Jess and I arrived a few hours earlier than the rest of the group, so we got tickets for "Wicked" the first night we were there. It was quite different than I expected - a much darker tone than "Wizard of Oz" - but we both really liked it. Whenever I see a professional play, I am just blown away by all the talent on stage, and this play was no exception. Such amazing singers, and the sets were unbelievable. It was the perfect way to spend our first night in Chicago.
Brad's sister Becky is morally against eating in chain restaurants while on vacation - she feels strongly that when you are visiting a city, it is lame to eat in the same places you can eat in at home. So, on Friday night when we only had time for a quick burger at McDonalds, I had to get this picture of her at a fast food chain in the middle of Chicago. Sorry Becky.
The reason we had to hurry through dinner on Friday night was because Lois had gotten us tickets to see "Jersey Boys." Yay! What a delightful show! We were all taken aback by the "authentic New Jersey profanity" (in the words of my friend Mary), but the music was so great! The show is about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and how they rose to fame in the early 1960's, so the soundtrack is all their best do-wop hits. It was all I could do not to sing along through the whole thing! The guy who played Frankie Valli just blew my socks off, too. He sang almost non-stop for an hour in this amazing, high tenor voice. He must have to go home and put ice on his throat after every show. Jess didn't like this show as well as "Wicked" because she didn't recognize the songs, so didn't it didn't have the same nostalgic value it had for me, but I easily could have sat through another two hours. It was like a Broadway Musical Biography, which in my opinion is the perfect marriage of my two favorite forms of entertainment. So fun!
We finished off our stay in Chi-town on Saturday at Gino's East Pizza. There was a long long line of people outside waiting to get in, but because we had a big group, they let us right in and sat us down. We felt like celebrities!
Writing on the walls was encouraged, so Jessica documented our visit on the window.
This is what the pizza looks like at Gino's. You can see that it is about an inch and a half thick - imagine an inch and a half of gooey, yummy cheese, sauce, mushrooms, and sausage. Oh yeah...
Saturday night, Jess and I drove home and listened to the "Wicked" CD we bought at the play. I think we got through the whole CD three times, so it was like watching the play three more times, although I must admit we listened to a couple of favorite songs many times over so we could memorize the words ("I'll make you pop-U-lar"). It really helped the five-hour drive fly by.
Thanks Lois, Haley, Kim, Becky, and Katie for letting us join your Girls' Weekend. It was the perfect mini-vacation!
