If I Were Going...: Midwest Adventure: Chicago

Unlike my other posts, I am not going to provide a complete overview or education on Chicago. It wasn't that kind of trip and Chicago is well known enough to not need my additional commentary. But, I do need to mention it!

Skyline

Our trip changed gears slightly as we headed south. Instead of National Parks, we were in search of relatives. In this case, Scott's niece Julie, who was kind enough to open her lovely new home to us for two nights. She recently moved to Naperville after a stint in Atlanta. She lived in Chicago before that, so she knows the lay of the land.

Julie's house

So, anyway, after driving in wide-open spaces, we arrived in the nightmare that is Chicago traffic, winding our way to Naperville.

Photos: Scott Stevens

I should have been paying attention and overrode the GPS. The route was the most direct, but probably not the fastest. You just forget when you don't do it every day!

But, we finally arrived.

And, what did we do?

We immediately took off for dinner at Portillos!

Chicago dogs and Italian beef! 'Nuff said!

The next morning, we took a quick trip to Wheaton, to see the house we lived in in 1983-84. It looked good! Actually, better than when we lived there.

Then and now; Photos: Scott Stevens

Then, we braved the traffic (and a little rain) and headed into the city. I realized that, although I lived in Wheaton for about a year, I didn't really go into the city very often back then. I had a job and a baby and a lot of the time we were there was winter -- a very cold winter. So, this was going to be a treat -- with Julie as our expert guide. We just needed to make it through the traffic and find the parking lot in which Julie had reserved us a space online via her phone. That woman does everything on the 'net! It's amazing.

Traffic; Photo: Scott Stevens

As I said, I am NOT going to try to describe Chicago, give its history or anything like that. If you want to learn about Chicago, do what we did -- take the Chicago Architecture Foundation Architecture Cruise.

Chicago architecture

It's a very high-level tour -- knowledgeable docents describe the buildings that line the Chicago River and, in so doing, provide insight into the history of the city. Plus, you get to see the best landmarks of Chicago without wearing out your feet (or dying of the heat on a day like the one we went on).

I cannot imagine a better way to see Chicago

Thanks, Julie, for such a great idea!

Following our tour, we took a little trip on the Chicago L (short for Elevated) rail to Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs.

L used to be "El" for elevated

There was no home game that day (Luke Bryan was playing there), but it was cool to pose in front of this iconic Chicago landmark.

Oh well!

Next, down to the shore of Lake Michigan for some photos of the Chicago skyline.

Walk on the lakeshore

We were fortunate that the rain decided that it wasn't worth ruining our day. We just had a refreshing breeze and a very pretty view of the buildings and boats and people enjoying the end of summer. Perhaps more than any group, Chicagoans know that winter is coming. And, because they do, they know how to enjoy a warm day.

A beautiful city

Then, a fabulous tapas dinner at Ba-Ba-Reeba! Once again, thanks, Julie. If you like tapas (and I do, I do), this is the place to go. Absolutely delicious and very reasonably priced. We had all kinds of yummy tidbits (these pictures do not show it all; we were too busy eating to photograph it) and sangria. It reminded me of our trip to Spain last year.

Tapas; Photos: Scott Stevens

We ended our day in Chicago at Kingston Mines, one of Scott's favorite blues clubs. It's pretty basic and wasn't very crowded when we arrived. But, this is a club that goes all night -- unlike us. We stayed for one show by regular Joanna Connor and then dragged our old selves back home to bed.