Chicago Bachelor Party

My baby brother Michael got married at the end of June. He lives in Chicago where he is working for the Teach for America program. Good kid, he is. So a couple days before his wedding a bunch of us relatives flew into Chicago and crashed at his apartment. We had a day that was less than typical for a bachelor party. Firstly, women were invited. My cousin Jonny's wife, Shannon, my aunt Jackie, and I were present. Secondly, we were a little short on scandalous activities. We decided that since Michael was marrying a vegetarian, his last days of Bachelorhood should be filled with meat. That's why for breakfast, we went to a place that had this emblazoned on the wall:


Hot Doug's served some mighty fine sausages. Michael got a sausage that was wrapped in bacon and then topped with cheddar blue cheese. We decided that this place should dispense rolaids in a candy machine by the exit. I ordered the "Keira Knightly" which is a hot sausage. Jeremy ordered the "Salma Hayek" which is an even hotter sausage.
Who would be your hot sausage?


We spent a lot of the rest of the day walking around the city. We went to a fine Mexican restaurant run by a famous head chef for dinner. Apparently he sends his chefs to different parts of Mexico each year to study the local cuisine. It is a method that works, because it was mighty tasty. And yes, meat abounded at the table. Since it also happened to be Jeremy's birthday, he got a free sorbet dessert.



I loved this silvery bean sculpture in downtown Chicago.



We also saw this sculpture of a moose, and Michael kindly pointed out his "moose knuckle" which is about as scandalous as this bachelor party got.

They had these awesome fountains in the city where screens displayed photos of random Chicago citizens and water spouted out from where their mouth was. During the heat of daytime there were tons of kids splashing around but when we passed by later in the evening it was a quieter scene.





We walked along the water over to the aquarium. I didn't really have high hopes for this place. An aquarium in the midwest? C'mon. I'm coming from Monterey Bay Aquarium standards. It was awesome though. I loved the sea dragons and this grumpy fish. They also had beluga whales and porpoises and penguins. I loved it.






We rounded the day off with more meat. Deep dish, chicago style combo pizza, complete with a solid layer of sausage; a whole huge patty had been placed on the crust, then smothered in the cheese and then sauce, like they do in those parts.
That is pretty gross. I can't believe I ate so much sausage in a day. I felt like Chris Farley when he had "a polish sausage lodged" in his coronary artery.