How much can we cram into 7 days?

6 days and counting! I am SO EXCITED. So what did I do? I made a list. Duh. And lucky you, I'm going to share it.

MidWest Road Trip '09 - Must See Stuff

Chicago
We've both been to the Windy City numerous times and can't wait to go back! Millenium Park, Michigan Ave, Second City - seriously, what's not to love? The one thing we won't be doing is touring Rush & Division late night style. I like to save that for when I'm out with the girls... speaking of, I'd fly out for a bachelorette party in Chi-City (Sept. Bride, I'm talking to YOU!). Anyway, things we will be doing include:

• Lunch at the Signature Room at the 95th Floor (of the John Hancock Center). I've been there for drinks, and the view is stunning. So stunning, in fact, that I don't care that the club sandwich is $12. On a clear day, you can see so far... though the main attraction is the Lake shoreline, if you're lucky enough to sit on that side of the building.
• Walk out on the Sears Tower Ledge. I'm imagining it will be like that scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but better. And by better I mean vomit-inducing. I am so pumped.
• US Cellular Field. The Yankees will be in town and we've got tickets. Is there really anything better than a Chicago-style hot dog at a Yankees game? I think not.
• Shopping on Michigan Ave. And by shopping I mean oogling sparkly things in Tiffany's while reminding myself that I'd really like a reason to carry a diaper bag more than I'd like one of these. So I guess we'll be window-shopping. Whatev.
• Hit the beach. In general, I'm really against calling anything a beach if it doesn't have salt water lapping up against the shore, but I'll make an exception for Lake Michigan. Sand, waves, and my favorite city skyline? OK.

St. Louis
Neither of us has ever been to St. Louis, though we've heard there's a lot of cool stuff to see. Things that made the list include:

• Trying to steal a penguin from The Zoo. (Just kidding, zoo keepers. Unless you have a tiny pengy you want to give us. We would provide said pengy with a wonderful home - just ask our dog, I'm sure she could provide a great reference.)
• Go to the top of the Arch. Take a million pictures. Enjoy being at the top of the Nation's tallest monument and totally respect Thomas Jefferson's role in opening the West.
• Drink beer, say hi to the horses, and try to spot the Dalmation at the Anheuser-Busch brewing factory.

Terre Haute, Indiana
Ryan went to grad school out there, and I moved out to be with him. We lived in a little one bedroom apartment on a lake (ok, a retention pond, but it had fish in it). He was in school, and I worked 3 jobs to help pay rent. We didn't have a penny to our name, but it was good. Our relationship is much stronger for it, and we have a little red dog to show for it. You can't get from St. Louis back to the east coast without going through Terre Haute, so we decided to make it an official stop on our Tour. Our must see list:

• Terre Haute Humane Society. We adopted our girl in 2005. Back then she was a sack of bones covered in red matted fur. Four years later she's healthy, happy, and sleeping with her head on my pillow every night. THHS gave us our beautiful dog, so we're dropping off a few big bags of dog food in hopes that THHS can feed a few more pups 'till they get adopted, too.
• Moggers. Ryan used to live in a teeny-tiny apartment above this restaurant and we'd always go for dinner whenever I visited. The have the best bourbon sauce. They mean for the sauce to go on buffalo wings, but I prefer it on quesadillas. Wow, I could really go for a quesadilla dipped in bourbon sauce right now....
• The Garden Quarter - our old apartment community. I'm a sap like that. If you click the link and scroll down, you can see the pond that was right outside our sliding door. Marley spent lots of time barking at the geese that lived there. I am tearing up just thinking about it. This does not bode well for that segment of the trip.

Champaign, IL
I really want to write something sappy here, but I'm going to refrain. E&L, we can't wait to see you. For real. Oh, and we're pumped for the party. I'm hoping those cornhole boards are still around; I haven't played a proper game of cornhole since we moved back east.

• Friends, friends, and more friends.
• Dress shopping!!!! Of both the bridal and bridesmaid variety.
• Champaign County Fair? I don't know if we'll have enough time, but just knowing it'll be happening makes me warm and fuzzy inside.

So that's it, folks. Our whirlwind MidWest Tour in a nutshell. Ryan - you seriously may need to call in sick on Thursday; I truly don't think we'll be back on Wednesday night.... but it'll all be worth it, right?! Getting back to our roots? I mean, I worked at Columbia House for this relationship. The least you can do is let me re-live it for a minute :-)

What do you think? Can this list be accomplished in 7 days? I guess we'll find out!