"Come on Feel the Illinoise"

I'm leaving for the windy city of Chicago on Thursday! My sister and her husband go to Wheaton College there, and I will be traveling there to spend Christmas with them. I'm excited because I haven't seen that side oh my beautiful family for ages and it will be great to finally spend Christmas with my wonderful sister (her husband's not so bad himself). ;-) I'll be leaving at 2pm on Thursday and then I'll be back around 8pm on Tuesday night. I've never been to chicago, so I'm also excited about that. Man, I love traveling!!!! I haven't traveled enough within the US, so this will hopefully spark an interest to experience all the great diverse stuff we've got going on in our country. I hear it's pretty much freezing in Chicago right now, so that might be somewhat of a challenge, but hey, I'm sure I can handle it. Oh, and I'm really excited about the five hour plane trip also....plane rides pretty much force you to read and listen to music; two things I can't seem to get enough of. I can't wait to turn on The Eels and dive into A New Kind of Christian by Brian Mclaren. I've been listening to Sufjan Stevens' Illinoise album in anticipation for my visit to the city.....he presents and interesting view of Illinois....I love that album. Anyways, I'll let you know how the trip went on my return...stay tuned.