Two Shopping Carts, Five Rolling Bags and More
Labor Day in the USA pretty much signifies the end of summer is near, and fall is knocking on the door. To celebrate the holiday, I was invited to stay at a friend’s sister’s vacation home, in Chicago for the weekend. Five girls just hanging out.
The location of the condo was perfect for our plans. It was across the street from Lake Michigan, along Lake Shore Drive; within walking distance of the yacht club, Millennium Park, Grant Park, the theater district, shopping, restaurants, bars and grocery store. Basically, everything you need or could ask for.
Planning for the get-away started weeks earlier. We decided we would hang out in the condo most of the time, and would take turns preparing meals, and would bring along needed supplies. Each girl would be responsible for the menu, food, drink, prep and clean-up.
Four of the five ended up having to take two cars because of all the items each person brought. It was quite the spectacle as the unloading began. We needed not one, but two shopping carts that were available for use. The service elevator was jammed full from top to bottom, I couldn’t get to my phone or I would have taken a picture; it was hilarious.
After putting everything in it’s place, and getting settled, it was time to start the weekend. We had no real agenda other than laughing and hanging out. The views of the city were spectacular, and we spent as much time outside as possible soaking up the great weather.
We ended up walking to a cute little casual restaurant for dinner the first night and planned to walk to Millennium Park for Jazz-Fest but got rained out. Thankfully, even though we ate outside on the patio, we were under cover, although we got wet making our way back to the condo.
Day two we went to the pool, as we swam and floated for hours……we were quite “pruny’ upon exit, to say the least. At one point two of the girls had been lounging in the sun and decided to join us in the pool. One of the girls is short and doesn’t swim so I decided I would help her sit on a boogie board while she used a swim noodle under her arms. As I directed her to the deeper end, holding on to each side of the board under her bottom, instead of floating, she was sinking and pulling me down with her. We were laughing so hard I was sinking and drowning at the same time, and had to abort! I took her back to the shallow end where standing was safe…..HA! She is one of those people that can’t float, even in salt water….which I think they call negative buoyancy.
Our weekend was filled with friendship, laughter, fun conversation, good food and excellent cocktails. Upon leaving, we thought we would have a lot less to take home, but we still needed both shopping carts. It was a girlfriends, two shopping carts, five rolling bags and more kind of a weekend. Even though we didn’t have any specific plans, it was memorable in so many ways. Aren’t those the best?
xoxox…..Sheryl