Dani and I needed a vacation, U2 was playing in Chicago, so we tied the two together. We took a Southwest flight (about 1.5 hr trip) versus driving (about a 7 hour drive). We were accustomed to using public transportation from our last Europe trip, and were eager to try our hand at US based traveling. However, this time, I was equipped with an active cell phone and had access to Google Maps with integrated transit info. It was absolutely beautiful. Turn on the GPS and the map showed where you were, tell it where you wanted to go, and the map told you where to walk, what bus to ride (and the next time of the next bus), where to transfer, which EL (elevated train) to get on, and your ETA. It was almost too easy! In fact, after mapping out our first route from the airport to our B&B/home, we waited for the 547X bus to arrive at 1:47pm. "Hey, here's the 547X at 1:40pm!" I exclaimed. It was a little early, what luck. We knowingly jumped on the bus and grabbed a seat. As we pulled out of the airport terminal, we headed South. Unfortunately we were supposed to be heading North. I double checked my maps, and noticed that it called for the 547X-Cicero bound. Uh-oh, I was so happy to see the bus, I failed to check the direction it was headed. So, we hopped on the South-bound one and rode it to some mall for about 15 minutes. The driver pulled the bus over near a Wendy's for a timed stop and was suprised to see us still sitting on the bus. I told him what had happened and asked if we should just sit it out or try and catch a North-bound 547X. He said that he was the next North-bound bus, so just have a seat and enjoy. We humbly ate our peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches while the driver cleaned up the bus.
Our "B&B" was wonderful. I use quotes, as it was listed online as a B&B, and they did stock the fridge with breakfast, but it was more of a place to sleep. A BIG place to sleep. The owners have an up/down-house and rent out the downstairs as they slowly renovate the place. The place was spacious with a large kitchen, bathroom, huge living area, a master bedroom, a small bedroom, and another medium bedroom. It literally could of slept 10. Our friends met up with us on Saturday to help fill the place.
Lets see, on Sept. 9, we went into town and enjoy the sites. I enjoyed Millennium Park.. and especially seeing the "bean" up close. It's art. It's a big, chrome like, reflective, well, bean shaped sculpture. The reflections in it are crazy as it absorbs all the images, city line, etc. It's a little hard to find yourself in the reflection when walking up.
We polished off the day with some deep dish, Chicago style pizza, and wow-wee was it good! It better be after waiting 30-40 minutes for it!
On Sept. 10, we took an architectural boat tour along the river. They discussed the "great fire", who started it, what happened, and how the city came together after to rebuild. Hence, the unique buildings that exist today. The Sears tower (now AKA the Willis Tower but no one calls it this anyhow) was built on the basis of a pack of cigarettes. I guess they don't just cause lung cancer.
We dropped in at Portillo's, an excellent, fast moving, dine-in, Chicago-dog and other assortment of foods place. I thought the dogs were $9 as they were just in that blurry vision range, so I asked Dani if she wanted to share one. She looked at me funny and as we moved forward I noticed they were $2.50. I got my own. We went back several times.. and yes, the dogs were amazing (I like everything on it too). Dani surprised me a clever visit to Garrett's Popcorn: they make an excellent caramel pecan pop-corn that is beyond addictive. Be careful! We ended our evening with our long anticipated tickets to see a live recording of "Wait Wait", the NPR comedy news quiz. It was quite fun!
Sept. 11: We ventured south of the city of the Museum of Science and Industry which sits where the world fair was held in the (I think) late 1800's, or early 1900's. If you read Devil in the White City you'll have a better understanding and excitement! For dinner we met up with old time friends and neighbors from Seattle, Chris and Jamie Conner! We had tapas at an excellent little Spanish restaurant in the Lincoln Park area. It was great to see old friends and catch up (they were also in town for the U2 concert).
Sept 12: We had brunch w/ an old friend from KC, Courtney Ryan. She took us to a little, quaint, brunch-ee type place that served the BEST ginger-pumpkin pancakes I've ever had. Those might of been the first I've ever had, but they were darn good!
We made our way over to Navy Pier, walked out on it, turned around, and headed home to meet up with friends coming in town for the concert, and then decided that we should all take a quick nap. It turned out to be rather longer than anticipated, but we all awoke well rested and ready for the concert. Emily brought an excellent chicken dish which she fixed, so we were able to sit down for a home-cooked meal. Unfortunately we weren't watching the time and it was time to leave (as we were finishing our meal). So we all quickly got ready and jumped on the EL. The ride was quick, but we still had to catch a bus to Soldier Field. As we walked off the EL in downtown the next bus that pulled up (heading to the stadium) was cram packed full! Everyone waited did the exact same thing--we all bolted down the street to catch a taxi. It was a little nightmare-ish as everyone would leap-frog each other to be the "next" person to wave down a taxi. We finally turned the corner and waved one down, but he didn't want to drive to the concert area (crazy traffic). We caught a nice driver with a mini-van and on the way, I told him he could just drop us off where ever he thought would make the best sense so he could get back to making more fare money. He was so kind, and we jumped out about a 1/4 mile away so he was able to do a U-turn. Thanks Mr. kind taxi-driver! See what we can do when we work together!? Due to our tardiness to the concert we missed most all (except for the last song) of the opening band: Snow Patrol, which was a bummer, because both Dani and I wanted to see them. Oh well. We were plenty early for U2. The show was great, and we had a blast. Dani could probably tell you the details of the concert. My description probable pales anyhow: songs, lights, smoke, etc. It was a cool stage setup.
Our last full day in down, Sept. 13: We had some B&B breakfast snacks I think. Dani bought a bag of Dyno-bites (the cheap version of Cocoa Crispies), and for some reason we're still talking about how good they were! We headed to Wrigley Field really just to see the park, however, a Cubs game was going on too. We walked around the park (very cool to see the stadium-like seats on the towering condo buildings next to the field!) and were accosted by a variety of ticket sales guys. I haggled with one guy and just honestly said we didn't have much of a budget. I offered $15 for 2 tickets and he kindly walked away. I wasn't up for paying much. We walked around some more and then it was the 3rd inning. As we were walking towards the EL we passed a guy w/ a LOT of tickets and appeared to run a business there. He was really nice and we asked how much (somewhat un-interested). He said $10 a ticket now... we could take our pick. He had 2 tix in the shade on the first deck between home and 3rd. We took em and enjoyed a cheap Cubs game!
After, we headed to the beach and walked in the sand along the lake shore, as it was a warm and sunny day. We once again visited Portillo's, enjoyed another dog, and then re-visited Millennium Park. A great last day if I do say so!
