I'm back home

That's right, I'm no longer in Chicago. After four days of staying in a mediocre hotel and eating out (or at least, not home cooking) every meal, I'm back in Minnesota. And boy am I tired. Quick summary: Lots of time spent walking around in the Loop, and due to Katie's schedule for Orientation, we couldn't get to any of the museums or anything before they closed, and believe me, we tried. Damn place; everything closes by around 4:30 or 5 in the afternoon... Also, I took a cab for the first time.

We left Sunday morning around dawn. Since I got NO sleep the night before, I spend most of the 8-hour car ride with my eyes shut. So there's not much I can say about the trip other than that the traffic approaching the city was really bad. Anyway, we got to our hotel around 4 or 5 in the afternoon, got the car parked in a public garage around the corner (at $15/day, eesh!), and wandered two blocks down the street to pretty much the only real restaurant in the area. It was called the Savoy (the one on South Michigan Avenue, not to be confused with the other Savoy, or the well-known ballroom), connected to a hotel called the Essex, which we probably should have stayed in, but didn't. All this is located in the part of Chicago known as the South Loop. Really busy, lots of stuff within walking distance, right across the street from Grant Park, about 10 blocks south of the newly-opened Millenium Park, just to give you an idea. Anyway, the Savoy served good food, we were happy, Katie and I explored the portion of Grant Park across the street from our hotel, and we went to bed by about 8:00 cuz we were all tired.

The next day, we woke up, had breakfast at the same restaurant, and took a long walk around the area to find out where my sister had to be for her college orientation, before sending her off to her assessment tests (which she did pretty well on, by the way). It was around this time that I began to curse myself for only bringing along one pair of shoes, my black Doc Martens. Usually, they're good walking shoes. However, in the 90+ degree weather in Chicago, they turned into hot little blister factories. So by the end of the day I was not in the pleasantest of moods. We did manage to see more of Grant Park, and I got a nice photo of both the park and the skyline, including (I think) the Sears Tower. The plan had been to go to the Shedd Aquarium after the assessment tests, but by the time she was done we would have had only an hour, and since the tickets cost more than $20 per person, we didn't end up going. That night we ordered pizza in (not really Chicago style, but damn good nonetheless).

The next day, the weather was just as hot and I was left on my own most of the day while my parents and sister went to the Orientation events. Since my feet were still in a bit of pain, I didn't do much. I did go back to Grant Park for a while (yes I spent a lot of time there, it's a pretty place!) and took some more photos. Then I took a short walk to go get lunch. I also developed a taste for iced Chai lattes, as there was a Caribou Coffee about three blocks away, north on Wabash, which turned out to be a good place to write and people-watch.

That night, we had a plan: the Chicago Institute of Art was supposed to be open until 8, admission was free, and it was less than a mile from the hotel, so my dad, my sister, and I decided to go. Since Dad was tired from orientation, we decided to take a cab, which my sister and I had never done before. Anyway, we got to the museum and discovered that our guidebook had the time wrong. Apparently it stayed open late on Thursday nights, not Tuesday. We arrived at 4:25 and it closed at 4:30. This made me quite mad.

However, we did manage to save the evening. Right next door to the museum was the newly-opened Millenium Park, complete with an outdoor amphitheater, a "world family album" exhibit, the Cloud Gate sculpture, and lots of nice places to walk. So we spent about two hours exploring. There was an orchestra rehearsing in the amphitheater (they call it the Jay Pritzker Pavilion), and they could be heard all over the park. I didn't recognize the piece they were working on, but it was amazing to hear. The world family album exhibit was really interesting: it consisted of photos of families from everywhere in the world, along with a short biography of who they were, where they lived, and how they made a living. And the Cloud Gate sculpture was just cool. It's nicknamed "The Bean", and from this picture, you can see why. The only thing that displeased me about walking around the park: I had thought that we were going to the museum, and since you can't take photos inside, I didn't bring my camera. **sob** So y'all will have to be satisfied with the pictures and stuff I linked to.

One other thing about the park: since it was so close to some of the major financial buildings (the Prudential building was right across the street), we actually saw some Fed-type guards walking around scrutinizing people. And yes, they DO talk into their sleeves, just like in the movies!

Anyway, we walked back home and arrived considerably earlier than we had intended. So we ordered Chinese in (lovely wonderful chinese food... sigh.... if you're in the area, order from Charming Cuisine) and watched the news, where we discovered that someone had dropped off a possibly bomb-filled suitcase about 11 blocks south of where we were. As far as I know, there was no explosion or anything, but still it was sort of creepy.

Anyway... we stayed up a little later that night, then slept in the next morning, went to breakfast at the Savoy again (they've got GREAT breakfasts, best pancakes I've ever had), and left town around 11:00 in the morning. Traffic was still rotten getting out of there, and there were some major backups on the interestates (90 and 94). I managed to stay awake for most of the car trip this time, but it wasn't particularly interesting. We got home by about 8 last night. I would have blogged, but I was just too beat from the whole trip.

So that's about it. Not bad for four days out of the house. Hopefully I'll get the few photos I took developed at some point in the next week or two. Gotta use up the roll of film first. You'll see 'em when I've got 'em.