Travel with Kamel

When we headed out to meet Christopher and Kris for dinner, our bellman at the Blackstone handed us into the cab of Kamel Kahiri, and thirty seconds later I wondered if we'd forgotten to tip him or something. It is about a mile and a half to Navy Pier from our hotel, and in that distance Kamel cut off three cars, flipped off two drivers and one pedestrian, and slammed on his brakes so many times, we felt like bobblehead dolls. New Orleans cabdrivers do not do this, but I digress.

We had a wonderful dinner at Riva, a terrific seafood restaurant with equally terrific views of the sailboat basin and the city. The best thing, though, was just being with Christopher and Kris. I really can't believe we've waited so long to do this. Kris is so much fun, and the two of them have traveled a lot themselves and have great stories. The time flew. They insisted on taking US to dinner, to celebrate our anniversary, which was so kind. We tried to make an end run around them and pick up the check, but Kris sweet-talked the waiter, who seemed oddly immune to Hank trying to sweet talk him.

Now we're back in our room, watching the Lakers and wishing we could stay in Chicago longer. Tomorrow morning we catch the Wolverine for Ann Arbor, if we can navigate Union Station and actually find our train . . .