cptntiller | Entries tagged with chicago

The morning came early, but for the most part with great rest! We were up and at 'em, ready for battle and exploration. Joe, my gracious host, is a UU minister-in-training, and it was time for my first ever UU Service. As Joe was playing a part in the process, we got to service a bit early, and I got to explore the beautiful church. I was particularly taken with a display of paper cranes. And I then shot them for far too long. Now I will bore you with those photos:

I was surprised with how much I enjoyed the service, having been raised upon loads and loads of catholic services, loaded with boredom. I'd label my UU experience a good one. A very friendly, welcoming crew of people. Interesting service too.

From service, we maneuvered towards a loverly lunch with Joes friend and former Housemate. Kyohei was a lovely person to meet, and we had a grand luncheon before Joe was shackled off to work near Hyde Park, leaving me free to explore and examine the area, which was a lot of fun. I wandered across the park area to stare at the frozen lake:

and then made my way around, wandering through the open exhibits at the museum of science and industry, and then just kind've exploring the neighborhoods. I love doing this. I learned that Chicago's nickname of The Windy City is CERTAINLY well earned, but I greatly enjoyed wandering and exploring.

When Joe finished work, we traveled into the suburbs to meet the friend of Joe and another one of my friends, Ben. We gathered pizza at Giordano's before I was brought to karaoke at a gay bar nearby. I don't often involve myself in karaoke, but I ended up having a great time, met alot of fun people, and even sang. [Sodomy from HAIR, Papa Loved Mama by Garth Brooks, Mr. Cellophane from Chicago] No one died from my singing, which is a miracle of science, and we made our way home having enjoyed the day.

A bit of relaxing and talking at Joe's casa was the nightcap to a wonderful day in Chicago, and we headed off to sleep-land.

The morning came to early on day 2, but my alarm roused me, and after a scrub-a-dub-dub in Jim and Alan's shower, I was dressed and on the road, exactly at 8 AM - which was the exact time I had hoped to depart at.
thanks jim and alan!

Thus began the longest day of driving in the trip. Between Albany and Chicago is 817 miles, about 13 hours of driving. So I slammed the radio in high gear, and set on my way, traveling 90, pretty much the entire route.

During the day I passed through Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. Ohio. Oh, Ohio. Ohio is officially my least favorite state of all time. It is 5 hours of Nothing. There are rarely even trees. Even Cleveland was a disappointment. It was a 5 minute long city, the highlight of which was a building with whales. Maybe it's a better drive in the summer, I don't know. All I can say is that to drive through in January, it is made of suck. Indiana was a little more interesting. It had the Museum of RV's and Mobile Homes.

The list of things I saw that I cannot make up on this trip is unreal. A museum for RV's and motor homes? I mean. Really. Does that need a museum? Apparently.

I cannot describe the length of saturday. Driving that length of time is incredibly draining. A couple of LONG phone calls to the pooch and a few other people helped. But I finally made it.

Somewhere around 7:30 middle america time, I made it to

killerjoe and

tamingblue's casa. I was the guest of Joe, and it turned out I got to meet some other people I'd interacted with too, like Jason and his boyfriend Chris. I no more than arrived, and threw my bags on the floor, and we turned and drove to chinatown for real chinese food. It was delicious! I rather enjoyed my orange chicken, and I followed it with my first bubble tea. It was tasty, albeit a bit odd. I don't know how to respond to the bubbles. But fun.

We made it home, and after a short bout of video games, crashed for the night. Sleep was a welcome guest. Oh, sleep. Thank you for your wonderfulness.

My last day in Chicago! Sad. Started off by going to the convention center to attend a brunch in which they present the stonewall book award. Which was pretty neat. There were some terribly impactive moments, and I learned about a plethora of books I probably never would have. A little more wandering of the exhibition hall, and we found ourselves walking up the lake from the center to the Planetarium. A lovely sunny walk, and another chance to simply enjoy Chicago and relax. By the time we had wandered back it was just about time to pick up our bags and head off - Lewis to dinner with a friend, then Joanne's house, and I to the airport for my ride home. It was a wonderful trip.

7/13/09

( 3 MORE )

Today began with a bagel and a bus zooming past me - as a result, I went to the field museum instead of the museum of industry and science. Never to fear, I am very much intending on a return visit to Chicago in my future. The field museum was great!
A little kid-crowded, but some fun exhibits, and honestly I didn't care about some of them, but holy crap the dinosaurs were awesome, as was an exhibit on photography from the civil rights movement. Those two alone made the museum admission worthwhile. After finishing I wandered out and looked at the line for the aquarium. I've heard phenomenal things about it - but I wasn't about to wait 45 minutes just to get in, plus I really prefer to just wander and explore cities without an agenda, rather than tourist it up. So I did that. I wandered up the lake aimlessly - took a little nap in the sun along the way - and enjoyed the sun, buildings, water, and people. When I realized I was near the hancock building, I decided to wander to that and go up it, having heard it's view is better than the newly ledge-enabled sears tower. The view was beautiful, and it was awesome that they had screen windows on one side. I swear you guys - I fell in love with Chicago this weekend. After this I toddled [see what I did there?] back down and walked my way back to the hotel through the city. I had missed the ability to hang out with

mikiedoggie during the day, but he joined Lewis, myself, and a few of Lewis' friends at [dinner place name?], and I'm glad we got to meet - he's a swell fella! A bit of wandering and [our third]/a dose of DQ and we parted ways, and went to sleep. Thanks for coming out, Mikie!

7/12/09

Sue: The world's most complete T-Rex skeleton!

Velociraptor

The hancock center

Day 3 in Chicago. Today Lewis' conference really began, so I tagged along and wandered the various exhibits. Let me tell you. There are a LOT of them. I've officially been through them many times, but it took a long time. It was really interesting for a "civilian", if you will, to see all the many technologies, and indie publishers for books. And given the nature of the conference, some of the ones I saw there surprised me. [Wizards of the Coast strike anyone as library material?] I also collected a plethora of free, often signed books, along with other random tools of various device. Got to see George Watsky do a reading as well... he's a pretty awesome slam poet that I've seen before at PC. I pretty much spent the day maneuvering stacks. Had a great time too. WHOA forgot stuff. We arrived back and tried Lou Malnati's pizza, which we both decided does not compare to giordano's. Then got into a reception at the EDIT: Art Institute of Chicago. Which was beautiful, and I got to see alot of artwork I'd heard of but never seen in person. The famous seurat, of course, and many others. It was a great experience. I'll need to re-visit it sometime.

7/11/09

One of the booths was giving away free beer. This is the best booth give-a-way, ever.

George Watsky

Day 2 in Chicago!

Today involved a brunch at a local place called Blackie's, which proved to be rather tasty. From there a day of wandering and adventure. Hopped on the train and made our way north to boystown [the gaybourhood], and explored the various shops. Saw Wrigley's from the behind on our way, and walked. It started out drizzling, but turned into a very nice day for wandering. Stopped at an Ann Sathers to try their much-talked-about Cinnamon Rolls, then hopped on the El and made our way back down. After this we got together with one of Lewis' old friends Joanne, and headed into town to grab food and see a show at Steppenwolfe, both of which were tasty. The food involved tasting a local brewery's work, and the Steppenwolfe show was a presentation of 500 Clown's performance The Elephant Deal. I think Lewis penned it best by saying that he really enjoyed it, although he is not entirely sure he understood it.

7/10/09

( 2 MORE HERE )

Lewis had a conference in Chicago, and I got to tag along.

My first time ever to Chicago, and it was a wonderful trip. I still can't quite believe how beautiful Chicago is. I look forward to another visit before too long. The company was pretty good too, of course.

On the first day we wandered, had Giordano's stuffed pizza, then wandered through Millenium Park, exploring our way back to the hotel. Later, we wandered to the Chase building to attend a taping of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. It was a lot of fun, much longer than the program - but in a good way!

7/9/09