Heavenly chocolate...

Mom and dad have joined us here in Chicago -- we spent several hours wending our way through snail's pace Chicago holiday traffic to drive to and from the airport this afternoon. Rick declared that the traffic was "worse than Byram," so you can imagine how congested the highway was. Actually, it wasn't horrible -- we were moving the whole time, at least. We may have only been averaging 15 miles per hour, but at least we were moving.

We're staying at a Westin hotel, and I think this is the first time I've been at a Westin. They are famous, apparently, for what they call the "heavenly bed." When I heard about it, I assumed that I would crawl into said "heavenly" bed and immediately fall into a blissful slumber, from which I would hardly want to wake the next morning. And at first, it seemed like it might be that way -- when I climbed into the bed last night, it felt like I was surrounded by fluffy pillows on all sides. I could tell my dreams would be filled with visions of squishy marshmallows and puffy clouds...

And then, some time around one in the morning, my lovely sleep was interrupted when I realized the squishy marshmallows were attempting to suffocate me. In fact, my bed had morphed from an innocent, puffy, fluffy cloud into something more akin to a waffle iron. It was stifling hot. That "heavenly" down duvet was so warm I could've sworn I was vacationing in the tropics -- not the chilly city of Chicago. I got out of bed and lowered the thermostat a degree or two, only to wake up an hour later in the middle of the waffle iron once again. It look a couple more trips to the thermostat before I finally found the most comfortable temperature -- which turned out to be a very brisk 61 degrees. Once I figured that out, it really WAS a pretty comfortable bed. The fact that I woke up ten times last night will not deter me from climbing back into that bed again tonight and hoping for a much better sleep. 61 degrees... now I know...

Well, we did accomplish one of my Chicago requirements today -- we went to Ghirardelli for dessert after dinner tonight. Ghirardelli is, happily, within walking distance of the hotel. It's practically across the street. It was raining tonight, and only about 39 degrees, but we all stubbornly marched right into that store and ordered hot fudge sundaes. And the place was quite crowded, so I guess we're not the only ones who'll eat ice cream even when it's only seven degrees away from snow...

I'm not sure what we have planned for tomorrow... well, actually, I guess that means we have NOTHING planned for tomorrow. But I'm sure we'll figure something out... if nothing else, we can just go hang out in Ghirardelli for a while...



Writing the nightly blog...