Of Long Doughnut Lines and Cold Coffee – The Rest of the Story

9 July 2012 by 6 Comments

Last May, I participated in the Windy City Travel Tweetup.  Met some “old” friends (Lola and Leah) and some new ones (Francesca, Pola, Aaron, and Ted) – by the way, check those blogs out!  As part of any tweetup, we like to hit some neat local spots and discover the unique places in a city.  So, it was exciting to run into a list of the best doughnut places in the U.S. that had been published by Food & Wine as one of the places WAS in Chicago:  the Doughnut Vault.

The story has been eloquently told with awesome pictures here.  But I thought it’d be good to tell the story from my side…

The Pickup

Our fellow tweetupers, Leah and Aaron, volunteered to grab doughnuts at the Doughnut Vault and get some coffee for the rest of the gang; key word is volunteered – which made them my favorite people, of course.  Not being one to pass an opportunity for yummy doughnuts AND sleep in a little, I accepted.  Lo and behold, the doughnut place had a line that took our friends an 1.5 hrs to clear!  Leah texted me informing me of the horrible situation (it was also raining some) they were in.  I offered to join them after a leisurely shower but Leah very kindly told me to not worry so I didn’t. Now, I have to go a step further and show some evidence as I have to show my thoughtfulness… (I learned this trick from a lunatic blogger a little over a month ago…)

1st set of messages (local time 1 hr less than displayed); yellow text is Leah’s

2nd message

Notice how I expressed my appreciation up there?

The Tasting

When they got to the hotel, we were eager to try the doughnuts.  I was almost salivating looking at the doughnut and was dying to try it.

They are taunting and tempting me

As I took a bite a few pictures were taken.  Leah showed the non-airbrushed picture in her post but here is my preferred shot:

Aforementioned preferred shot

OK, so I take a bite and… it was OK.  Inside my head neurons start wildly spinning trying all branches of logic to see what the right statement was going to be.  My programmers didn’t factor in the Leah factor…

Meltdown!  Core Dump!

I was in trepidation at saying anything other than “ausgezeichnet!  wunderbar! completely out of this world; I have never had a doughnut like that and will never again” yet I couldn’t lie to a friend either.  What to do, what to do??  Amperes were flowing through my brain’s electrical wiring seeking the coded instructions to no avail; it was an IF statement without a proper switch for the current situation.  It finally hit the ELSE statement and “it’s OK” came out of my I/O device:  my vocal cords.

Aforementioned IF-ELSE statement (not the ACTUAL one in me)

Action in the room froze.  I detected a slight shaking in some of those present.  Leah’s eyes became red.  A red that only the core of the sun has.  Lightning flashed in front of her.

Lightning strike indoors

Aforementioned lightning strike and aforementioned Leah

Cold as Ice

And then I had a sip of my coffee.  Cold as an iceberg.  The heat of the glare evaporated as this not-intended-to-be-cold cold coffee worked its way down my esophagus.  Now THEREIN the real crime in the morning with nary a microwave in sight.

Conclusion

I hope my post clarifies some of the finer points of the morning, adding to what Leah shared.  Leah who so generously gave of her time (along with Aaron) so we could try those doughnuts. Further, I hope this post communicates the extreme duress I was under with the pressure to LOVE the doughnut and with having to drink that hyper-cold intended-to-be-hot coffee.

We have learned something here.  We all have, dear reader, haven’t we?  What have we learned out of all this?  Do not trust all “”best” X lists you read and watch out for the Doughnut Vault:  they don’t take cash and don’t tell until you approach the door an hour + after you get in line!

(No pets or children were harmed in the production of this post.)
Filed Under: US & Canada Tagged With: , , , ,

Getting to High Places in Chicago

13 May 2012 by 10 Comments

In the first tweetup, the one in Austin, I found myself flight-delayed for the Friday night events AND also quite sick.  While I greatly enjoyed the Saturday outings, I felt I had not gotten all that I had expected out of that tweetup.  So the Windy City Tweetup was redemption for fate…

Getting There

The journey to Chicago started, as many journeys lately for me, with Atlanta’s Hartsfield airport.  Having just flown in to Atlanta the night before, I was less than excited to be doing the routine in reverse within 24 hours of landing in Atlanta…  But, and it is a big but, this was for much more fun than a work trip.  It was time for the long-awaited Windy City Tweetup.

Delta nicely was able to complimentarily upgrade me (both ways!) days ahead of the flights so I would avoid wondering at the gate “Will I make it?”.   Thanks!

Three of us flying in were planning to meet upon arrival at ORD so I was hoping we would all be on time.  Being the one to land first (by schedule, anyway), I was to make my way to the last person’s baggage claim area (of course, we ALL were flying different airlines to make it more complicated…) and also call up the car we had booked for a nice ride into town.  Miraculously – the Tweetup gods must have been smiling upon us – we all landed within minutes of each other.

Our destination, the Sofitel Water Tower Hotel in Chicago we had booked a few months in advance.  Sofitels are clearly nice hotels and it had been a while since I had stayed in one so I was thrilled to experience their service after a few years of experiencing others’ service.

Home Base in Chicago’s Water Tower District:  My High Place

Even before the tweetup, the Sofitel Water Tower engaged with us via Twitter (@SofitelChicago).  Two things:  one, if you are a business and you will have a Twitter presence, it can’t be a one-way push of information.  That is so 1999 web.  You HAVE to engage.  The Sofitel clearly knew this.  That was a good sign for us that we had made a great choice.

I found out I had been placed at the 30th floor which gave me a nice view of the Hancock Tower straight ahead and Lake Michigan behind it.  The room was very comfortable and inviting.  A very nice spot in a high place in Chicago indeed!

Hancock Tower in Chicago from the Sofitel Water Tower

The view from my high perch in Chicago – the Hancock Tower

Also, a nice treat awaited in the room:  macarons!  Check out the story about macaron envy…

Macarons served to me at the Sofitel Water Tower in Chicago

My macaron-based welcome made me feel like a high-flyer!

We also had made plans to gather at the hotel’s bar “Le Bar“, where the hotel, once again, offered us a sampling of their appetizers of which the mini-burgers and the artichoke croquettes were my favorite.  I also got to be the first customer to try their new signature drink named “Wrigleyville” which had peanut butter fluff & vodka and was served with a side dish of Cracker Jacks.  I was not sure about a peanut butter flavored drink but it was actually outstanding.  Kudos to the bar for the clever design!

Signature drink at the Sofitel Water Tower in Chicago: the Wrigleyville

The Wrigleyville drink and Cracker Jacks

After meeting up at the Sofitel with one of our local tweeps, we headed for The Pump Room at the Public Hotel Chicago.  Though ground-level cleary a high place in terms of history, ambience and scene.  A famous locale throughout the decades, I admit to only having discovered it as the tweetup was being planned.  We enjoyed drinks and dinner there enjoyed the well-designed space.  The bar areas were hopping with a great crowd – clearly a place to come and meet with friends in the Windy City.

The Pump Room at Public Hotel Chicago

The Pump Room at Public Hotel Chicago

So ended our first few hours in the Windy City Tweetup.  It was a great start to the weekend and many thanks to the Sofitel Water Tower and The Pump Room for setting the right tone!

Filed Under: Good Eats and Drinks, Illinois, US & Canada Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Windy City Tweetup – Chicago Here We Come!

29 April 2012 by 7 Comments

Tweetup, what is that? 

Since it is the first time I write in my blog about a “tweetup“, I feel I should have an intro section here on what they are!  Tweetups are gathering of tweeps (people who have connected via Twitter) who share a common interest, say travel, photography, etc.  It does seem a little odd to go to one to meet people one has only met online.  However, if the tweetup doesn’t happen, it stays only online, doesn’t it?

After almost a year of participating in travel talks on Twitter, a few of us decided it was time to meet in person these other folks we so enjoyed exchanging travel ideas and experiences with in Twitter.  We held our first tweetup in Austin, Texas.

Windy City

We realized this is something we needed to do again and, sort of on its own, one day, we were chatting in Twitter when someone just said we should all meet in Chicago.  And, that was it.  Chicago in May it was.  Chicago had many pluses but definitely meeting local tweeps was a key driver.

So What Happens – Where Do We Stay?

Those of us traveling, while we don’t have big budgets, want a memorable experience all around.  And that starts with our accommodations.

We found out that the Hotel Sofitel Chicago Water Tower not only had a great deal at hand but a great location, sleek designs for the rooms, and an incredible-looking lobby with tons of ambience.  We look forward to the phenomenal service levels typical of the Sofitels!  Check them out here -> http://www.sofitel.com/gb/hotel-2993-sofitel-chicago-water-tower/index.shtml.  We will let you know how it goes!

So What Happens – Where Do We Eat?  Where Do We Have Cocktails?

Well, this is very much a problem in a town like Chicago since the options for good food are so many.  Here is where our local tweeps and some research on the travelers’ part comes into play.

We certainly wish we were able to engage with some of the local establishments pre-tweetup so we could perhaps better understand what was possible to create the right environment for a groups of folks that want to get each other better while enjoying some food and/or some drinks.

Of course, being a travel tweetup, this group will be “broadcasting” in Twitter and via their blogs about the experience so we sure hope we have great things to say and great tips to provide fellow travelers so their future visit to the Windy City benefits from our insights!!  That is what we travel bloggers love to do most – help point others to the best travel experiences!

So far, we have identified The Pump Room (http://www.pumproom.com/) at Public Chicago as a place we definitely will spend time at.  The Pump Room evokes the vibe of the 1930s/40s yet caters to a modern-day crowd.  It has been celebrated by Travel + Leisure, The Today Show, The New York Times, Chicago Live, etc.   This place has catered to just about every big star over the decades.  And now it will cater to this tweetup crew!

So What Happens – What Do We Do?

We have not planned out the day time hours but we have decided to do a river architecture boat tour with Wendella Boat Tours (http://www.wendellaboats.com/).  We got a great deal via Groupon and we liked the fact they would serve us a drink during the tour – this crew enjoys nice beverages so we sure hope that is what will be served!  We will tell you about the tour during our ride!

We are certainly open to ideas so feel free to share any you have.  And if you are in the Chicago area and like travel, feel free to connect with us so you can meet us during the weekend events on May 11-12, 2012!!!

Chicago, here we come!

Filed Under: Illinois, US & Canada Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

An Austin Tweetup

21 January 2012 by 2 Comments

I never thought I’d be part of something called a “tweetup” but last Friday I found myself traveling to Austin, TX to take part in one… How did I get there?  Well, I often participate in Twitter on travel chats and through that eventually connected with three 3 people that I enjoyed “chatting” with via Twitter.  The idea came up that maybe we should meet up at some point.  Since the 3 of them had Texas connections and 2 of them lived there, we decided to plan a weekend in Austin, TX.  Since I have good friends there, I figured I could see my new friends and my old friends in one weekend.

Getting There

Getting there was challenging as I wanted to stick to my main airline and there are no direct flights.  Also, as I had been traveling a lot recently, I wanted to make sure I could make a stop at home before continuing to travel after the trip to Austin.  No worries, a little fingerwork yielded a good itinerary at a reasonable price even if with a very tight connection in Memphis on my way to Austin (54mins).  The connection was perfectly fine but then the flight to Austin got delayed 1.5 hrs which pretty much killed joining folks that night.

One Sick Puppy

Unfortunately, I was starting to get sick when I flew to Austin and that got worse over the weekend.  I missed the evening tweetup events and that was a real bummer.  But Saturday I did get to be with these new friends, now not just “online friends” and we got to explore a little bit of Austin.

Austin in One Day

The day started with breakfast at one of the food truck parking lots on 1st St.  A taco place and a doughnut one were the choices on the one we settled on – and I was keen on getting a big ole loaded donut!  The donut took a good bit to be prepared but it was loaded with fried bananas, cream and the donut itself.  MAJOR sugar overload!

We decided to walk around that part of town and then proceeded to South Congress to walk around the shops.  People were out and about that day!  It felt like maybe this was the first spring day after a long winter but this was mid-January.  Eventually we made it to Allen Boots.  I wsan’t looking for a pair of boots but did see a belt I really liked and since most of my belts are run-of-the-mill boring, I went for it.  What a great way to add Texas to my “wardrobe” without it having to be a t-shirt!

We decided it was a good enough time to head out to Driftwood, TX to eat some BBQ at Salt Lick (www.saltlickbbq.com).  (After returning home from the trip, I saw the place featured in a Top Chef Texas episode.)  The place is massive and even has a winery.  While we waited 45 mins for our table, we sampled wines which were pretty good.  I especially liked their Brut.  The place is chop-chop, meaning, all business.  They serve you very fast and they don’t seem to want people lingering at the table (based on a posted sign).  But they were very friendly so no complaints here.  Based on the amount of people wanting to eat there, I am glad people didn’t linger before WE were seated!  The foot was great – I had the brisket and sausage and I can say, hands down, the sausage were far better.  They had a slight sweet taste that I enjoyed.

After Salt Lick (and a group picture in the parking lot), we drove back into town to walk around the Capitol grounds and take various pictures.  At that point, I started feeling the cold getting worse so I was not able to linger much and continue on for drinks and dinner which means I missed out on more fun with the group and on checking out the Four Seasons where 2 of them were staying.  I got some meds at the hotel store and basically slept through the evening, night and a good bit of the morning before my local friends picked me up around 11.

Tweetup: Thumbs Up or Down?

Not sure how other “tweetups” go but this group was a phenomenal group of folks!  The folks were in real life as I had thought they were from our Twitter chats.  I hope their blogs about the tweetup do the weekend better justice (especially since they can talk about the happy hours and dinners that I missed) and I can’t wait to read them!

I am very glad I went for it and I look forward to another one of these with these folks and perhaps other Twitter friends we have met over the last year through our travel chats.

Filed Under: US & Canada Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
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