Goin' to Chicago

I never travel. I have hardly traveled since, in that freak occurrence, I went to see Leonard Pennario and stayed for three months. However last weekend I went with three friends to Chicago. We planned this trip a few months ago and all of a sudden here it was.

That is our hotel, the Palmer House, up above! We got a deal online. It wasn't much, as you can see, but it was home.

Our friend the jazz pianist Mike Jones was playing at a cool old place called the Green Mill and we caught his act there on Saturday night. On Friday night we hit a great down-home blues joint called Blue Chicago.

They had this great singer named Demetria something and the line we all took away from that show was:

"Where do ya think you're going with that suitcase in your hand?"

And it ended up that you better put that suitcase down because ain't nothing in it belongs to you. Ha ha!

We got a great dose of blues because it turned out it was the weekend of the Chicago Blues Festival. I really enjoyed hearing all this old stuff I used to love by Muddy Waters and Little Walter and Elmore James. Here we are outside the festival grounds by the fountain. That is me in the middle.

We went to Solemn High Mass at St. John Cantius. Here is my view from the pew.

I whispered to Lizzie: "We have a problem. I have to move to Chicago because I never want to go to Mass anywhere else from now on."

We got back late Sunday night and I was a zombie. I was hyper and couldn't sleep.

But as my friend Jane says that is a sign of a well-spent weekend!