A Midwestern Adventure | My Travels

It certainly has been quite the busy travel year for me. My latest trip was a little vacation to the Midwest about a week ago.  The Midwest?? For VACATION, you say? Yep. One of my best friends, Patricia, currently resides there.  So when it was time to plan a little girl-time excursion with my two best gal pals (Patricia and Marcella) the lovely city of Chicago was first on my list of must-sees. Patricia then mentioned she was only a three hour drive from the windy city, so we planned our trip out to visit her in Michigan, and then head out on a little road trip to Chicago.  And you know how much I LOVE a good road trip. :) Pattie's house was so warm and cozy. Even in the Michigan cold, we felt very at home.

Mother and daughter and their matching aprons. So cute.

I snagged a little portrait of Pattie in her room.

I wanted to grab this little kitty and bring her home with me. She was the sweetest thing EVER. Of course, she followed me all over the house.

While in Michigan, Patricia took us to Traverse City.  A beautiful beach side town overlooking Lake Michigan.  The city is known for its impeccable white wines. So naturally, we had to drive up there and do a little wine tasting. ;)

Pattie and I...

Marcella and Pattie...

This ones a keeper.

Here begins our time in Chicago.  I didn't take many photos with my fancy camera because it was cold and rainy outside and I didn't want anything to happen to my precious baby. Yes, I just called my camera my baby.

You know every time I travel there are going to be photos of coffee and local coffee shops that I fell in love with. Deal with it.

These next few are near Wickerpark.  Such a hip little area full of amazing cafes, boutiques, parks, and brownstone homes. LOVE.

Yet another coffee shop. This place was truly unique.  It was a late 80s early 90s movie themed coffee shop called The Wormhole.  They even had a replica of Back to the Future's DeLorean inside.  The pictures just didn't do it justice, so you're just going to have to trust me on this one. ;)

This photo is for Will, and all of my other nerdy friends out there.

I'm sure the girl who snapped this photo pegged us as total dorks. And she was right.

Back in good ole' Grand Rapids, MI.  It snowed the morning after we came back from Chicago.  Marcella and I woke up and squealed like little kids on Christmas morning.  Patricia and her family laughed and made fun of us for getting so excited over snow. We can't help it.  We're Californians.

We made the most out of the snowy day by popping open a bottle of wine that we got in Traverse City and walking around town.  Illegal? Possibly.  Fun? Absoluuuutely! :)

After we had enough of the cold, we went back inside and played a little Mexican Train and Scrabble.  We aren't as young as we used to be guys.

And on that note...I leave you with one of my fav. shots of the entire trip. :)

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Oh, and of course I HAD to include some pictures I took on my iPhone! And yes, I got creative with it.  Sometimes I surprise myself with what I can spend my time doing.