Dustin, Brooklyn, and I left on Monday the 18th and were supposed to land at 5:30pm. However, because of weather in Chicago (lightening, thunder, and tornado warnings) we were diverted to Tulsa, OK where we got to spend a glorious six hours. LOL We were given 3 - $12 vouchers for food so we sat in a restaurant and explored the airport. The food was amazing...but we were so excited to get on the plane!
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| Finally ready to board in Tulsa! |
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| Amazing chicken nachos! |
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| Off we go!!! |
We landed at midnight but I had chosen a Hyatt super close to the airport to redeem my Hyatt points. Unfortunately for us, that's a hotel the airlines chose to put some of their passengers in when they're stranded. Because literally every flight out of Chicago was canceled, you can imagine the *insane* line I had to wait in just to check in. We finally went to bed around 3:15am.
DAY 1 in Chicago
We had Shedd Aquarium reservations at 9am so we had very little sleep. Today was a run-on-coffee-and-wine sort of day! We had gone to the aquarium every trip we took to Chicago for Brooklyn's surgeries so it was more nostalgic for us than anything. We perused the aquarium for a few hours then went to Millennium Park, had lunch, and went to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. Yes, I was *that* person who wore a Justin Turner jersey to a Cubs game. Hey...I gotta represent!! (His wife, Kourtney, actually reposted my picture to her story. #fangirl) Here are a few pictures from the day:
Being the coffee-holic that I am, when I found out the largest Starbucks IN. THE. WORLD. is in Chicago, we just HAD to go. And boy it did not disappoint! It was *five* floors of amazing coffee goodness. They had pastries, lunch, breakfast, sweets, treats, literally anything you could want. They even had two bars with fresh-made coffee drinks, one of which I just had to try. I could have spent hours there.
After the Starbucks Reserve Roastery we quickly ran to the Harry Potter store then to the Nederlander Theater where we saw 'MJ-The Musical'. It was so well done and we all liked it a lot. After MJ we went to an Irish restaurant (fitting, I know) to have dinner then went to Navy Pier and walked around before getting on an old fireboat for a fireworks tour. It was such an amazingly fun last day to spend with Brooklyn! Here are some pictures:
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| Starbucks Reserve Roastery |
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| espresso martini |
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| Navy Pier |
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| Chicago skyline from the Fireboat tour |
DAY 3 in Chicago
This was a hard one... We didn't get much time before we had to leave Brooklyn at the airport. Lucky for us, I booked our flight back on American, which was in the same terminal as Aer Lingus. We left just 30 mins before Brooklyn so we were actually able to walk her (and the three other exchange students going to Ireland) to the gate.
It's no secret that Brooklyn isn't a touchy-feely kind of person, especially to me. But we had a deal that she would give me a 30 second hug...and boy did I use up every second I had! I knew it would be hard saying bye to her but I didn't know I would get as emotional as I did.
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| all the letters you wrote her at her going away party |
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| with her three new friends, who are also in Ireland for the year |
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| with their plane in the background |
Thanks for following along on Brooklyn's journey!
**There are lots more pictures that I posted on my Instagram - one post per day actually - of our time in Chicago. Feel free to see more at @finallyacaliforniagirlagain on Instagram. Or linked HERE.
