Footloose and Fancy-Free in the Windy City

Part two of the Great Graduation Vacation was a trip to Chicago. One reason we decided to go there was because it's actually really close to Bloomington (a 4 hour drive) and I felt like it was one place I needed to see before I left the Midwest for the Great Unknown in August, which will hopefully take me back closer to where my family is.

The trip started out on a very high note that set up great expectations for what was to come. But then, you've got to expect that when a lady who flies with the aid of a parrot-headed umbrella is involved.


That's right. Our first night in Chicago was spent at the Broadway show Mary Poppins. It was L's first Broadway show, but I was able to see a fair number of them once upon a time when I spent a semester in London. Even though we came from different experiences, both of us thought the show was amazing. Mary flew above the audience! The entire cast performed an intricate dance spelling out the word "Supercalifragalisticexpialidocious" over and over again! Bert danced on the ceiling! I now own my own parrot-headed umbrella! It was a magical night that we talked about for the rest of the trip.

The next day was rather relaxing, but we still took in a lot of what Chicago has to offer. We did a little shopping on Michigan Avenue, gorged ourselves at the Hershey's Chocolate Fountain, went on an architecture boat tour that helped us learn more about the city, explored the Chicago Art Institute, and sampled authentic Chicago deep dish pizza. From this day I learned the following:

1. Chicago is actually called the Windy City because of the politicians who stretched the truth in order to convince Washington to allow them to host the Chicago World's Fair, not because it's the windiest city in the world (which it's not).


2. The Chicago River runs backwards. City officials had this done so all the city's waste wouldn't be dumped into Lake Michigan. The water is clean now, but back in the day it was so filthy that when the Great Fire happened, the water burned too instead of providing a natural fire break.


3. Chicago is very proud of the fact that they have a clear shoreline. Instead of having factories on the lake edge, they have parks and beaches.


4. Most of the skyscrapers in Chicago aren't office buildings—they're private residences.

The closest we got to the Sears Tower was on the boat tour. Here it is in all its glory. It's the black building, not the other one.

And here's a picture of the Art Institute.

My favorite part of the Art Institute was probably the room full of miniature rooms. Here's one of those too.


We had intended to spend most of the next day of our trip outside. Navy Pier! Millennium Park! Other outdoorsy things! Instead, we woke up to clouds that threatened rain. It was an absolute downpour all day long. A perfect opportunity to experience Chicago's museums instead. We intended on going to both the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum (home of Sue, the most complete T-Rex skeleton in existence), but the Aquarium held more delights than we thought it would. We spent most of the afternoon there, and didn't have time to meet Sue. Instead, we met the following.

Jellyfish

Frogs

Fishy Fish


That night, we went to the John Hancock building. It's not as tall as the Sears Tower, but it's nearly as tall and had the virtue of being literally right next door to our hotel.


We got some beautiful pictures of Chicago at night as seen from the 93rd(?) floor.



The next day was crunch time. Our flights left that afternoon, but we still felt like there was so much of Chicago we hadn't seen. We mapped out a plan, and decided to spend an hour at each of the following locations.

Millennium Park

This is the most easily recognizable area of the park. It's really called Cloudgate, but everyone just calls it the Bean. I wonder why. . . .

Buckingham Fountain

We saw this from a pretty long way away. It's like a man made Old Faithful.

Navy Pier

Of course we had to ride the Ferris wheel!

When we were done, it was time to head back to the hotel and grab our bags. The valet at the door offered to call us a cab, but we had perfectly valid Metro cards that we decided to use instead. L takes this as a sign of things to come.

After wandering around downtown Chicago for awhile, pulling our luggage through the crowded streets, we had to acknowledge that we were lost. I pulled out the map and discovered that the subway was actually two streets over.

Once we got to the subway station, we still had problems. We had to take our luggage down and up flights of stairs multiple times. We got on the train, discovered we were going the wrong way, and had to deal with the stairs again. When we finally got to the train headed to the airport, we found out that line was down for repairs over the weekend. An hour of trudging through Chicago, and we were still in the downtown area! We once again pulled our belongings up the stairs to the city street, and called a cab.

L missed her flight back home, and I was in such a rush to make mine that I forgot to give her the map. I left my sister alone and without direction in Chicago. She had to stay the night in the airport hotel and fly back home the next morning. My hope is that she will remember the first part of that day, and not the last half.

Come to think of it, remember my earlier comment about starting this trip off on a high point? It was still the best part of the trip, but one reason why that point seems so high might be because the trip ended on such a low point. L, just forget that last part never happened, and I think we can label this a Graduation Vacation worth remembering!