Romantic Escape in the Heart of the City

Paul and I have gone out on our own only about a half dozen times since Ellie was born. Since we're well into our third year of parenting, this is pretty significant. She's walking, she's talking, she's weaned, she's over stranger anxiety; it's high time for a little mommy and daddy alone time.

My mom agreed to keep Ellie, so I started shopping for cheap deals to Mexico. My mom suggested that someplace closer would be smarter, for our first overnight away from Ellie. Just in case. Ah, reason.

I found an incredible deal for a romantic getaway package in Chicago. It was at the white-glove hotel where Paul and I stayed the weekend before he proposed 6 years ago. And in the unlikely event of a water landing, we could meet my parents halfway and be with Ellie in well under 30 minutes.

On Sunday morning, after all the New Year's Eve drunks had veered out of the city, we headed in. Paul dropped me off at Kohl's House and found a Starbucks while I had a quick visit with Frankie and Moreena. Frankie is as cute as her pictures suggest, and I was very sympathetic to her repeated refrain, "I wanna go my house!" I bet her mama and daddy feel the same way.

I met up with Paul, who was jubilant about having found free parking. We forsook that wonderful spot and drove south to Prudential Plaza, where we had lunch at Giordano's - and found more free on-street parking! After gorging ourselves, we checked into our hotel and the luxury part began in earnest. We let the valet take the car. Later we noticed that the hotel failed to charge us for this service - more free parking! Now I wish we'd tipped the guy more.

We relaxed in the room for a bit, then headed over to Marshall Field's. Unfortunately, the black shroud of mourning was gone (hi, Macy's) but we did get to see the Cinderella windows. Our first item of business, however, was to find me a coat. Paul and I forgot ours at my parents' house, but he had on a fleece vest and claims that his Wyoming heritage keeps him immune to Midwestern winters. I finally found something that fit at Old Navy, and we moved on across the street to Borders, where we drank and read and chatted for a couple of hours.

Eventually, we took a lovely walk up to The Weber for steak. We finished in time for a brisk walk over to Loews to watch The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. We saw someone we knew in the theater (an old college "buddy") but were short on time so we hid from him.

After the movie we strolled 2 blocks back to our hotel in the rain and collapsed.

Oh, that hotel room. We were on the 33rd floor and the view was incomparable. To the left I could see Michigan Avenue less than a block away. Straight ahead I could see many of Chicago's landmark buildings and the Chicago River, also less than a block away. To the near right I could see Navy Pier and the lake. On Monday morning, I would have been happy to sit and watch the ebb and flow of the Chicago mist for hours. I love that city.

We slept heavily and late. When we awoke, the hotel treated us to a wonderful breakfast in bed. Then we went downstairs to the Lakeshore Athletic Club for massages. Ahhhhhh. Then we, er, returned to the room to rest. After showers and packing up, we checked out around 3:30. It was raining pretty hard, so we got the car and drove up Michigan Avenue. We found a garage that let us pay a lot for parking, and went inside Water Tower Place to have lunch and window shop a bit.

We got home in time for dinner, and Ellie was happy to see us. She had a wonderful time with her grandparents and aunt and uncle, while Paul and I had a wonderful and guilt-free vacation. I'm still feeling good. Have I mentioned how much I love Chicago?