Sometimes, you just gotta tap out.

As you may know, if you’ve been reading this blog for the last week, your humble blogger and his stunning wife spent a week in Chicago to celebrate her birthday. We had a lot of fun on the trip, but got some bad news about a dear friend right as we were leaving, and after the overnight train ride home, I’m finding myself too tired to write. Like painfully tired.

There will be a long post in this space Friday, but yours truly is so tired that the luggage is still hiding in the trunk.

So I apologize for today’s “fresh content,” being an explanation of why there’s no fresh content.

But…just so this post isn’t a total waste, here’s a few photos I took on the trip…

We went to the Art Institute to see one of Mel’s favorite pieces, which is not displayed often.

Of course, we had to visit another of Mel’s favorites.

And I wasn’t going to pass up a chance to see Nighthawks.

Another mandatory stop–Mel’s rainbow birthday cake at The Goddess and The Baker.

We also checked in to Mel’s other holy land.

This cool statue was on Michigan Avenue, and she didn’t look like she was too cold.

The view from the upgraded hotel room. It’s good to be married to Diamond Mel.