Carbon Copy

Chicago in June

I met up with some friends in Chicago on Saturday. It was my first time driving up there by myself, and I have to admit, I felt pretty cool throwing the change into the toll booths like an expert. While I'm admitting to things, I will confess that I feel strangely attracted to Gary, Indiana. I know, I know... you should never stop in "Scary" Gary (especially alone). That's why I had to take these pictures from the car. There's just something about factories that fascinate me.

And I love the idea of taking a train everyday.

Here's Chicago from the freeway.

One more toll to pay before reaching the city.

Aww... here it is.

Right about here, I realized that I didn't have directions to the hotel my friends were staying in. Uh oh. I tried calling, but no one answered. I guess it was pretty early in the morning. Luckily, I knew that the hotel was over by O'Hare, so I just kept driving until I saw signs for the airport. I don't know how this happened, but somehow I detoured through China Town.

I kept looking for signs for the airport, but didn't see any, and I was worried. So I called Cristen, and she kindly gave me excellent directions. Also, now this is awesome, I just happened to have the phone number for the Comfort Inn programmed into my cell phone because I had planned on calling them and asking about parking and such. So I called the front desk and got directions from them to the hotel. Meanwhile, I was still trying to get a hold of Kylie, but still no luck. When I got there, I asked the front desk to ring their room, but apparently there was no one by that name registered. I was completely perplexed because I had seen their rental car out front. I decided to wait on the lawn by the car because they had to leave eventually.

After a couple minutes, a patrol car drove by, and I was worried that the lady at the front desk thought I was a stalker or something, so I decided to get some breakfast at BK. On my way back, I finally got a call from Kylie. Just as I had suspected, her phone was on silent.

After lunch, we headed for the city.

I've been to Chicago a couple times now, but I still have no idea what to do in Chicago. So I told Kylie she should ask Maria and Chris what we can do in Chicago, and I was pleased to find that they suggested many of the same things I have always done. We parked near Michigan and went to Millennium Park. You may remember this from when Mike, Amanda, and I went there. Well, now it was summer and hot and the fountains were working. Tourists and children abounded.

And there was a marching band! If Tim Burton ever uses a marching band in one of his movies, it will be this one.

And then pictures at the shining orb/bean/cloud/whatever. (One couple even took wedding pictures here! Then again, we saw another pair of newlyweds taking a photo by an ugly moose statue, so there's that.)

I liked the way all the umbrellas looked at the cafe on the lower pavillion.

After enjoying our reflections, we walked to Navy Pier. I liked this:

and the details...

And the blobbies liked it, too.

There were pirates at the pier driving about recklessly and shouting, "Ahoy!" At first I was disappointed because I only got a picture as they drove past, but I didn't need to worry because we saw them many, many times.

Here's me with the sun in my eyes.

And some of the fun activities available at Navy Pier.

It was rather a long walk, so we rested on the bench and shared some refreshingly citrus Italian ice.

And enjoyed the view. (This isn't really the view until you look out past all of the banners and ships and such.)

The Cirque Shanghai was accomplishing acrobatical feats in the amphitheater at the pier, but you had to pay to get in. Some kids got around this, though, but peeking through the bushes.

There were some beautiful flowers there.

We wandered through the stained glass museum (but that will be another entry). Then we walked back to Michigan St. and ate dinner at Giordano's. There were some talks at the conference that my friends were attending that they wanted to see that night, and I still had quite a drive back to Lafayette, so I didn't stay too long. I took a different route home. It was a business loop, and I don't think I'll ever take it again. It wasn't traffic or length or anything. It was just that I couldn't see the city at all. It was swallowed up in the fog of suburbia. Amazing how it can be that close, but completely invisible. I hit construction on my way out of town, though. It actually was quite fortunate because it meant I could watch as my odometer turned to 123000. Let me tell you, with the rate traffic was moving, it took a half an hour.