Shortly after Abby arrives, she relaxes a bit at my apartment while I go and meet up with Gretchen.

A long while ago, Gretchen and I talked on the phone. This was after a few emails back andforth and... we kept on talking. Via email, via IM, we became good friends - trading stories and geeking out about books, tech.

For over a year now, we've been talking. We both know an incredible amount about one another, and yet we only knew one another's voices (andwords). And guess what? A few days ago, I find out that she's flown in to Chicago to help me celebrate my birthday!

This is an amazing, awesome surprise gift - one among the many amazing andawesome gifts she's already given me.

At the hotel - I knock on the door, and she answers. We're both pretty timid around one another, but there's an overwhelming sense of familiaritytoo. It's weird to see someone you know really well for the first time.

And while I was too shy to ask to take a picture of Gretchen right off the bat... I did manage to snap a few, capturing the wonderful viewfrom her hotel room.

Trump Tower construction.

Chicago River, looking West (and here's a similar shot (looking the other way).

Shortly after this, we headed down and began wandering around Michigan, looking for a place to grab a bite to eat. Outside the hotel, Gretchen pulls outa camera and snaps a quick shot of me... opening up a constant back-and-forth between the two of us, for the remainder of the weekend. She doesn't likeher picture taken, and I was doing my best to catch her off guard.

Now here's a crazy thing. Not 7 minutes away from the hotel, we come across a metal sculpture. The two of us climb through and pretend the ground is lava(I actually slipped near the end, so technically I'm missing a foot). Right after this sculpture area, we run into my friend Tom -someone I met randomly about a year back.

Tom saw me shooting some photos one morning, and we met later on that evening (again, randomly) ata Found Magazine show at Intuit Gallery. Since then he's been a fairly regular reader of the blog,I think.

The way I know this? Well, as we're standing there talking... I introduce Gretchen to Tom. And Tom replies "Oh, yeah, you're the one who's visiting fromout of town!" LOL!

At this point, Gretchen is a bit freaked out (although she held her composure really well). She's not in Chicago for too long before someone saysthey know her. And through my blog, no less! Craziness.

I invite Tom to my party, and we part ways. The next few blocks, I think about serendipity - how Tom andI first met randomly, and how we met randomly again today. And Gretchen? I think she was still reeling a bit, not expecting random strangers in Chicago toknow who she was.

We wander around some, and find ourselves at Heaven on Seven. We go in for a quick lunch and continue to get re-adjusted to the factthat we're face to face, talking to one another after all this time.

Of course, the cameras come out after the meal. Try as I might, everytime I take a picture of Gretchen... she hides her face.

Outside, we walk around a bit... making our way to the House of Blues. I've renteda room at the hotel there, and wanted to go check it out prior to folks arriving.

En route, I get a bit of an architectural tour from Gretchen. We're walking by buildings, me oblivious to all the ornamentation and history, and she's pointingout various architectural styles, shoddy patches done to the brick, all sorts of things. We detour a bit, as a few buildings catch her eye, andI listen to Gretchen describe these buildings with a trained homeowner's eye.

We stop in a shop or two, looking at what I think are antiques - dishes, silverware, some retro stuff. On our way down the street to thehotel... we link up arm in arm and, as she promised long before she arrived... skipped down the street together.