Day 2: Chicago

Total Miles: 799

Total States: 7

We started off yesterday morning a little after 9 and drove the last three hours into Chicago. This was our first real experience with massive road construction and traffic on the trip. We came into the city on I-90, which, even though it runs through an industrial sector and smells terrible, had a number of tolls.

I think these factors may have colored Ben's impression of Chicago; he decided pretty promptly that he doesn't want to go to school in a huge, stinky city. And I can hardly blame him.

Even so, we headed for Hyde Park and the University of Chicago first thing in the afternoon. We

were planning to grab a slice of Chicago's famous deep dish pizza at the Giordano's in Hyde Park. Unfortunately, Giordano's in Hyde Park appears to have been under construction for at least three years. Starving, and far away from the sandwiches in the cooler in the car, we settled instead on the Subway across the street.

Hyde Park reminds me of the Capitol Hill area in DC. It has beautiful old townhouses, many covered in ivy, adjacent to housing projects and seedier-looking buildings.

The University of Chicago is doing itself no favors by placing its undergrad admissions office a half mile from the parking garage and not providing clear directions. We saw most of the school (and the University Hospital System) just on our search for the admissions office, which no one on campus could identify for us either. But the school is beautiful, with ivy-colored stone buildings and leafy quads. We didn't waste too much time evaluating dorm and classroom

spaces as Ben decided a city school isn't his style. That made the trip valuable enough.

We hopped back in the car and faced down another bout of city traffic on our way to the Field Museum. The exhibits on Pirates, ancient Egypt, animals, and Sue, the largest T-Rex skeleton, were interesting, but I'm totally spoiled by the Smithsonian. It seemed much of the museum was a gimmicky attempt to squeeze more money from tourists. Notable: the size of the African and Asian animals was shocking, and the pirates exhibit explained gruesome particulars of the slave trade I had forgotten since school.

At the Field, Dad called to ask if we had booked a hotel yet. We hadn't, and he had 20 free minutes and wanted to play around on hotwire for us. He booked a room at Hotel Allegro, which turned out to be a pretty swank, trendy, music-themed place in the theater district (Ben and I have the most generous parents, it's just the truth.) We drove downtown and self-parked across from the hotel. There was actually a party happening in the lobby, as we checked in during the hotel's free wine hour. Swank.

After checking in and decompressing, we walked out to the downtown Giordano's. The pizza was huge and greasy and thick and delicious, and although I ate just two slices I thought I might be sick. Thank goodness we have that cooler for the leftovers. We'll be eating pizza for days. (Note: Pizza + Red Wine = Win)

I thought Chicago would be more like L.A. or Seattle, but it's really New York-y. We drove downtown around 4:30 and were surprised at the number of people walking and biking through. The buildings, of course, are gorgeous, and that and the cleanliness and lack of signs reminded me of downtown Seattle. But the scale is huge.

After diner we walked over to Millennium Park, home of Frank Gehry's Jay Pritzker Pavilion and the Cloud Gate, or "Bean." The views are beautiful and the Bean is just bizarre. We got home around nine and crashed we were so exhausted. And our feet are blistered from so much walking.

This morning we're planning to take a cab up to the northern end of Michigan Ave., then walk back to the car though the "Magnificent Mile" - supposedly one of the most impressive shopping walks in the country. Even Ben is excited and hoping to find some seersucker shorts.

After shopping we'll drive to Madison and meet up with good family friends for the night.

**Aaaugh I'm having serious formatting issues! Sorry. I'll try to fix these later.