Bon Voyage.

Don't forget your train case when you leave for your Thanksgiving journeys! Also don't forget your trampy hot pink lipstick, your compact, and your handkerchief. These last two days we made this cake and I loved making it! The moth orchid was a little stubborn, but this cake actually came together quite smoothly. You are probably wondering what the "B" on the handkerchief is for. Well that stands for Bea Collins. The finest Grandma anyone could ever ask for. Love you Gram!

So last Saturday Julia and I decided that we needed to start crossing off items from our "things we must see before we leave Chicago" list. Of course one major item on the list was to visit a food venue. Apparently you cannot leave Chicago without standing in line at Hot Dougs to try some of their delicious gourmet hot dogs. We had heard rummors of the line, but we figured it must have been exaggerated. Nope, we waited in this line for an hour....

Then we were almost to the front of the line when Julia was like "ahhh... no way!" She pointed to a sign that said "Cash only!" I never carry cash! That way when a homeless person asks for money I can say "sorry I don't have any cash", and not feel shady for lying. I ran to go find an ATM, but it seemed unlikely since we were in a mostly residential area. Well three blocks later, siting angelically on the corner was a no-name bank. Score! I ran back and Julia and I ordered not one... but four hot dogs! We couldn't decide, so we tried all the ones that sounded delicious. Not mention an order of duck fat fries. Not gonna lie, they tasted like normal fries, but now we can say we tried them. The rumors were true, they were amazing... and filling. 18 hours later, I was hungry again.

So on the way to meet Julia I stepped off onto a crowded train platform. Never have I seen a train platform so full, and I was trying to look over the crowd to see what was going on. I started thinking about what it might be... someone jumped in the tracks... fire drill... the escalator broke and everyone is confused on how to exit. Wrong. The Holiday train! Chicago decorates a train in Christmas lights every year. They even take out a center car for Santa's sleigh (complete with reindeers). Then while you're on the train Elves hand out candy canes. Now you can share in the joy...