Chicago is finally getting the summer we’ve all been waiting for! 90 degree days with heat indexes near 100 degrees and humidity levels that would make almost any black girl go hat shopping immediately! This weekend I had the opportunity to check out the Forest Park Summer Fest on Madison Ave. It was a nice, FREE, community-type of festival. Lots of families, groups of friends and fun for all ages. The music was good and the food choices were decent. I didn’t realize that the event started Friday at 5, so when I walked up at 3PM, the tents were just going up. So I took the opportunity to see the neighborhood…
One of the more memorable stops was the Paciugo gelato shop (for the readers over 21, check out the drink recipes on their website). After sampling enough to make the bored sales girl a little testy, I settled on a small cup which, for just under $5, allows you to pick up to 3 flavors. I chose the 3 pictures below: Amarena Black Cherry Swirl (my favorite), Mediterranean Sea Salt Caramel (an unbelievably salty-sweet combination) and Banana Crème Pie (much better than I was initially expecting, I selected it off a recommendation).
The final product:
On a hot summer day, this was a perfect treat to enjoy while I sat on the bench outside and enjoyed the view.
On Saturday I enjoyed a nearly 3 hour bike ride through Oak Park with Bobby. We stopped for lunch at the Prairie Bread Kitchen and then spent the rest of the afternoon watching a hilarious Parking Wars marathon on A&E. That evening I went to the Division Street Fest and decided to start the evening with a celebratory margarita! The only problem – the house special for the festival only came in one size - 32 oz!!!
Needless to say, it was hard waking up this morning, but I made it. We also went over to Moonshine to hang out for a while before heading home. I had a wonderful time at the festival and can’t wait to check out more of the Chicago area festivals this summer! I’ll leave you with one last thought… this Journey song has been stuck in my head since last night, hopefully it sticks in yours. Reminds me of the Detroit Tigers baseball games back home…
