Because apparently I don't think you'll believe that I ever leave my house unless I prove it with photos

Spring break in Chicago.  Not so good for tanning, but at least you're safe from Joe Francis there.  We did go wild by forgoing hats and mittens for parts of Saturday when it was sunny and not snowing.  Friday, not so much.

What you see there is the reason we went ahead and spent most of Friday inside the Field Museum.  Here we have Holly and Sue, the T-Rex.

Later on, we met Jennie for Chicago style pizza.

Good planning when spending winter spring break in Chicago: pick a hotel with four bars inside so you can get your drink on without braving the elements.  We started with Daddy O's Irish Pub for the requisite Irish Car Bombs, then moved on to BIG Bar.  Guess what their gimmick is. 

They serve 48 ounce drinks that people can share.  Except no one told the three geeky boys at the table next to us that three boys attempting to flirt with girls should not share one BIG drink.  Spring for your own drinks, boys.  Probably it's better too if they are not so brightly-colored.  Smarter (if not entirely convincing) was the guy drinking his own individual beer who pretended to think that Holly and I were around 22 years old.  Bless you, strange man, even if you do intend to cast a symbolic vote for Ron Paul in the general election.

After sleeping in, we spent most of Saturday shopping on Michigan Avenue (total purchases: lunch) and seeing Navy Pier.

Although if we're being perfectly honest here, we also spent some of Saturday watching a National Geographic special about the difference between humans and apes on the giant flat-screen TV in our hotel room.  What?  It was cold outside and according to Holly's pedometer we had already walked about thirteen miles over the weekend.  Except for a brief trip down the street for dinner, we were finished with the walking and the seeing sights and the generally doing things that were not laying on our beds in a nice warm room.

The next morning, Holly got up at the crack of dawn to fly back to San Antonio.  In flagrant violation of Illinois state law, her flight left O'Hare on time.  Much later, I got up and caught the bus back to Madison.  Unfortunately, reality was still here, awaiting my return.  But at least Friday's snow had melted off the streets and parking lots.  Snow which, according to my radio this morning, put Madison's total this winter over 100 inches, for those of you playing along at home.

Ok, everybody say "Thanks, Holly!" for having a functional camera and getting her photos to me so speedily for your viewing pleasure.  And by "for your viewing pleasure" I of course mean "so I don't have to write a real post."  Thanks, Holly!