The Windy City

There is a reason they call it the windy city, it's windy, nothing clever just windy. Ky and I are back to Portland and back to work after our fabulous trip to visit the Martin family in their natural suburban habitat. Other than how windy it is there the other thing I learned about Chicago is that from a modestly high building (3-4 stories) you can see the horizon in any direction and there will be houses as far as the eye can see. Yup, it's suburbia by all definitions, including every chain restaurant man can think of.

So what did we do, pretty much everything. We experienced swings in weather from 70's and sunny to 30's with a side of blizzard. We walked the waterfront, went to the aquarium, took photos of Cloud Gate (a.k.a. The Bean), ate Chicago style deep dish pizza, got Chicago dogs, went to Lego Land, walked Navy Pier (really cold and windy), visited the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower), and paid way too much for parking but accepted it.

So without any other words, here are some select photos. (More to Flickr eventually).

Mt Hood As we left Portland

Ky blowing out her birthday candles with my God Daughter, Charolette.

Ky doing her best Batman, next to Lego Batman

Chicago from 103 floors above the city

The Willis Tower observation boxes

Words can not describe stepping onto a sheet of glass 1000+ feet in the air

Abby says hello


Cloud Gate (a.k.a. The Bean) tourism photo

Oh yeah, we met Obama!

Sunset on Navy Pier

Still Blogging

First off, I would like to thank our sponsors of today's blog entry, without Crown and Coke this blog probably wouldn't be getting written. Before you get your hopes up, let me clarify on the last statement, I am sipping on a nice adult beverage as a desert while I write this post, I am not as they say, "under the influence".

Yep, Crown Royal is truly the king of whiskeys!

So sponsorships out of the way, what have I been up to since I have returned from Arizona and why haven't I been sharing it with the people of the Internet. Well to be honest, I didn't do a whole lot at the end of February and March has started off in similar fashion. A little bit of bike riding, a bit more work, and lots of looking for a better suited job.

For the last two Sundays, I have been attempting to race my bike. Not super successful on the racing aspect, however still encouraging for the benchmarking of how my training has been paying out. Today was not what I call a good day, I was dropped off the back of the pack in frantic climb up Lee Hill. I blame a handful of things for this, but mostly I blame not enough time training intervals. Last week, was a much better result, still dropping off the back of the field but much further in the race when my legs had nothing left to give. So for your viewing pleasure a photo from last week, don't worry Mom, the scraggly beard is already gone.



So what's next, A trip to Chicago to visit Judy and the family, meet Charlotte, see Chicago for the first time (not counting from 30k feet), and celebrate Ky's birthday. Bellow I have included a photo of the famous "Bean" it's what some may call Art and I call really amazingly cool. A huge reflective metal bean with a blemish free surface, how did they do that?


As far as Ky's Birthday goes, the celebration has been underway for 14 days now, as one of her friends refers the month of March as Ky's jubilee month. Thus, she has been pampering Ky with little gifts and treats. I fear that by the end of the month a trip to Chicago is going to seem pale in comparison. I wont tell you how old Ky is, she probably doesn't want it published, but I will tell you that she is bring home chocolate cake from work (work celebration tonight) and that she was born in the same year as Abby. So without further ado...