Out of Order – But You’re Gonna Like It!!

Sorry gang, I’m a little out of “posting order” but I couldn’t wait for this one …

SNOW!!  It’s here!  We have officially entered the Chicago “Snow Season” as of last night!!  It was pretty exciting for us.  We haven’t been in snow like that since we were caught in a blizzard one year in Mammoth!!  We checked the forecast but it said, “Snow – 9:00 p.m.”  so we figured, we’re good to go!  So we took our nephew, Daniel, out for an Italian beef sandwich (more on that later!) and as we were sitting there eating at, oh … 6:30 … it started snowing like crazy!!  It said 9:00 p.m., not 6:30!!  We weren’t completely ready but, ready or not, it came!!

We have learned to layer our clothing and I’m usually boiling by the time we’ve arrived anywhere by walking.  So tonight was no different!  But after that humongous sandwich, we needed a good walk!  Bring it on — snow and all!

Snow on Michigan Avenue!

We had about a 2 mile walk south from Portillos back to the apartment.  I have never walked in snow for that long for any reason (skiing of course, but walking in snow?  Who does that??).  It was exhilarating and exciting!  And there were people everywhere doing the same thing … walking home from dinner or work or wherever they were … or just out enjoying the first snowfall of the season!  At one point, Eddie was doing a video of us and I’m saying in the background, “the snow is melting down my face!”  Haha!  I guess that’s what happens when you’re walking … fast!  Very fast!  It doesn’t matter if it’s snowing … you still get hot!

We make a pitstop inside one of the historic buildings on Michigan so that Daniel could see the inside.  Well, also because it was coming down … do we say “pouring cats and dogs” when referring to snow?  I’m not sure what it was, but it was coming down for sure!!

Our “bridge” – Clark Street Bridge over the Chicago River

We made it home and enjoyed our first snow-walking experience!  Even Daniel loved it!  After a warm cup of hot chocolate, here’s what we saw before heading to bed …

View of the courtyard from our window …

Our courtyard

Courtyard, first snowfall

Today it’s been snowing on and off all day.  We had some errands to run so we took off around 9:30 this morning and did some shopping up on State Street.

A real Chicago shopper!

When we returned home around noontime, we got lucky again!  The snow was comin’ down … see for yourselves!  I went down to the indoor patio to take some pictures of the courtyard.  The ones from last night were from our window … today these are taken from the ground floor common room windows.

Remember the BBQ from the summer? Can you see it?

Trees outside our window

Looking down from our window at the courtyard – 2nd day of snow!

From our patio looking south on Clark Street

And here’s another first for us … the sidewalk being cleared by our staff here at the apartment.  They go out every now and then and just brush the sidewalks …

Cleaning the sidewalks!

The forecast says it’s not supposed to snow again for at least 10 days … so … as they say, “so far, so good”!!  For now, we feel like real Chicagoans!  We walked around during the snowfall doing our weekend chores, just like everyone else!  It was crazy and fun!  Well, at least it was today!  We’ll see how we do the rest of the winter!

See ya tomorrow!  😉