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I'll be taking a little break this weekend to spend a happy Valentine's day at home with Tammi (and do some more cooking). I'll be back on Tuesday with more posts.

Enjoy the weekend everyone.

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IMG_2490, originally uploaded by ultraclay!.

Natural History Museum, Chicago. 2006.

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IMG_2767, originally uploaded by ultraclay!.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago, IL. 2006.

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IMG_2607, originally uploaded by ultraclay!.

My stopover yesterday was in Chicago. I didn't get to see much more than a the path between Terminals B and C, but the brief visit coincides with discussions with Tammi and Dorla and Kevin about a summer trip out to Chi-Town. I have no idea if it'll happen as we will all be in wedding countdown mode by that point, but we'll see.

On thing I am sure of is that I am glad to have missed the weather there yesterday. With a low of 3 degrees, I can hold off for another couple months to get some deep dish pizza.

In other Chicago news, I picked up an issue of Chicago Magazine when I was there and found a piece on local Flickr photogs, including some shots by Chicago Eye, whose work I've been admiring for some time.

::c::

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IMG_2922, originally uploaded by ultraclay!.

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IMG_1805.JPG, originally uploaded by ultraclay!.

Purchased at the Chicago Institute of Art, Summer 2006.
::c::

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IMG_8332, originally uploaded by ultraclay!.

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CODO, Chicago, 2006.

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IMG_2357, originally uploaded by ultraclay!.

Kevin, a former co-worker, is heading out to Chicago soon and asked for some recommendations. Follow the Jump for the extended version of my picks.

Continue reading "Chicago Notes" »

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IMG_2774, originally uploaded by ultraclay!.

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IMG_8773, originally uploaded by ultraclay!.

Here's a little food porn for the pizza lovers out there.

I had heard that I needed company to even begin to dig into a real Chicago deep dish pizza, so I didn't bother trying until Tammi met me there. We ended up going on our last day, a couple hours before we had to head to the airport. The pie was so thick and heavy that we barely got through half of it without hurting ourselves.

The pie above is from Giordano's, a local chain that I passed a dozen times while I was there. We went to the branch across from the Sears Tower.

[Technorati Tags: ultraclay | food | restaurants | pizza | giordano | deep dish | chicago | travel]

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IMG_2892, originally uploaded by ultraclay!.

I took Tammi to Millennium Park on her first day in Chicago. I had just finished showing her the Bean when we heard music coming from somewhere. I didn't know what was going on and just ignored it until I noticed it was getting louder. I turned around and Tammi was already going to see what it was.

When I caught up with her, there was a big old marching band doing their thing. I had never seen anything like it before. None of the schools I've attended had a band, so this was a totally surreal experience.

Tammi ran over and asked the leader about what it was all about. They were the Julian High School Marching Band. Their band was the only band in the region to be selected for an out of state competition., so they decided to practice downtown for the tourists in the park.

More photos after the jump...

Continue reading "Chicago: The Julian High School Marching Band" »

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IMG_8717, originally uploaded by ultraclay!.

It's a testament to my lost youth that as soon as I saw Buckingham Fountain the theme song to Married...with Children started ringing through my head. I didn't even remember that the show had had been set in Chicago and it took a moment for me to even conect the show to the song. But inexplicably the sight of the fountain triggered a Pavlovian response.

Obviously, I watched way too much TV as a kid.
::c::

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IMG_8442, originally uploaded by ultraclay!.

I knew they dyed the river green for St. Patrick's Day, but I was there for Labor Day and it was still green. ew.

Come on now. I'm from New York and this river grossed me out. Something is not right.
::c::

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Solve stencil, Chicago, 2006

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The Boxer, originally uploaded by ultraclay!.

Art Institue of Chicago, Chicago, IL.

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SWIV sticker, Chicago, 2006

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(This entry is backdated.)

2006 was one of my better years for travel. I saw 2 new countries and 6 new cites. I tried to get a fresh look at the places I'd been before, exploring new neighborhoods and seeing new things.

I hope to find a way to include all or most of these trips in the blog one way or the other. For now this will have to do.

After the jump, my photo rundown of the places I went last year.

Continue reading "2006 Travel Recap" »

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