Chicago Vacation Day 1: Travel & Arrival Day.
Our Chicago vacation got off to a little bit of bumpy start this morning. When we woke up, one of our smoke alarms was giving a low battery chirp and had to be replaced. Then Sara realized at the very last minute that I'd accidentally printed out the receipts for our city passes and the Shakespeare play, instead of the actual tickets/passes. Then our taxi to the airport was late, and once it arrived, the car creaked and shook like it was going to break apart on the Interstate. We were both relieved when we made it to the airport on time and in one piece! I watched old The Simpsons episodes in a TV on the back of my seat for the second leg of our flight (from Atlanta to Chicago), which I thought was pretty cool. Sara brought a few different paperbacks to read during our trip, and she intentionally left one of them (Where the Heart Is) on the plane after she finished it, which made her really happy.
Getting out of Midway Airport to the orange line el train station was a bit confusing. We followed a nice-looking family who seemed to know where they were going and finally found it, and once we got to the State & Lake station, it wasn't too far from our hotel, and we got checked in with no problem. Although Sara freaked out a little when she realized we were on the 25th floor (really the 24th because they skip the 13th floor) and saw how high the view out our window was - especially when I realized that the window opens! The window mostly looks out on the backs of other buildings, but we can see a little sliver of the East River, the Wabash Avenue bridge, and Marina City (aka the Corn Cobs).
This evening, we walked the area around our hotel a little; we're staying in a really nice area on the loop, and we're near the old Chicago Tribune building, Trump Tower (ugh), and the Chicago Riverwalk. Then we went to a Walgreen's and bought microwave popcorn, chips, cookies, granola bars, fruit cups, cheese, and juice. Our hotel doesn't serve breakfast due to Covid restrictions, and the hotel breakfast is usually our big daily meal on vacations. So instead, we're planning to eat a big meal while we're out during the day and just have snacks for breakfast and dinner. At some point, we walked past the Chicago Theatre, which had a really beautiful, lit-up marquee sign with a billion tourists taking selfies and even more homeless people panhandling.
The TV in our hotel room gets a lot of channels, including Food Network, so right now Sara is watching some cooking competition show that she loves.
Getting out of Midway Airport to the orange line el train station was a bit confusing. We followed a nice-looking family who seemed to know where they were going and finally found it, and once we got to the State & Lake station, it wasn't too far from our hotel, and we got checked in with no problem. Although Sara freaked out a little when she realized we were on the 25th floor (really the 24th because they skip the 13th floor) and saw how high the view out our window was - especially when I realized that the window opens! The window mostly looks out on the backs of other buildings, but we can see a little sliver of the East River, the Wabash Avenue bridge, and Marina City (aka the Corn Cobs).
This evening, we walked the area around our hotel a little; we're staying in a really nice area on the loop, and we're near the old Chicago Tribune building, Trump Tower (ugh), and the Chicago Riverwalk. Then we went to a Walgreen's and bought microwave popcorn, chips, cookies, granola bars, fruit cups, cheese, and juice. Our hotel doesn't serve breakfast due to Covid restrictions, and the hotel breakfast is usually our big daily meal on vacations. So instead, we're planning to eat a big meal while we're out during the day and just have snacks for breakfast and dinner. At some point, we walked past the Chicago Theatre, which had a really beautiful, lit-up marquee sign with a billion tourists taking selfies and even more homeless people panhandling.
The TV in our hotel room gets a lot of channels, including Food Network, so right now Sara is watching some cooking competition show that she loves.