I've been mooching around Chicago the past few days with Kim, Mate, Jenyon, and Jim. It's been a lovely time. I quite like this city.
We
met up with Jim on Saturday, and although by the time we were
done with breakfast it was too late to go to museums, we still
went downtown to where they were, since it's also a nice park
-- all the cool museums are in the same few square miles right
by Lake Michigan. We strolled around the harbour a little while
catching up. Here's a cool view of the city from the mini peninsula
on which the Adler Planetarium is situated. There was also this
very cool totem pole in front of the Field Museum of Natural History.
The one problem with Chicago while I've been here has been the weather. A mite sticky and humid, and in 5 days, never once a respite from the haze. In fact, I've not gone to the top of the Sears tower because it would be a waste.
Oh yeah, back to us wandering around the harbour. We got poured on. I mean, to the point that when the rain had stopped I went into a store and used their washroom -- to wring out all of my clothing into the sink. Poor Jen had to get onto an air conditioned train later!
That night Jim and Kim and Mate and
I went out for sushi. It was pretty good. Well, it was no Yama,
of course, not even in the same league. But it was sushi nonetheless.
After sushi, Jim took us around a neighbourhood known as "Boystown." You've got 3 guesses as to what goes on there. And this was the night before the Pride Parade, too. We toured up and down the 10 - 15 block stretch, and stopped into Roscoe's, Jim's favourite spot. Pretty nice place. We stayed there until closing, at which point we went off to this place called "The Closet" (har, har), which Jim described as "a dyke bar which goes co-ed after hours". Sorry I didn't get a good picture of that.
We danced the night away at The Closet,
getting home at 6am Sunday morning. Again, I was going to go to
museums that day, but then it got too late, and instead I strolled
around downtown Chicago some more, and went looking for some hackey
sack action down at the Oak Street Beach. I didn't find any, but
I did stroll with my sandals off through the surf. And I scribed
the words "Oak St. Beach" in the sand with my toes and
photographed it.
So that was Sunday. Today, on Monday,
I finally got my chance to see the museums that I wanted to. I
got to the Chicago
Art Institute and the Shed
Aquarium. Both were fantastic, although I intentionally cut
my visit to the Art Institute short, spending most of my time
with the impressionists. There's just way too much to see there
to cover in an entire day, let alone when you're trying to do
other stuff as well. Regrettably, by the time I was done with
the Aquarium, everything else was closed, so I'll have to cover
the Tech and Science Institute and the Planetarium (excuse me,
that should be "Plane-arium") next time I'm in Chicago.
To the left you see me on one of the lions which crouch in front
of the Art Institute.
For dinner Kim and Mate and I got together and chowed down at this city-organised event called "A Taste of Chicago", where all these food vendors from around the city set up booths and you just roamed around sampling their fare. Mmm.
So, that just about does it for Chicago and me, this time around. It's been a great time, but even yesterday I was itching to get on the road again. Tomorrow morning I will set out as soon as rush hour traffic subsides, and head up to Wisconsin, and across to Minnesota, South Dakota, winding up at the Black Hills (where Rocky Raccoon/ Checked into his room/ Only to find Gideon's Bible...).