“Do you want to go to Chicago?” That’s the question I got from Ted and I knew something was up. He was going to be in the Windy City for training until Thursday and asked if I wanted to join him for the weekend. I thought about it for a while and after some confusion with the arrangements, I had ten Firefox tabs open and was doing research. I made a little PocketMod to carry around and loaded up all the contacts in my phone. I even made a special Chicago Google Map. I bookmarked Transit websites and studied the train and bus maps. I was ready.
I am going to give you a quick play-by-play of how I spent my four days, three nights in Chicago.
Orange Line Subway
When I arrived, I took the Orange line to Roosevelt station. Then I made the swap to the Red Line and got off at Grand.
Waiting in Starbucks
It was cold, windy, and raining outside so I waited across the street from the hotel, in Starbucks. I had some coffee and was looking up information about the city.
Alinea
That night, we dined at Alinea.
The Chicago Water Tower
John Hancock Building
We saw the Water Tower and went to the observation deck of the Hancock Tower. The ride to the top was extremely fast and the ride down made our ears pop. They say you can see four states from up there.
Navy Pier
Ted insisted that we go to the Navy Pier. It was an absolute waste of time and it was deserted. Afterward, we picked up our order at Giordano’s … an hour late.
Avec
For dinner, Ted joined his friends and I went to Avec.
Fish and chips at Gage
The next day we went south on Michigan to visit Millennium Park, but first we got lunch.
Light mural wall at Millennium Park
The Bean
We walked across the street to the park and saw the mural wall and the giant steel bean.
The Art Institute of Chicago
We saw the Hopper and Winslow exhibits at the Art Institute.
Boka Menu
For dinner, we headed back to Halstead and had dinner at Boka. I called it a night soon after.
North Pond
The next day, I went to brunch at North Pond, picked up Garrett’s Popcorn for Ronald and left this amazing city.
The End!
vo! so glad that you had a fun time in chi-town. isn’t it an amazing city? eating there is so much fun, though i’ve never eaten at the caliber of restaurants that you did. i think you are the biggest food dork i know- and that is a compliment!