For the first time in our married life — in other words, in six years — Michele and I were able to spend a night away from our children. We had a wonderful weekend celebrating our sixth wedding anniversary by staying at a four star hotel near the Magnificent Mile in downtown Chicago. In addition to walking around Millennium Park, which we hadn’t seen before, Michele and I spent several hours touring the Art Institute of Chicago. We spent most of our time in the American artists area, an area neither of us had seen before. I was dazzled by two large paintings by Frederic Remington. Remington is of course well known for his bronze sculptures and there were several of them on display, but his paintings had far more of an impact on me. Their luminescent, bright colors were stunning. We also saw famous works of art by Winslow Homer, Mary Cassatt, John Singleton Copley, and many others. We had a leisurely lunch in the Art Institute’s cafe and went in search of even more areas of the place that we hadn’t seen already. It was a very satisfying and enjoyable visit. After that, we checked into our hotel (the Swissotel – Chicago) and rested for a bit before venturing out for a fabulous dinner at one of my favorite restaurants anywhere in the world: Frontera Grill (owned and operated by world famous chef, Rick Bayless). We had a great dinner there and then walked over to Michigan Avenue where we window shopped for a while before heading back to the hotel. As an interesting side note, our visit to the Swissotel – Chicago was fitting because we spent part of our honeymoon there six years ago.
The next day (Sunday), we drove back to the suburbs, stopping at Oak Brook to have a great lunch at The Cheesecake Factory followed by a leisurely visit to a nearby Borders, where we bought some books for the kids before picking them up at my in-law’s. They had a great time, also, and it sounds like they behaved very well in our absence.
It was a very nice time for all of us and I am really thankful for the generous giving of Michele’s parents that enabled us to do this. Now that we’ve done it once, Michele and I are eager to do it again.