The Clay Aiken Fan Club Reunites

It's true long, long ago my girls and I were shameless Clay Aiken fans. We voted for him every night, hung his picture on our door, (and others' doors), raced to buy his first CD, and swooned at his concert. With a bond like this we knew we would be friends forever. And so, we decided when we turned 30 we would all reunite. We decided our happy reunion would be at the Oprah show in Chicago. Well, we were off by a year, and Oprah didn't comply with tickets. However, our heart was set on Chicago and so off we went.
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Some of you might know that March in Chicago is pretty cold. However, we weren't intimidated, and so we donned our coats, parkas, scarves, gloves, and hats and set out on our adventure.


And here it is. . . . . . beautiful Chicago from Navy Pier. Back in 1871, the great fire of Chicago burned almost 1/3 of the city down. However, those Chicagoans are known for their "I will" spirit and immediately began rebuilding. Because of the fire, and the requirement to build from something other than wood, great architects thought outside the box and created these unique and amazing buildings. (I always love a good story about the places I visit.)


See this big smile, it comes from the friendly people of Chicago. It's true, we found nice people at every turn.


We had a big list of tourist sights to see, and one of our favorite picture spots was Cloud Gate or otherwise known as "The Bean."


Ahhhhhhh! So much fun, so many pictures.


We couldn't resist a chance to practice our old dance moves.


We had to get a view of the city from The Sears (Willis) Tower. It was amazing. Those who were more brave also got a view from "The Ledge," glass bottom balconies looking straight down 103 floors to your death. Needless to say, I got woozy just watching people standing on them, and so this was my best picture.

We had to do a little Ferris Bueller pondering at The Art Institute. Loved it!!!


Of course, our trip revolved a lot around eating. Here we are graffiting our names forever into Gino's East's wall. Well at least for a few days until someone else covers them over. However, the memory of the delicious food of Chicago will at least be etched in our minds forever.


While shopping our noses detected the most deliciously, intoxicating smell of caramel popcorn. Garrett's Popcorn became a favorite.


They take their hot dogs very seriously in Chicago and that means no ketchup. However, some people love their ketchup so much, they couldn't be stopped. Although, as you can see, I tried. The traditional Chicago dog has onions, peppers, tomato wedges, mustard, a dill pickle, relish, and celery salt. It was delicious.


What could be more fun then shopping on the Magnificent Mile? Stores at every turn.


You didn't think we would go all the way to Chicago without getting near to Oprah did you? Here we are outside her studio with O hoodies on.


OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Can't get enough of the O. (Sitting on her old studio chair, coincidence that we are both wearing pink at this moment? I think not.)


Well just like back in the day, we are still pretty crazy. Yep, we got these shimmering rays of fun to light up our night on the town at the theater, which was fabulous. Our hair had me humming "Me and my friends are Jem girls the whole night." Yep, pretty crazy.


One last picture on the train to the airport and our reunion was over. And although, we haven't listened to Clay for a long time, we had a wonderful time remembering the time when we did and an even more wonderful time creating new memories. Because the best part of this trip wasn't Chicago, it was the Clay Aiken Fan Club reunited again.