Hello friends & family:
Today we woke up to overcast skies and a little drizzle, but nothing to stop us from doing exactly what we had planned - drive up to visit our good friend and former Palisadian Vicki Apatoff who now lives in Winnetka. Beginning the day we had a walk along Oak Street Beach to get rid of any extra annoying pounds due to yesterday's excessive munching of the Garrett's popcorn (rumor had it that a few of us ladies even ate some before AND after breakfast today...). Feeling fit & refreshed, we set out on a drive up Michigan Avenue through The Gold Coast where we admired the top real estate in Chicago - gorgeous high rise apartments facing Lake Michigan - what a view! As we rounded the bend into neighboring Wilmette, there appeared before us the massive and utterly "there are no words to describe how beautiful" Baha'i Temple. One of only 7 Baha'i temples in the world, this unique structure symbolizes unity and invites prayer to God. This temple (like the others) is circular in shape, has nine sides, and is surrounded by exquisite gardens and fountains. Really quite a sight to see - I'd like to include a tour of this in a future visit.
After viewing the Temple, and contemplating our good fortune, we drove a short distance to meet Vicki at the nearby Plaza del Lago shopping area to dispense of a bit of that fortune (while trying to ignore the fact that Chicago's sales tax is 10% ...yes 10% - higher than LA and NYC!). Vicki became our tour guide for the day, welcoming us into her car with a complete cooler in the trunk of soft drinks, water, chilled apples and grapes, and chocolate covered almonds. We partook of all, as Vicki gave us a quick tour of the grand and beautiful homes in Winnetka and neighboring towns, including a drive down the center of town where the Home Alone movies were filmed (and the house too!)
Soon it was time for lunch, and we went to a most delightful sandwich & soup spot, where every 2 seconds someone walked in and said "HI VICKI ! ! !" Truly there is not a person in Winnetka who does not count Vicki Apatoff as her good friend! Colleen called a childhood friend who now lives in Winnetka (who knows Vicki natch!) and she also joined us. The photo you see of all us ladies was taken in the back yard of another friend of Vicki's - this home faces Lake Michigan and is worthy of the cover of Architectual Digest. Needing a rest, we made a short stop at Vicki's wonderful & inviting home and watched the DVD of her 50th birthday - which included a section we Palisades ladies had taped! Then it was off to more shops, and then a few more shops, and booo hooo then it was time to head on back to Chicago. It was GREAT to visit with Vicki - news on her family front include Rob's new job as CEO of FTD Flowers (resulting in lots of beautiful flowers adorning every room of their home!), oldest daughter Alexandra has graduated from Northwestern and has a great job as a writer in NYC for US magazine, and if you don't think THAT is exciting enough then note that Claire's summer job is working on the city committee to get the 2016 Olympics to come to Chicago (in October, Chicago will find out if they win the bid!!!).
We had a yummy dinner at Vermillion, an Indian restaurant off State Street that Nalini highly reccomended and for good reason. It was fantastic!
What to do tomorrow morning on our last day in Chicago? One option could be to visit the Sears Tower, the tallest building in the U.S. and the 8th tallest in the world. Built in 1973, this building has 110 floors and has an observation floor that has a brand new addition of a series of glass bays called THE LEDGE, that extend just more than 4 feet outward and lets you "look 1,353 feet straight down". Ekkkk! Since the Sears Tower Skydeck added this new attraction JUST last Thursday, it has drawn over 10,000 visitors a day!! People who don't seem to have any sense of danger have been said to sit on the glass or better yet lie down on it facedown! Many people on the other hand are too afraid to step out onto the glass enclosed ledge - I would be one of them!
There are many museums including the world famous Museum of Science & Industry, or the Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art we could visit, or the Shedd Acquarium, the Adler Planetarium, or Lincoln Park Zoo. Top on our list is also a stop at Ikram Goldman's Boutique on nearby Rush Street - this 4,000 square foot store is the fashion store of choice by First Lady Michelle Obama.
I want it noted that Vicki never shows up with a cooler full of anything when I visit. When I even inquire about her famous hostess cooler, she claims she doesn't own one. I was really hungry for car snacks once and she told me there was no eating in her car. Chocolate covered almonds!?! Really Vicki? You know how much I love almonds, especially coated in chocolate, especially when I can eat them in your car. I'll be there in December. Let's see if you can step it up a notch, Miss Winnetka 2009, Township Leader and Library Saver. I'm thinking there better be a cooler...and almonds. I bet Rob packed it.
ReplyDeleteOh Tracey - there is most definatly a cooler, and I'm not sure
ReplyDeletewhy she would deny there is one. And we were never reprimanded for not only eating food in the car, but tossing the wrappers on the floor and spilling the sodas on the backseat. Could it be a passive - aggressive thing? Are you possibly the younger, more indulged sister that
always got the new hair bows, and Vicki had your hand-me-downs? Could it be when you were 5 years old, you tattled on her using crayons on the living room wallpaper, and she's never forgotten it? Or when as teenagers when you took a shower, did you always use up all the hot water before it was her turn, and then tee hee hee down the hallway? You may need to search into the distant past, and I'm sure you will come up with something that can shed some light on this most curious issue. xo Cindy