Bellies full Chicago style

Most of our travels don't necessarily revolve around sites to see and things to do but rather what food to eat. Our Chicago agenda was no different. And considering we had already done most of the touristy things on our first visit, food was our motivation this time.

Three restaurants for your Chicago must-do list:

• Giordano's
  
• The Original Pancake House


• Lawry's, The Prime Rib

Even though Naples recently got a Uno Chicago Grill, and it is awesome, there's nothing like having deep dish pizza in its hometown. From the moment I learned that the Creative Freelancer Conference was being held in Chicago, I was dreaming about the layers of melted cheese and sweet sauce. Heck, even thinking about it now gets my mouth watering! On this visit, Giordano's was right behind our hotel, but in our three-and-a-half day visit, we were only able to squeeze in one lunchtime pizza. I'm sure our arteries were thankful that's all we could fit in.

On our last visit to Chicago, we wandered the streets one morning in search of a breakfast place. Breakfast is a meal I can eat 24/7, so it was important to find a great place. Of course, the more we wandered the more our stomachs growled and we were not finding anything except small coffee shops. Then we passed a cop. Now I don't want to admit that I was "profiling," but I thought "hey, a cop with a bit of a belly on him must know a good breakfast place." And what do you know ... he did! We had to walk quite a few blocks to find The Original Pancake House, but when we did it was so worth it. In fact, this time we made a point of going back. Don't be intimidated by the line, even it is out the door as is usually the case. It is worth the wait! You must try the apple pancakes and the Dutch Baby. Yummmm!!

I think we originally saw Lawry's Prime Rib on Food Network and both my husband and I were amazed. A restaurant that revolves around prime rib, my favorite dish ... what a concept! We knew we had to visit it, and we did on our first and our second trip to Chicago. Granted, it is not cheap, but it is worth saving up for. You must make reservations and while it is a fancy place, situated in the 1890s McCormick Mansion, there are many who come in casual attire. When that cart comes around to personally slice your piece of prime rib cooked exactly to your liking, it is a glorious moment. Even better is mixing it with the mashed potatoes and Yorkshire pudding.

Trading in my flip-flops for knee-high, fur-lined boots

Our travels this summer have taken us from the mountains of Panama, to the tourist-filled streets of Chicago, to the quiet farmland of southern New Jersey.

While I expounded a lot about our adventures in Panama, mostly because I had never been to a third-world country, or out of the country at all for that matter, I'll just give you a quick re-cap on Chicago.

If you've never been, I totally recommend it. Chicago is a fantastic city, and this comes from a girl who really isn't a city person. I've been to New York several times and to L.A. and San Francisco, but Chicago just blows me away!

This was our second time traveling there in three years. Usually, the novelty of a new place will wear off on the second visit, but I have to say I was just as in love with the city this time as I was when we first saw it in 2005. Maybe more so.

In fact, I raved about it so much my husband was worried he might find our bags packed, the cats in a carrier, and a For Sale sign in the front yard soon after we got back to Florida. Of course, each visit to Chicago thus far has been in August when the sun is shining, the temperature is 85 degrees, and the lake and the river look equally inviting.

But as everyone keeps reminding me, the winters there would kill me. I'm aware of this, but I try not to think about those long winter months of negative degree temps. I mean, technically, I could hole up inside our home there, drink hot cocoa, and write my stories on my laptop all while watching the blustery winds and snow from my comfortable office chair.

Then I think how painful it would be to go to the grocery store, because of course I would need food. And how I'd have to invest in winter clothes which I haven't had to buy for eight years now.

Oh well, I suppose I'll just have to be content with visiting - in the summer of course.

Final Panama thoughts

Our final day in Panama took us from the white-sand beaches of Santa Clara and the beauty of the Las Sirenas resort, where hammocks swayed in the ocean breeze, to the craziness of Panama City, which unfortunately we had to drive through in order to get to the airport.

Neither one of us looked forward to driving in the city again, but we knew our chances of kissing the U.S. soil were far better if we could successfully navigate the city and come out on the other side.

We decided to waste a few hours at the Albrook Mall, which after a couple of wrong turns we finally found. Albrook was a HUGE mall! I mean talk about sensory overload! It was like Miami on steriods. The energy level was so high for 2p.m. on Friday afternoon, I think it would have benefited from some Ritalin.

In any case, we strolled along its large and bright corridors, scanning store after store, that all had foreign names but whose contents mimiced those found in the U.S., including the insanely high-high heels, tight-fitting and low-cut shirts, and hipster jeans, until we found the food court.

There Wes enjoyed a tasty steak from Lenos y Carbon (a place highly recommended by our Panama friend Jessica) while I had sushi. Then it was off to the arcade, which turned out to be larger than a department store with small carnival rides, loads of pool and air hockey tables, and a whole wall of my favorite - skee ball!

The only thing that ruined it were some kids following us around who kept trying to show us how to play the games by shoving us over and taking the controls, or in my case, the skee balls. Very frustrating, so we quickly left and gave our remaining tickets to a cute family with small children.

We left a few hours before night fell in an effort to find Hotel Riande Aeropuerto, which was only a few short miles from the mall. What should have taken us minutes ended up taking us hours because our wonderful navigation system let us know about 50 feet too late that we had to make a turn.

Instead, we ended up in 5 o'clock Friday traffic. It was a nightmare! And of course, there was some rain thrown in too, just to keep things interesting.

We finally made it to the hotel after dark and as we sipped our drinks at the bar and shared our last Panama club sandwich, a fellow U.S. couple expounded on why they love Panama and were so disappointed that we did not fall in love with it as well.

My feeling is ... if everyone loved the same place, we'd have quite a population problem in some areas of the world.

Some of the things I'll never forget about Panama:

• A guy standing on the side of the road dangling two-foot-long iguanas from each hand evidently trying to sell them for food
  
• Seeing products at The Rey, a grocery store, that I didn't think existed anymore: Tang, Close Up toothpaste, and Shasta soda
  
• Armed guards both inside and out the Albrook Mall
  
• A bidet in the bathroom of Hotel La Hacienda
  
• Purchasing three baked goods and a cup of coffee at The Rey and only paying $1.40
  
• A family's morning catch - a huge red snapper hanging from a rope on the side of the road

The search continues for our dream location. After this experience, my thought is it has to be predominantly English-speaking and probably within the U.S. I hate to limit ourselves, but ...

Mountainous highway and torrential rain – a scary combo

On our way out of Boquete, we decided to stop by Las Olas, a beach resort the family from Kissimmee (our fellow white-water rafting and canopy-flying friends) was calling home for two weeks. The kids had raved about the black sand beach so much that we had to see it for ourselves. Lots of signs pointed the way to Las Olas, which was good because the road out there is fairly non-descript with large, open fields of green flanking it. Beautiful countryside, no doubt, but still desolate.
Las Olas was interesting with a three-story resort resting right on the beach, a gated community off to the right, and some huge homes under construction directly to its left. It was obvious that this beach locale is going to be a popular destination someday.
Unfortunately our Kissimmee friends had not yet returned from their adventures, but their sister gladly welcomed us in, showing us the three-bedroom condo and all of its amenities. We strolled down to the black sand beach where some were soaking up the rays and others were jumping in the waves. We couldn’t get over just how huge the beach and the waves were!
After a short visit, we got back on the road in an effort to make it to our halfway point – Santiago.
Word of caution: Do not attempt to drive the Panamericana Highway at night during rainy season. It becomes a death trap!
Stupid tourists that we were, we left Las Olas around 4 p.m. and we could see the dark clouds developing in the distance. We did happen to drive a good portion of the road in no rain or just a light drizzle, but when the torrential downpours really hit, it was pitch black out and big tractor-trailers were coming at us from around the curves blinding us as they passed.
Also, the headlights on our rental must have been set too high because everyone we passed flashed their high beams at us even though we did not have our high beams on. This resulted in a string of non-stop cursing from my husband as he fought to stay on the road.
Since we were up in the mountains, we knew there wasn’t much of a shoulder, if any at all, and we couldn’t take the chance of stopping to wait for the rain to subside. That was too dangerous of a prospect.
Instead, we just had to keep driving knowing that with each curve we rounded Santiago got a bit closer. We were both leaning forward as far as our seatbelts would allow, straining to see the road’s yellow and white lines through the rain. Every once in a while, when I caught a glimpse of the white line along the shoulder I would tell my husband he was over too far to the left or too far to the right.
Finally, Santiago came into sight as did the obnoxious colors of the Hotel la Hacienda. We were relieved but the huge margarita we ordered at the bar also helped take the edge off.