Walking weekend...

Our excursion to the Hancock building yesterday was quite a success. Actually, the walk was so easy that we were kicking ourselves for not tackling it sooner. It took about a half hour to reach the downtown area -- at one point, I realized we'd reached a restaurant that we've visited several times, usually by cab. And it had been so easy to get there on foot that I was giddily planning my next visit by checking the time to see how long it had taken (okay, we left about 25 minutes ago, so next time we come here, we'll just leave our condo about a half hour early and walk... no problem!). Once we reached downtown, we stopped into Argo Tea for a break, where we met a guy from the neighborhood who chatted with Rick about iPhones and computers for a while. One thing I love about Chicago is that the Midwestern friendliness of many of its residents has not been completely erased by the cold, hard city. (Not that I, personally, go around chatting with strangers... so people probably assume I am cold and hard, anyway... ah, the joys of introversion... I'm NICE, darn it!! ;))

On the way home, we took a small detour to check out the neighborhood around a condo we're considering, and then walked along Lake Shore Drive until we were back in Lincoln Park. When the whole thing was said and done, we'd covered about five miles... which, I think, would totally justify a visit to Ghirardelli at some point in the future (it's right across the street from the Argo Tea... it took all my willpower to ignore its existence when I was standing on the street corner yesterday...).

Now that we've walked downtown and back, it almost seems silly to ever travel around the city by any other means. (Although I will say this -- when the temperature drops below 20, please give me a car. Even if I'm heading three blocks away. Car. With heated seats, if possible. Thank you.) Today, for instance, we had an appointment to view a condo about a mile away. Well, no way could we drive, after yesterday. Especially since we were blessed with a mini heat wave today -- it was about 45 degrees and sunny. We also needed to pick up a few things at Home Depot, which was about another mile and a half away from the condo we looked at... so we added a few more steps to our pedometers. (Actually, that's a lie -- I forgot my pedometer. And Rick likes to tell me that steps taken without a pedometer don't really count... but it sure FEELS like they count...)

Needless to say, we've collected quite a few steps this weekend (pedometer-recorded or not). And as the weather warms up, I hope we'll be out more often.

And I WILL be walking to Ghirardelli eventually...

I didn't actually wear these sneakers on my walk... it's just a pair of sneakers. Because sometimes a pair of sneakers is just a pair of sneakers...