First off, I'd like to wish my daughter Miranda Behler a very happy 14th birthday. In this chapter the Bukkit Tour brings us to Chicago for a long weekend. We're here just to visit and take in Chicago Cubs game at Wrigley Field.
We arose bright and early on Friday morning and got to the airport at about 7:30am. Getting my girls out of bed and motivated to get into the car is a task of monumental proportions so I'm very glad we made it to Port Columbus International airport on time. We're travelling light this time and all had carry-on bags. This is the second trip in a week that I've tossed my belongings in my new Seagull Bag and set out on a trip. It's kind of liberating being able to throw all of your stuff in one bag and just going. Port Columbus was pretty uneventful other than the fact that the TSA decided that one of our bags was "unattended" and then had to go through the whole thing. Bye bye shampoo, conditioner, sunscreen, and toothpaste. Our flight left Columbus promptly at 9:15am and we were safely on the ground at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago at 9:30. We were on a small commuter jet, only three seats wide. Miranda sat by herself and Laela sat next to me. It was an uneventful flight; although, leaving Columbus was kind of fun because we essentially followed I-270 and were able to see things like Hoover Reservoir, Zoombeezi Bay, and most of the North end of Columbus from the sky. When we made our travel plans, we made a conscious decision to not get a car and just use Chicago's mass transit system. I believe we made a good choice. We were able to take the subway from the airport to within three blocks the Palmer House Hilton which would be our home for the weekend. The subway ride provided us ample entertainment in the form of a group of six people who had been drinking since the early morning and were on their way to see the Cubs game on Friday. They swayed too and fro on the train like a field of wheat on a windy late summer day. They were loud, obnoxious, and truth be told, and ready to be cast in MTV's next reality show. One of the things that I really love about Laela is that after almost nineteen years, we can just look at each other and know from the look in one and other's eyes what the other is thinking. In this particular case, it was "dumb asses."
Since we had packed lightly, it didn't take long to get settled into our room and get going for the day. We promptly went back out the hotel entrance and got a cab to take us to Gino's East of Chicago. It was one of only two things that I HAD to do while we were in the windy city. Laela and I had travelled to Chicago not long after Miranda was born in order to see the Descendents on their 1996 tour in support of the album "Everything Sucks." One of my enduring memories from that trip was going to Gino's East and getting authentic Chicago Style pizza. What makes Gino's unique is that everywhere you look in the restaurant, people have graffitied their names. Every surface is covered by sharpie or paint marker. I had loved the food there and had vowed to return if I ever ended up in Chicago again.
After we finished lunch we decided to try to take in some of Chicago's sites in the time we had left for the day. We made our way to Shedd Aquarium. From wikipedia: "The John G. Shedd Aquarium is an indoor public aquarium in Chicago, Illinois in theUnited States that opened on May 30, 1930." It was Friday and it was PACKED with people. I'm not a person that is prone to feelings of clausterphobia, but I came pretty close on Friday. fortunately, when we made our way away from the exhibits on the main floor and went downstairs the crowd thinned out. The highlights of the aquarium were in reverse order of awesome: the beluga whales, the smile sharks (Pacific white-sided dolphins), and the sea otters. The penguins were pretty cute too, but the family's favorite was without question the sea otters (although I had an affinity for the sea lions myself). We bought tickets to their water show spectacular called "Fantasea" and it was "Fantacrap." The best part of it was when the lights came back on. Laela, Miranda, and I all had a good time making fun of it while it was going on though. We were smart enough to not sit by anyone who might have been seriously trying to watch it.
When the show was over, Shedd Aquarium was then closed. So we left the building and walked along the shoreline of Lake Michigan. We walked through Grant Park and saw the "Married with Children" fountain, and also stolled through Millennium Park. From their website, Millennium Park is described as: "Millennium Park is an award-winning center for art, music, architecture and landscape design. The result of a unique partnership between the City of Chicago and the philanthropic community, the 24.5-acre Park features the work of world-renowned architects, planners, artists and designers." The Crown Fountain was definitely the most interesting part of Millennium Park for me.
Went back to the hotel to freshen up and by this time we were pretty hungry. So we went out onto Monroe St. and just started walking with the idea that we would just stop at the first restaurant that caught our fancy. We passed a few and decided that we'd just double-back and go to the first one we passed. It was the Grill Room Chop House. It is a steak house that is close to our hotel and the food was amazing. Unfortunately, I had over done it at lunch and wasn't all that hungry so I had a Caesar salad, French onion soup, and crab cakes. Laela had tillapia, and Miranda had filet mingion with garlic mashed potatoes. When Miranda had finished her birthday dinner, she exclaimed that it was the best meal she had ever had.
So that pretty much ended our Friday in Chicago. We returned to the hotel, watched a comedy special and turned in for the night. It was a perfect day.
