A Verdictless Life: The Carriage Ride

Sunday, December 11, 2011
Location: Michigan Avenue
Task #19

Sometimes it's fun to pretend to be a tourist in your own city. And I nearly missed all the fun!

I knew I had to be ready to go by 10am Sunday morning, but for some reason I didn't let that stop me from drinking plenty of wine by Abbie's the night before. Apparently my tolerance has gone down quite a bit, since I am suddenly old, and not going out nearly as much as I used to. But I digress, this is not the point.

The point is, due to my latent immaturity, I almost skipped the trip downtown altogether. I thought that was what I wanted - to stay home, hide in my bed, nursing my hangover. But when my aunt offered me the option to stay home and my mom told me I looked like death warmed over, I took one look at my sister and decided I didn't want to miss the day. After all it's one of those things that you can't get back. It wasn't like brunch downtown is a once in a lifetime experience. It's not even that I felt guilty cause I knew why I wasn't feeling well ( ok it was a little out of guilt) But it was mostly because I knew I would be letting an opportunity go by, an opportunity to have a nice day with my aunt and cousin, my sister and my mom. I would be missing the whole point of the holidays and life in general - enjoying the time you have with the people you love.

Being that I am not new to the hang over experience, I popped an advil and trusted that soon enough I would feel like a slightly shaky version of my old self. And sure enough by the time I sat on the sqooshy couch at Deca in the Ritz Carlton my headache was gone and my queeziness was down to a minimum.

It was a good thing too, because brunch proved to be quite amusing, on top of tasty. We laughed over the nonexistent food network show - "Bitch can Cook", which is actually called "Bitchin' Kitchen". But we sure had fun repeating "Bitch can cook" the rest of the day - even using the phrase to refer to the horse and his manure...

But back to brunch: the restaurant was not as hoity toity as I expected. It was comfortable and relaxed, big windows (yet a bad view), a big tree with brightly colored packages. Ginger bread Houses were displayed in the upper lobby, lifelike and unique, and sold for donations to children's memorial hospital.

I had plenty of coffee, a large belgium waffle, and Beignets filled with chocolate. I accidentally put maple syrup in my cup (it actually tastes pretty good), got caught up on the Real House Wives of Fill in the Blank (not that I wanted to), shared old stories and one liners from growing up with the Beebe's (Drive Driver!), and had an overall hilarious good time (especially considering we were the loudest table there).

After brunch we headed to Michigan Ave to catch a carriage. Right beside the old water tower a white horse and sleigh were ready and waiting. After a few pictures and silly questions about how the horse got the name Aura, we prepared for our city tour.

"Meredith, do you want some blanket?" Dia asks.

"No, Mom, I'm ok, " Meredith replied.

A few minutes later - "Meredith, do you want some blanket?"

"No, Mom, I'm ok."

We snap a few more pics - ones where we can see our faces - more than a boob or dark hole, or one without the driver standing in the way of on coming traffic. Then call "Drive, Driver!"

And again, a few minutes later, "Meredith, you want some blanket?"

"For the love of GOD, MOM, how many times are you going to ask? I DONT WANT ANY BLANKET!"

We laughed and laughed and repeated " do you want some blanket at least 100 times on the ride. We pointed out restaurants we ate at, ones we wanted to try, bars we had been to, stores we wanted to stop in, stores we could never afford to shop in, and picturesque brownstones with unique facades. We were sad to finish the ride, and took a few more shots with the horse before we were willing to let the experience end.

While our chariot was a little rickety, we had the best seat in town, the temp was just right, all five of us huddled inside. It was a classic Chicago Christmas moment. I was warmed by the new experience that put me in the Christmas Spirit, and glad to be able to share it with people I love.