The Engagement Story!

Ang and I went to Chicago on the night of December 18th, on a train bound for Union Station. I told her it was just another one of our fun road trips. We took the Amtrak train, which was a first for both of us. The train ride was fun, although it took a bit longer to get there than we originally planned. We checked into the Chicago City Center hotel, just a couple blocks west of the "Michigan Mile." Just as planned, Chicago was beautifully decorated at night with all the Christmas lights and street decorations.

The next morning we hit the museums that Chicago is best known for--the Shedd Aquarium, the Field Museum of Natural History and the Adler Planetarium. The aquarium was amazing, probably the best of the museums. We saw Beluga whales, a dolphin show, sharks, fish and aquatic creatures from all over the world, insects, spiders and all kinds of amazing creatures. A trainer let us touch some shark eggs, where, once held up to the light, showed a little baby shark swimming inside the egg next to the yoke. It was unreal. The kinds of animals, fish and other forms of life swimming and crawling around the world, in parts we'll most likely never see in our lifetime...you just cannot believe that this was all created. There is so much out there we don't know about, and to see that kind of life was a tremendous experience.

The Field Museum was great. We took some pictures with the worlds most complete and largest T-Rex skeleton, Sue. Sue is 67 million years old. This was another amazing experience. To be standing inches away from something that once lived 67 million years ago....are you kidding? Now, if only she would have come to life, like in Night at the Museum, or perhaps like in Jurassic Park.....They also had a very cool Egyptian exhibit where you walked through a 3 story pyramid with real mummies and ancient Egyptian artifacts. The Adler Planetarium featured an awesome exhibit from the personal effects of former Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell (played by Tom Hanks in Apollo 13). There were some fascinating things on display, especially the Gemini space capsule Lovell piloted. All in all, it was a great way to start this "regular, little trip down to Chicago for a few days!" For dinner, we went to Giordanno's, who had the most amazing deep-dish Chicago style pizza we've ever had. We highly recommend this place to anyone who loves pizza, especially Chicago style pizza. It is awesome.

The next morning--a.k.a. "The Day"--we got up, went and grabbed some breakfast at The Egg (a nice little restaurant right across from the hotel) and headed down Michigan Avenue to the Art Institute of Chicago. This museum, filled with classic art, modern art and a huge array of Impressionist-era art, is also very well known for housing the painting that Ferris Bueller and his friends stand in front of during their museum scene. There was a lot of great art to look at, some bizarre, but we had a great time contemplating and laughing at it all.

Now this was "the day," so I had the ring in my possession the whole morning--inside my breast pocket in my coat. Anyone who knows me knows I love the cold and get hot rather easily. So, when we got to the Art Institute, there was no way I was going to check my coat, Needless to say, I stuck it out...er, sweated it out, and wore my coat the whole time in the museum, which was cranking with heat. Luckily I didn't pass out and knock over a Monet'. Ang noticed I was sweating and kept telling me to take off my coat. At one point, I handed her our tickets to enter the museum and asked if she could put them in her pocket. Instead, she tried to put them in my pocket...my coat pocket....my inside breast pocket...where I was keeping the ring. I kind of jumped as she reached in and told her some lame excuse about keeping the tickets handy because of security. Mainly because Ang knows I'm weird, she was none-the-wiser and I knew if she didn't figure that out, I was home free.

It was now time to put "the plan" in motion. We headed over to Millennium Park where they have a very nice outdoor ice rink, similar to the one in Rockefeller center. We rented skates (which didn't quite fit her or myself very well) and for the first time together--hit the ice. That's when I started to think to myself, this could be a dangerous idea...considering we were on a sheet of ice. We skated around, hand in hand, holding on to each other for dear life...but neither of us fell. Not once. The skates started to hurt Ang's feet so "the plan" had to come to fruition a bit quicker than I anticipated. I found a nice corner of the rink, away from all the figure-skater wannabe's and told her I had to tie my skate. Mainly, I figured it would be a smart idea to get close to a railing in case she got a little weak in the knees or more realistically, so I could pull my self up off the ice without toppling over like a big weeble-wobble.

So, I got down on one knee, produced "the box" and (gushy comments deleted) and asked her to marry me. She said yes, obviously, and we skated off toward our new future.

That night I had a special dinner planned at the Signature Room, a wonderful restaurant on the 95th floor of the Hancock building. I called ahead and got a table right up against the glass, overlooking beautiful Chicago , Navy Pier and Lake Michigan. I pre-ordered a rose and had it set on the table when we got there. Chicago was lit up and it was simply stunning--a view that stretched out for miles and miles. Another reminder of creation and of how big this world really is. You just have to take it all in when you're sitting almost 1,000 feet up in the air. It was also a bit terrifying at first, due to my fear of heights, but again--this was a special occasion, something neither of us had ever done and it was time to put that fear aside and relax. We had a blast. The food was amazing and it's a really special place to celebrate something even more special. Ang had South African lobster tail and I had Rack of Lamb. We had some other tasty treats and to top it off, I pre-ordered a White Chocolate/Dark Chocolate Mouse 6" cake with our names on it.

The next day, it was back to Detroit (albeit on a delayed Amtrak train) to start our new lives together! Ang was coming home with a future husband and new sparkly early-Christmas present and we both brought with us some unforgettable memories! I think Ang was clearly surprised and had no idea what this trip was really about. It was something we'll never forget and I'm so glad that everything worked out as planned and that there weren't any major problems (outside of the Amtrak issues).

I hope this recaps the whole event. There's a bunch more I could type, but I just thought I would hit the highlights. We're very excited about planning this wedding and we are super-excited to share it with our wonderful friends and family. Feel free to leave us comments on here anytime--we look forward to it!