Chicago

I can't share all the details of my time in Chicago, but I'll give you an overview of how I spent my 5 days away from home.

On Sunday I got up at the crack of insanity to make it to the airport an hour before my 7am flight. I love the Sioux Falls airport because you can park about 100 feet from the door, there's hardly anyone in line, and the wait for security is minimal. Plus, if your gate changes, the most you'll have to move is across the hallway. What I'm not so found of is the teeny tiny plane where anyone over 5'7" would have to bend in half to walk into the aircraft and there are only overhead compartments above the "2 seat" aisle, but not the "1 seat" aisle. The good thing is, it was a direct flight. I don't travel well in the mornings on minimal sleep and got pretty sick on the plane and the ensuing car ride to the convention center. Nothing like starting off a work trip right by puking in front of your co-workers (at least I made it out of the car). Ugh...how embarrassing.

We spent the rest of the day turning this:

...into this:

All in a day's work. Well, maybe a day and a half, and a LOT of carpet tape. We had some pretty good food at Hackney's that night and I was thrilled to be able to talk to Adam and Ryan on Skype.

Monday we just finished up the booth, had an hour or two of down time when I swam a few laps in the pool before meeting up with the sales people for some Chicago-style pan pizza.

Tuesday was time to get the show on the road! I spent the day handing out samples, running the Plinko game, giving out prizes, and high-fiving, dancing, imitating, and doing anything in my 7-foot inflatable costumed power to make people smile, look at our booth, and want to BUY BUY BUY!

This is me (the big pink guy):

 Tuesday night we ate Italian tapas at Quartino's and were pretty exhausted from our first day at the show.

Wednesday was Day 2 of the 2010 Sweets & Snacks Expo. I guess I could describe the show to you a little bit. Imagine 9 football fields of candy (and snacks) divided into colorful and extravagant booths. Then imagine smelling cinnamon piped in using machines, only slightly overpowering the sugar fragrance that tickles your brain in that funny way that makes you want to dive into an ice-cold pool. If you don't know what I mean, you have not lived the candied life I have in the last 4 years.  By day 2, even a die-hard like me skips over the never ending supply of free chocolate peppermint bark in favor of the $11 salad bar because the sugar is truly overwhelming. Don't get me wrong, it is an awesome experience, but there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Although the people trying to sneak out with multiple beach bags full of samples seem to disagree on this point.






My hips (not to mention my feet and knees) were screaming at me by Wednesday afternoon and I gave my coworker a shot at the costume. I sort of got a picture with Mr. Bonbons, but as you can see, he kind of crowded me out of the picture, haha. It's tough being as wide as you are tall!

Several of us walked down to Miller's Pub that night to celebrate our last night in the windy city. Yummy!

Thursday gave us an opportunity to walk the show floor, check out the new products, displays, and booths, and gather some samples. We sent a lot of the candy back to the office to share, but I have a fair amount here at home. Just what I need, right? More candy!

Tear-down went great but the traffic back to O'Hare was horrendous. Thank goodness for an understanding co-worker, because I had to lay down for most of the 90 minutes in stop-and-go traffic. I'm surprised I was able to hold it together until the rental car place! Once we got to the airport, it was pretty much insanity. A multitude of people, smells, and security.  Hundreds of people in a line are never a good thing to someone not feeling well, but hundreds of people sans shoes just about put me over the brink again.  We finally made it through security and found a restaurant where I could order some chicken noodle soup and salad. We chatted with a flight attendant working the Shanghai route and she had all kinds of interesting stories to share! It made me wish I was a better traveler because there were all sorts of international destinations she recommended but all I could think of was how sick I would be trying to get there. Ugh.

Our flight left on time, thank goodness (my coworker on another airline got delayed 4 hours) but I still didn't walk into my house until midnight on Thursday night/Friday morning. It was a fun, exhausting, busy 5 days and I am SO glad to be home!