Vacation: Chicago, Illinois
May 24, 2007 - May 28, 2007
Dear travel journal,
After a couple of botched efforts, Lady Awesome and I finally made it to Chicago. Some call it a late anniversary celebration. Others call it an excuse to ditch work and party with friends. Whatever the reason, it was an incredible trip to the greatest city in America. Yes, everyone in America voted. It was unanimous.
Day One May 24, 2007
11:10 a.m. We're on the regional plane to Chicago. According to my Aviation-to-Landlubber translation book, that means tiny. A flight attendant asked if we wanted to trade places with some kids who were sitting in an exit row. I told her no thank you. I'd prefer to live the extra .0001 seconds if we crash.
12:45 p.m. We've landed. Lady Awesome is impressed by O'Hare Airport's technological advancement of sanitized toilet seat covers and sanitized hand rails. I saw an Australian guy on a moving sidewalk yell, I am never coming back to this fucking country again! Apparently, he was less impressed by these latest breakthroughs of sanitation.
4:04 p.m. (our area code) We've done so much already. We ate at Big Bowl (Thai). I ordered a fresh ginger ale and spicy peanut noodles. Then Lady Awesome and I bought toothbrushes because we both forgot to pack the ones sitting at home. Also, we got espresso from the one place on the Magnificent Mile that isn't Starbucks. For shame, Starbucks. How dare you saturate this highly touristy area?! There are a ton of people on the sidewalk of Michigan Avenue. Of course, none of them live here, because who wants to lives next to an ESPN Zone and Nordstrom? Truthfully, what I've seen so far isn't that different from Atlanta Midtown or Buckhead. But it is windy. I'll give Chicago that.
5:49 p.m. I've officially napped in Chicago. The bed in this hotel is probably the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in. Lady Awesome was nice enough to wake me up or else I might have spent the next four days between the sheets. I have no idea what we are doing next. Sushi or sex? Oh wait, chocolate store!
7:03 p.m. We made friends with the employees of Vosges Haut Chocolate store. They liked Lady Awesome's boots and my ramblings of a man still waking up, so we ate a good bit of free chocolate. We also spent a good bit of money on chocolate. I mean, Lady Awesome spent a good bit of money on chocolate. Heh. Sucker.
9:13 p.m. We ate an excellent dinner at Kamehachi. An excellent $100 dinner. Sushi, my friend, makes spending money all worth it. We had toro nigiri (fatty tuna) that was $9 apiece and it blew our minds. Lady Awesome liked it so much that now she is farty and told me not to write about it. In other news, I am buzzed from a saketini (sake martini with cucumber). Holy crap! I just realized we have a chair with an ottoman in the hotel room. Go team alcohol!
12:40 a.m. Tonight was a bust. We were told by a couple of trustworthy sources that we would enjoy a bar called Rainbo Club. Long story short: Due to a rail problem, there was no southbound El service from the station nearest us on the Red line. We went north, then transferred to south, then transferred to the Blue line to go to Wicker Park. I knew where to go upon exiting the station, but a couple of locals were certain that I was wrong, so they pointed the way to Bad Directionville. After an hour and a half of going around our ass to get to our elbow, we finally reached Rainbo Club. Packed. Smoky. Awful music. We stayed ten seconds. Lady Awesome and I have easily spent most of the day in transit (plane, El train, walking).The lesson is never doubt the hotel bar. It's only an elevator ride away.