Chicago (posted Feb 4, 2010)

We finally arrived in Chicago after about 20 hours of flying.  Pauline handed over her stack of papers to the immigration officer and she is now a legal immigrant of the United States of America.  Chris (Mark’s sister) met us and drove us to Laura’s (Mark’s other sister) apartment, where we stayed.  We had lunch and hung out with Chris until she decided to leave because we were being anti-social (we were jet-lagged and were falling asleep on her).

The next day we went to the Navy Pier to visit the Strictly Sail Chicago Boat Show.  We had expected the show to be huge and were a little disappointed that there were not that many exhibitors and not many visitors.  Well, perhaps it was because it was only the first day of the show and it was a weekday when we visited.  However, we saw everything there was in a day and decided not to return.  We did, however, spend some money buying stuff. 

We spent the next day at the apartment resting. 

Greg (Mark’s nephew) and his girlfriend, Kendra came to visit us on Saturday and we took off downtown Chicago for some shopping and food.  We visited the Cheesecake Factory, where we had lunch.  We ate so much that we could not order their famous cheesecake for dessert.  And in the evening Chris and Tom (her husband) joined us and Greg and Kendra for a couple of Chicago’s famous stuffed pizzas.  Greg and Kendra then had to leave as they had a long way to drive home.  Chris and Tom stayed with us for rum and to reminisce. 

On Sunday, we packed up and left for Grand Haven, Michigan.