Now When She Went To Chicago That Night . . .

In a bit of a gonzo move, we did Chicago in 11 hours, driving in at 10 AM and returning to Cleveland at 9 PM, all by car a few days before we left the US. Was it foolish? Yes Did it save us money? Absolutely Was it a good preparatory budget trip for our voyage? I think so.

My impressions of Chicago (although I’ve been there 5+ times now):

If I wanted to show someone what a great AEMRICAN city looks and feels like, I’d send them to Chicago. It’s well-planned, well-taken care of, and FEELS like America.

(New York is a great city, but it’s a world city, not an American one. If someone just went to NYC, they wouldn’t have an accurate picture of America at all.)

We walked around Millennium and Grant Park to start, checking out the new pavilion that Frank Gehry designed and the extraterrestrial sculpture (which had to be influenced by Flight of the Navigator, that Disney movie with the T2 looking spaceship, right?) went up to Lincoln Park on the subway (ho-hum), went to the art museum for a free night, had stuffed pizza at Eduardo’s (I’m sure that there are better places, and I know it’s a chain, but damn, it doesn’t disappoint), went to a free orchestra performance at the pavilion in Millennium Park, then high-tailed it out of there. A little tiring, but the voices of the right kept me awake all the way home.