the Chicago Symphony Orchestra play Mahler's 2nd Symphony on Saturday night, and that was fantastic. Apart from that, we walked around the Magnificent Mile and the Loop, and ate a lot. I was blown away by all the people walking around, shopping and sightseeing. OK, it was the weekend before Thanksgiving, and there was the Magnificent Mile Lights Festival on Saturday, which brought more people out, probably. Still, it's amazing, a downtown that's full of people and stores. We don't have that in Detroit. (Excuse me while I get bitter for a moment... ok.) The weather was cold, but dry, so walking around was great. We didn't shop much, although we did go into Marshall Field, er, Macy's (grr) on State St. and go up and down all the escalators looking at every floor. It was a great time, and a return trip would be very nice indeed.