Chicago top ten: Experiences

The top ten list continues. Last time was food (Part I is here, and Part II is here), this time is individual experiences. Of course, some of my favorite Chicago experiences have been had in restaurants featured on the food love list, including our one year of dating anniversary at Province, but I'm going to try to steer clear of eateries in this post. 

I can already tell I'll have a lot to say about each, so I'll post this in several parts, two or three experiences at a time (with a few runners up at the end.) Also, I tried ranking these, but I just couldn't. Each experience was awesome and extraordinary in its own way.

Here goes!

Apple picking

October, 2010

  

I began insisting on this just about the moment we arrived in Chicago. As I've gotten older, fall has become my favorite time of year, and nothing rings in the crisp autumn season like a trip to the orchards. I did some research, and found a place called Kuiper's Family Farm about an hour outside of the city. The apples were great, but the experience was even better. After waiting in a very long line (Kuiper's is a popular place!) we took a rustic hayride out to the orchards, picked ourselves a couple pecks of apples (I don't know what a peck is, except hearing it from "Peter Piper." It seemed to fit here), and moseyed back to the farmstand for a bite to eat and a bit of shopping.

Alex picked up some apple fritter mix that we had every intention of using, but it ended up getting lost in the moving shuffle a few days later. Boo. But we did cook up some of the apples that night, with some pork chops, mushrooms, and onions. One of my favorite dishes made even better by our fresh-picked ingredients. Anyway, apple picking is the bee's knees. And western Massachusetts strikes me as the perfect place to find lots of great orchards. More memories to come, this fall.

Dark storm moving in on the drive home

Water for Elephants movie premiere

April, 2010

My sisters will say I'm a little old lady, but I found in Chicago that joining a book club was a great way to meet new friends. Joining two book clubs was even better. In the middle of winter, I started to get the blues being stuck inside every night, especially when Alex started traveling a lot for work. I'd already joined one book club, and had really hit it off with some fantastic girls. So when I stumbled on an ad for another one -- meeting that very night at a cafe in Lincoln Park -- I jumped on it. I had plenty of free time at night to snuggle up on the couch, so what was one more good read per month?

Our first book was Water for Elephants, which I read on my flights to and from New York City in March. Not long after we met to discuss the book, I found a Living Social deal to attend a special premiere of the movie, the night before it launched in theaters in April. So two of the book club girls and I got all gussied up and headed up to Evanston for the premiere. Drinks and hors d'oeuvres were supposed to be included, but I had to wrestle a couple of cheesy asparagus bites away from the other guests, because the party-throwers clearly didn't account for the ginormous crowd of people that would be there. But for the film (which was so sad! And so pretty! And so entertaining!) I bought myself a giant popcorn and washed it down with my white wine. Popcorn and chardonnay make Megan a happy girl. Staring at Robert Pattinson's face for two hours doesn't hurt, either. 

More tomorrow...