Monday, June 4, 2012

Adventures in the Windy City

A few months ago, Steve found out one of his favorite bands, Thrice, was playing a farewell show in Chicago. He bought tickets for the show and we planned to make a weekend out of it. I had only been to Chicago once before on a short road trip (and, confession: mostly to see NKOTB/Jesse McCartney in concert), and another time for work, so I was eager to do all of the touristy stuff this past weekend. 

Things I learned about Chicago:
  • Walking around for hours in flip flops leads to mysterious foot pain and an embarrassing limp for multiple days in a row.
  • Navy Pier = boring tourist trap with long bathroom lines.
  • Davanni's deep dish is just as good as authentic Chicago-style deep dish.
  • Driving to Milwaukee at midnight and getting a hotel room > pulling an all-nighter and driving all the way home. 
  • Wisconsin is just as bad to drive across as Iowa.
  • They (whoever 'they' is) weren't joking when they nicknamed it the Windy City.
I also learned a lot about the Red Line; mainly:
  • People will ignore the 'no soliciting' recorded announcement. I'm sure you're raising money for the YMCA, sir.
  • Construction work on the track = constant stop-and-go = motion sickness.
  • When it is late and people want to be home, they have no problem announcing it to the rest of the train. Repeatedly.
  • Don't get on the green line to the south side when you mean to get on the orange to Midway. (I actually learned this when I was in Chi. on the business trip, but felt it needed to be included.)
Other things worth mentioning:
 Driving somewhere in Wisconsin, probably near a Culver's.
Walking along the river Friday night.
Touring Wrigley on Saturday morning.
The view from the top of the ballpark, in all its glory.
Cubs dugout.
Buckingham Fountain - shortly after a gentleman tried
to sell us a free newspaper.
Being extra touristy at The Bean.
Until the next adventure,
-Emily

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