Fall'en in the Windy City
By LIZZY ROSS
Is there anything more beautiful than the canvas painted by trees and their leaves during autumn? This year, my husband, our toddler and I picked Chicago as our fall season stop, a spectacular voyage that turned disastrous while eating chicken Mcnuggets.

In a city where crime flows like lava burning everything in it's path, my husband and baby were almost mugged twice within thirty minutes. It's a good thing Gracie still loves chicken nuggets.

Personally, the windy city did very little for me other than leave a sour taste in my mouth which came from the under cooked pizza we ordered from Benny Tudinos, a renowned Chicago style pizza joint which seemed far too busy to deliver both a good product and attentive customer service. First I was on hold for close to 30 minutes then waited close to two hours only to discover the deep dish pie had been delivered tres aldente, cold and without utensils.

Add just the right amount of smog, traffic and profanity and there you have it, a complete disaster in Illinois.

Oh but what a skyline! And the view from the top of the Sears Tower was absolutely spectacular-- If not for my 15 month old daughter screaming in agony from the 100 floor elevator ride I might have very much enjoyed America's tallest building.

But no, there was very little laughter in the windy city and that's fine with me. Turns out there are a thousand other places I'd love to visit across the US and I'm not feeling the least bit sorry about crossing Chicago off my list, Oprah and the south side thugs can have it.

HYATT REGENCY McCORMICK
The view from our suite was simply phenomenal. From sunrise to sunset, Chicago seemed peaceful, colorful and inviting. It's unfortunate we had to request a room change to get this view after our initial room featured a disturbing view of the city's projects accentuated by noisy construction.

For $200.00 a night, I expected more from the Hyatt organization; A lot more. Room service took forever, so much so that we decided to order out for Chicago pizza which the Hyatt did not even offer on their menu. Speaking of Hyatt food service, we were overcharged for our breakfast buffet which featured a limited selection of donuts, cold scrambled eggs and greasy pork bacon and sausage.

What's the bottom line? I hated Chicago, the Hyatt, the drive from the airport and the Sears Tower. Had there been a zoo on our itinerary, or a safe place for Gracie to play I'm sure the outcome of out trip would have been different. But there was no safe place. There was not much fun. Chicago is definitely not my kinda town.

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