ILLINOIS

I got to take a trip to Paul's home town called Wadsworth, a town just north of Chicago.

Paul's house is covered in the greenest ivy you have ever seen.  He has a huge back yard that connects to his cousins house.  He grew up playing hockey every chance he could on his very own backyard pond.  He also built a swimming pool with his dad.  It was nice to escape the hot sticky Illinois heat by jumping in the pool.  Mmmmm.

I'm totally lame and didn't take a picture of his family members (who I absolutely love) but did remember to snap one of his dogs.  I spent lots of time cuddling with them on the floor in the living room.  They were literally bigger then me when we laid side by side!

We spent a couple days in the city and crammed as many things as we could in 48 hours.  It would take a life time to see all Chicago.

We got to take the train! 

Paul waited for the train very patiently.

We found a great place to eat lunch with good food and an even better view.  We ate outside on the top of a building so you could see the whole city.  And to top it off there were cute little flower basket thingies.  I mean seriously.

 We went to the Chicago Art Institute...

There is something truly breathtaking about seeing original works of art.  When I see these paintings I always think about what it represents.  It is the product of countless hours (not just the time spent on the painting in front of you, but what one gives to build the skills it requires to create a masterpiece), perseverance amidst criticism, faith, humility, and raw emotion.  The lives of artists are commonly tragic-poverty, heartbreaks, depression, suicidal attempts, etc. etc.  We were discussing this in Professor Hirsts theory class my sophomore year. He said something that I won't ever forget.  He posed the question:
Is a human life of less value then the art one can create?  What is more important?


Paul and I wanted to see the most famous paintings in the museum.  We followed the map to help us get to those paintings.  We saw lots and lots of other art work along the way, especially since Paul got us lost dozens of times.  

On of my favorite parts of Chicago was all the street performers.  This guy was particularly notable-he was blowing into a thingy that created the sound of the notes he was playing on a 2 octave keyboard.  It was impressive to see all he could do with such a limited range.

We saw the bean.  And the bean saw us.




We spent the night at Julian's Apartment.  Julian is one of Paul's best friends and if you want to hear some unforgettable stories just ask Paul to tell you about what sorts of things they do when they are together.  He lives in the heart of Chicago. You can see the entire city through his apartment windows, and he even has a pair of binoculars.  I watched the entire sunset through his windows, completely mesmerized by the beauty.

This picture was taken from Julian's window. It absolutely does not do this view justice!




Here are some more pictures we took while wondering the city.

The best parts of this trip didn't include the amazing food, dazzling architecture, or unbelievable shopping. The best parts of this trip was when I got to meet the people who made Paul, Paul.  He comes from a remarkable family, and I don't exclude his family to just the ones that share DNA.  Paul's friends are just as much family as his own siblings.  The only other person I have ever heard talk about there friends in this same way is Tom.  I am envious of both Paul and Tom because of the incredible amount of loyalty and devotion given to their friends.  I am one lucky girl to have a Tom friend and a Paul friend.