Sweet home chicago
It had been almost two years since the last trip I took. And Paris & London was a stroke of sheer luck. I missed that feeling of liberation that being away from home gave me, even if I made a big mess of the week. In the week after, I felt horrible to be back home as my life was a dead zone at that point in time. Ever since that week, I’ve been obsessively doing research about where to go next, hoping that it wouldn’t take me too long before I traveled again.
Then came the morning of Thursday, July 31st. My sister & I had talked about going somewhere for Labor Day. The destination was supposed to be Niagara Falls but the notion of limited transportation options pretty much ended that idea. That morning, my sister came into my room with another suggestion, she and her friends Louisa and Teresa were going to Chicago that weekend and she asked if I wanted to come along. I jumped at the chance to go as I otherwise live a somewhat isolated existence outside of work and I’d been waiting for something like this to come along. It would foreshadow even bigger news to come.
The following Wednesday, seemed like a normal day. Until after the 2PM break where my supervisor would tell me the news I’d been longing to hear, I would be offered a full time job. After the unbridled joy came the decision when to start working full time. I ended up choosing September 8th, as I had my plane ticket booked for that weekend two days earlier and I wanted to stagger out this, the biggest of changes. I was a bit nervous about this trip as the last one I went practically traumatized me. But the one thing going for me was that I was staying in the United States.
After all the planning and packing, the day had finally come. I booked an early flight from LGA on United Friday morning and joined my sister as our dad was dropping us off at the airport but she was heading to the American Airlines terminal. There was a bit of confusion as my boarding pass said gate C14, but it didn’t indicate the terminal. So we drove around twice before finally finding Terminal B and thankfully we had enough time to get through security and board our flights. I needed this trip to clear my head and for better or worse, I was enthusiastic about traveling again as my flight landed at O’Hare Airport about two hours later.
I was waiting in Terminal 1 at O’Hare when my sister spotted me sitting down not far from the gate. That was the first sign that this trip wasn’t going to end up as another debacle. We were all on separate flights, so with us in Chicago, it was now Teresa’s turn to land and we ended up at Terminal 3 to meet her and head to our hotel Downtown. We were able to check in but not before switching rooms as the one we were in had one bed, and we ended up with a double bed room. As we were getting suggestions on where to eat, the spirited woman at the front desk that checked us in gave us fair warning: “You will leave here a bit thicker”. With all the food we would inevitably encounter, she wasn’t kidding. After we settled down, we walked from our hotel and down State Street before heading to lunch and then checking out the Art Institute of Chicago, the equivalent to the Met Museum of Art in NYC. From the surrealism of the Magritte exhibit, to Seurat’s “Sunday Afternoon”, Picasso’s “The Old Guitarist” and to the miniatures at the lower level, there is something for lovers of all art styles. Millennium Park was nearby and that is where we headed next to see “The Bean” with the smooth sounds of the Chicago Jazz Festival in the background. We had planned to see if we could find a Happy Hour somewhere but we ended up back toward our hotel and found a 7-11 and bought a case of Angry Orchard hard cider and had Happy Hour in our room. The fourth member of our traveling party Louisa arrived after 9PM and we decided to have our first taste of deep dish pizza for dinner. After 40 minutes waiting we did have our pizza at Lou Malanti’s. The pizza was good, albeit a bit cold, so we had to ask for it to be reheated.
Saturday morning started out with the one idea that popped into my head the moment my sister invited me on this trip. We made our way to the Addison stop and ended up at Wrigley Field for a tour. I pushed for this one as both a baseball fan and a sports fan. Pictures,TV and video games do not do this landmark of American sports enough justice. We did see a lot from the seats behind home plate, to the bleachers, the home and visitors locker rooms, the press box and finally the field itself. Combine that with the sun and clouds in the sky and you have a postcard waiting to happen. We stopped to have lunch, Chicago style hot dogs which is: mustard, relish, pickles and peppers slathered on a hot dog and bun. Afterward, we visited Lincoln Park and the zoo. The park is an oasis of which you can see the skyline from the boardwalk of the zoo. The blue skies and the clouds accentuated the view. For dinner, we headed out to this BBQ restaurant in Wicker Park and the food was so good, especially the ribs which fell off the bone. The only way we were going to top that was heading to a cocktail lounge, The Velvet Hour which was unmarked so you wouldn’t know where it was if not for the crowd of people standing outside waiting to get in.
On Sunday morning, the day began with a river cruise. But not just any river cruise, it was a tour of the architecture up and down the Chicago River. Many different types of building styles were on display on the hour and a half long cruise. What happened next was a first for me, I had never been to Sunday brunch before. After that shock of that wore off, we ended up at the Publican. A good time was had by all. The next stop was something that came with the purchase of the tickets to the Art Institute. We ended up at the Skydeck within the tower formerly known as Sears. 2 1/2 hours of waiting and 103 floors later, you get unparalleled views of Chicago. We were all exhausted from Skydeck, so we decided to eat and most importantly, find somewhere to sit down. There was a pizza place, Giordano’s across the street from the tower so we sat down to have deep dish pizza a second time but with spinach and sausage for toppings piping hot. The next stop would be the Kingston Miles jazz club for the three of them. I went back to the hotel as the old man within came out as I was both tired and the cognizant of the the fact that my flight was leaving early the next morning. But I was fighting myself to keep going with the evening. I didn’t want to accept the fact that this trip was at its end.
And so at 5:25AM this morning, I was in the lobby of the hotel waiting for the shuttle to take me to O’Hare for my 8AM flight back to New York. Security was a breeze compared to Friday morning. The nice weather that we had all three days finally gave way to the clouds and rain that was originally foretasted for most of the weekend. Around 11AM, I made it out of the plane and twenty minutes later, I was back at my front door.
It was a hectic four days and I enjoyed every minute of my stay in Chicago. The only thing different I would have done was taken a later flight home so I could have that one more day before heading home. The challenge now is to see how long the happy mood I’m in lasts this week. It is actually possible to do something sans bumbling. I can’t thank my sister and her friends Louisa and Teresa enough for inviting me on this trip. I hope they are enjoying the rest of their day in Chicago and have safe flights home, everyone.
