Gobble, Gobble

We spent our Thanksgiving up in the Chicago area, and we had a blast. For most of the past five years, we had lived in the suburbs, and had enjoyed much that Chicagoland had to offer (of course, there were some things that we do not miss - namely, traffic). Our Thanksgiving began by hitting the road and catching up with the newly reconfigured I-355; the new on-off ramps are great. Eventually, we arrived at our destination and spent Thanksgiving with my family, and we had a great time. The highlight (or low light) of Friday was a flat tire! I've had my share of flats, but this was the first that was not a slow leak: we lost all of the air out of our tire, immediately. Luckily, my family was shortly behind us, and between my dad, brother, and I, we changed the flat out in a short period of time. We took the flat to get patched, but the service station, a great, old-fashioned gas station/garage in one, was unable to patch the tire: on Black Friday, our big purchase was a new tire. It really was a blessing in disguise though, for we spent an extra night with my parents (thanks for putting us up for an extra night!), who took the family out to eat at one of Chicago's greatest restaurants: Portillo's. There's not a whole lot that I miss about Chicagoland, but Portillo's is one. All in all, we had a great visit, good travelling, and fantastic food.