Chicago 2009
I didn't mind taking it easy on the way out to Chicago, so we left at about eleven and headed west on 94. Last time I actually had to get off the Dan Ryan in the middle of the downtown area for $4.69 gas and to take a leak, so we stopped at exit 1 in New Buffalo for lunch and to top the tank off, then made our way onto the Skyway, stopping again at the McDonald's "oasis" (a building basically attached to the final toll station, the last chance to stop until the city itself. It was an early Thursday afternoon, so traffic was reasonable; we got off at the exit marked for the Museums since it was a known area to us and then a short jog up Michigan Avenue to the Hard Rock Hotel.
I chose the HRH for both the location (smack-dab downtown, near the Magnificent Mile, but not too far from other things we wanted to do) as well as the resort-iness of the place (Chicago is not Vegas, but this seemed as good an imitation of one of their resorts as we would get) -- and it did not disappoint. From the outside, it looks very much like any other tall building in Chicago, save the famous Hard Rock logo sign out front, but inside it had a very hip feel to it; everyone was friendly and we liked the vibe of the place. Now, I'd just booked this through their website, and I didn't ask for anything particularly fancy -- I asked for a tower king, which is a room on the upper floors of the tower, and I made sure to stress a non-smoking room. Little did I think they'd give us a room on the 36th floor -- the only room on that floor other than a suite, and only the penthouse suite above us! -- but there we were looking out over the north side of downtown from our funky command center. The room had a giant bathroom, was bisected by a short set of stairs down to the bedroom area, and was adorned with images of the patron saint of the 36th floor, David Bowie. Here, he looks down upon you from on high as you use the potty.
As enamored as we were with our digs, we did have business to take care of that first evening. Just over the river north of the hotel is the Magnificent Mile, which is home to the Shops at North Ridge, which itself is home to the LEGO store. Last year, I went to a LEGO store in a mall outside of the city and that was a huge disappointment -- just imagine an empty store at your local mall with LEGO sets lining the walls, and you'll have that store -- so this time I was going to make good on the promise. The LEGO store is on the third floor of the mall, and even as you approach you can see the giant spider and skeleton outside to greet you. Inside are more LEGO sculptures and plenty o' product, including the newest of the new (Space Police) and this model of the Sears Tower. The associate who rung us up was a real LEGO maniac -- he told us that he LOVED that model, that it was a "clean build" and lots of fun, and that his Mom took his model. (?)
We poked around the rest of the mall -- there was the obligatory Sanrio store visit, and a boutique store selling olive products; then we walked over to the P.F. Chang's nearby for some dinner, passing by the Billy Goat Tavern (from the old SNL Cheeseburger Cheeseburger sketch) on the way. Afterward, we checked out some Chicago landmarks: the facade of the Chicago Theatre, Garrett's Popcorn, Daley Plaza (so I could recreate scenes from the end of Blues Brothers in my mind, as well as see some pigeons almost immolate themselves on the eternal flame monument). By then it was night, so we rolled back to the hotel to chill out.
The next morning, we walked over to the local Corner Bakery for some breakfast, then retrieved the car from storage and made our way down to the Museum Campus -- more specifically, to Adler Planetarium, which we had missed on all previous forays to this city (usually from showing up five minutes before they close). Note to future visitors -- it costs more to park at the Planetarium (where you get this nice view of the marina and Soldier Field) than it does to pay admission. We poked around through the exhibits, trying to avoid unruly schoolchildren. By far, the best exhibit was Jim Lovell's Collection O' Stuff From the Moon Landing. Special people may even be selected for the next manned mission to the moon.
After that, we walked along the edge of the lake back towards the aquarium and the Field Museum, which was touting a new exhibit of its own about PIRATES! So we went back in to check that out for a good bit, had some museum McDonalds, and then we made the long hike back to the car, 'cause we had to meet up with our boy helaaspindakaas up at the Navy Pier.
In retrospect, we should have just walked to Navy Pier -- it wasn't horribly far from the hotel, but we'd just walked our legs off that morning and we were on our way in that direction anyways, so we made our way up there, did a few "hey kids, Big Ben, Parliament" loops, and finally settled on the obligatory outrageous parking structure fee before heading down to the entrance, where Brandon had been patiently waiting having wisely taken public transportation. We wandered down the pier, coming to the sad conclusion that the Navy Pier's sauce was not made of awesome. Beyond the funnel cakes and such, all there seemed to be was an endless line of desperate tourboats lined up along the docks. I figured at least there'd be an observation area from the end of the pier, but it was roped off for construction or something, and instead the world's worst cover band mangled some Michael Jackson hits.
Oh well, they can't all be winners.
We saw Brandon off to his train, then got back to the car and put it back in storage at the hotel to chill for a while before figuring out what we wanted to do for dinner.
I'd been thinking about heading up to DITKA's steakhouse, but it was a touch further than we would have liked to walk, so we ended up at another Chicago sports legend's place -- Harry Caray's. HEY! We had some great steaks (since they do not have a moon made out of ribs), then walked back to the hotel on the city streets at night, which was very cool. As we walked back to the hotel we noticed the childrens were congregated outside in their formalwear, at which point it dawned on us with some measure of horror that it was prom season. Naturally, on our floor where there is only our room and a suite, that suite is being used by said promsters. Luckily for us, I think they passed out relatively quickly because there was no real noise issues.
Day 3: We gotsta go. well, out of the hotel and off to Gurnee to hang out with Brandon and iuliamentis. We said goodbye to our home away from home and drove north through the city heading for Hot Doug's, a restaurant I'd seen on No Reservations that servers all manner of encased meats. After meandering through the north and west sides of town, we find the place -- all looks well. Then, as I drive by the storefront looking for parking, Julie notices the line coming out the other side of the building, extending for BLOCKS.
Oh well, I guess I can say I drove by the place!
We grabbed some food at a local restaurant, then headed up to Gurnee and met up with Brandon and Julie to spend the day hanging out, eating Chicago-style pizza and watching playoff hockey while catching up. The Wings won, so all ended well.
The next morning we got up, strapped our feedbags on at the local Golden Corral, and then drove for home! A good time was had by all.
Pictures from this trip can be seen here at Flickr.