The final leg

We arrived in Chicago on a hot Sunday afternoon, to be exact it was the afternoon of the Marathon debacle. The hotel was in a fantastic location - right behind the John Hancock tower off of Michigan Ave. We were 2 blocks from the lake, 5 blocks from the river and 1 block from the Magnificent Mile. We walked Navy Pier, visited the Field Museum, Millenium Park, downtown and the Gold Coast.

One afternoon the boy gave into my begging for a boat ride down the river. We joined a tour boat which took us out on the lake, then down the river. It was such a nice day, and the boy and i took up a spot on the bottom rear deck at the back of the boat where there was no one else around... suddenly i looked over at the boy and he was standing there with a gorgeous diamond ring, box open... my jaw dropped, and he asked me to marry him! Well naturally after 7 years of being together i wasn't going to wait any longer to say yes - so we're engaged! I don't think i could have picked a nicer way to remember Chicago by.

After 4 nights we boarded an Amtrak train bound for New York. The train was an overnighter and took about 20 hours. We had our own compartment with 2 seats facing eachother, which converted to bunk beds at night. We passed through places like Toledo, Cleveland, Buffalo, Albany and Poughkeepsie. We arrived in New York about 9pm and headed straight to the hotel to sleep.

New York was amazing - as i'm sure everyone who's been there knows - we walked everywhere, visited every Donald Trump location we could, posed with the Alice sculpture in Central Park, rode on the double-decker tourist buses, went behind the scenes at Madison Square Garden, saw Law and Order being filmed, walked Bleecker St, went to ground zero and Wall St and the absolute highlight? Before we left the boy's mother organised a helicopter trip for us to go over New York. We circled up and down the west lakeshore of Manhattan on a beautifully warm and clear day. I was so scared i was nearly not getting on but you would not believe how smooth and safe it felt, sort of like a dream the whole time.

We left New York on the 17th October to arrive into Melbourne via Los Angeles and Auckland 38 hours later and missing a day, on the 19th October. We're still in recover mode getting back into the work swing and catching up with all our friends, but gosh we had a great time. I'd do it all again in a heartbeat!

OzMillenium Park Chicago

Central Park

View from helicopter
Seinfeld Diner