Chicago, IL

Well, we started the day in Madison. Joel and I toured the downtown area - it was dumping snow and the roads were quite slushy - we had both forgotten that it really is winter in most of the country. To honor my half-marathon "training" schedule, we ran outside for an hour around the University of Wisconsin. It was a hard core run, for sure. The trails were covered in a sheet of ice and topped with a deceiving layer of snow. I did my best to run the trails, but I think I fell about 7 or 8 times on the ice. Hilarious AND painful. It was nice to be outside in the beautiful snow - with trees frosted by the white snow - and the lake frozen over.

We headed back to Chicago, since that's where our flights were departing. The drive to Chicago felt like forever, but the best part was a radio station that played ten U2 songs in a row. We stayed in a youth hostel on the corner of Congress and Wabash (I hadn't been there since 2003 with my Prejudice Across America tour). We braved the weather and walked by the lake, Millenium park and up Michigan. Our walk around downtown Chicago was highlighted by incredible architecture, white lights on numerous trees, high class stores and a homeless guy named Stanley who believed he had the keys to the city. It was a short time in Chicago and we barely saw the city, but I'm thankful to be here.

Jena