This past weekend, I was due to pay another visit to my best friend of 15+ years who currently lives and works in Chicago. Sarah is her name and she is a Registered Dietitian with a delightful blog about nutrition and healthy living. She also has a really cool cat named Chewy. You all should definitely check her out.

A Sarah and Casey get together usually revolves around food. Big surprise. On Friday night, she introduced me to the deliciousness of Korean tacos from Del Seoul. Later on we went to the Houndstooth Saloon for her friend’s birthday celebration and I was able to witness the classiest of humans lining the streets of Wrigleyville at 1 a.m.

Coffee and bagels on Saturday morning and we were fueled up and ready to do some shopping. We both did a little bit of damage at Akira and then we made our way to the Lincoln Park Zoo.

Sometimes I leave the zoo feeling depressed by the sad state of the animals’ habitats or their general lack of a will to live (I’m looking at you, Toronto Zoo). I was pleasantly surprised with the Lincoln Park Zoo. The habitats were spacious, the animals were out and active and the park was really clean. And get this, it’s free to the public. It was the perfect way to spend a sunny Saturday afternoon.

We had dinner at Pat’s Pizza and enjoyed “the best thin-crust pizza in Chicago” on their new patio. Later we ended up at Trinity watching giant Jenga and just hanging out. We had really great experiences at Pat’s and Trinity, both had excellent service at a good price.

I love Chicago because there is so much to do and it’s probably the most dog-friendly city I’ve ever visited.  Sarah and I spent a lot of time eye-stalking other people’s dogs. Is that creepy? Don’t care.

A big thank you to Sarah and her manfriend Pat (no connection to the earlier mentioned Pat of Pat’s Pizza) for being gracious hosts and for bringing Arrested Development into my life. Who’s excited for the Arrested Development Season 4 premiere on Sunday? Anyone else planning on heading to Chicago this summer?