San Francisco and Chicago

We're almost half way through our holiday in the US now and I figure it's time for a couple of posts. I'm typing this all on my phone so there's bound to be a few mistakes.

First off; San Francisco.

We spent a few days in San Francisco and it was amazing. Our first meal at Lou's Fish Shack was crab and fish tacos with black beans with some local beers to wash it all down. The taste of it all, even with the jet lag barrelling down hard, was amazing for a first meal after nearly 24 hours of mind-numbing travel.

The Golden Gate Bridge was breath-taking. I know thousands of people drive over it everyday and probably think it's just a hunk of metal, but I was blown away by the magnitude of it. The lingering fog added to its appeal, just barely covering the tops of the bridge.

We also did the typical touristy shit, like walking around Pier 39, a hop on hop off bus tour and we spent almost every night battling jet lag. I also managed to get a cold, which made sleeping just a little bit harder.

Chicago was as beautiful as I remember from our last visit.

As a result of slight time zone differences and bad traffic, we only ended up with two nights and one full day in Chicago, so we didn't get to do all we had hoped to do, but still ended up having a great time.

Our first meal was a cajun feast at Heaven on Seven for a late dinner. We filled our bellies with crab cakes, gumbo, BBQ and pecan pie and chased it with more beer. Cherie had finally found her favorite American beer, Abita Purple Haze.

The next day, we walked around North Michigan Ave, shopping and eating.

That night, I was lucky enough to meet up with my brother, Aaron, who has been travelling around the US since early June, and Erik, our life-long friend who currently lives in Boston. We went on a bit of a pub crawl in the uptown area with a couple of Erik's friends. At some point we stopped into Portillo's Hot Dogs for some food.

In the meantime, Cherie caught up with her friend Megan, who is travelling around the americas with her boyfriend, Scott, for a few drinks of their own.

By the end of the night, we had all caught up at the Kerryman Hotel for yet more beers.

The next morning Cherie and I hopped on another flight, very hung over, bound for her brother's home in Norwalk, Connecticut.