illinois: chicago

My flights from San Diego back to Chicago wet well enough, though I landed late in Chicago, at nearly 1 in the morning. Ugh. There is no public transport at that hour, and I had no intentions of asking anyone to pick me up then, so I slept overnight at the airport. Again. I think this was the third time I've done that this summer?  This time I found a set of chairs where I was able to lay down flat, so I slept a little better than the other nights in various airports. Chicago does not want people to spend the night in the airport, but without public transport in the middle of the night, there are no other options.

 

Around 745 in the morning I started to take trains to get back to Kelley's town. Go figure, the train I was on had to pull over to a siding and wait for a train going the other way just 10 minutes short of my final station. I was soooo frustrated, as we had to wait more than 30 minutes. Ugh.
Anywho, Kelley picked me up and we made it home. Both of us were exhausted, and really wanted naps. When we got home I brought my things into a corner of the living room, as that was where I would be sleeping for the next two nights. A couple hours later, Anita and Chris arrived, coming in from Indiana.

They didn't know I would be there, but had still brought cookies for me from a semi well known place in their town, knowing that I would be coming through soon. We surprised each other, it was fun :)
After Jon came home from his beer class, he and Chris grilled burgers for a late lunch. Yum. There were a few veggies to add, but it was mainly all about the meat.
As far as I can remember, we didn't do anything in particular for the rest of the day. Just hanging out in various places around the house, enjoying time with each other.

Dinner was ordered and picked up from Portillos, a quintessential Chicago chain. I've had food from there previously, and enjoyed all of it. This time i had a chili cheese hot dog. Yum.
The next morning Kelley had to go to work for a while, though I slept through her departure. Jon had to work too, though he was able to do it from home that day. (It was Monday.)
I watched episodes of Tyrant, getting fully caught up :) Chris did the dishes and mowed the lawn and did something with an electrical outlet, Anita got caught up on email :)

Not long after Kelley came home, the three of us ladies packed up the car and drove into the city center, to Millenium Park. This is the same park in which the bean is located.
I don't know how Anita had learned of the concert, but she'd found out about a concert by Broadway in Chicago, and passed the information on to Kelley. Both of them have extensive experience in theatre, this concert sounded like fun. Each of ten shows that have been showing recently or will be soon in Chicago sang a song.

The front area where the concert took place had chairs, the back two thirds was just a grassy area. Like many others, we brought chairs and snacks, and set up camp in the grassy area.
Anita and I then went walking to the French Market while Kelley stayed in the park with the intention of doing some work prep for the next day. The French market is in the same building as Ogilvie Transportation Center, so we walked past the end of several train tracks.
The market has a lot of stalls with gourmet food. Gourmet grilled cheese, chocolate truffles, lobster rolls, smoothies, meatloaf, etc... We had fun looking around, though it isn't the cheapest place.

We got back to the park to find it a whole lot more crowded than when we had left. I'm really glad Kelley had gotten us there when she did!
Te concert was good, though short. A local news anchor hosted the concert, coming out every so often to introduce the next singers. Kelley ad Anita had seen many of the shows (not necessarily in Chicago,) so they knew them a lot better than I did. It was nice, but too short. At the same time the short concert meant we got home at a very reasonable time.
Jon was already in bed as he had a flight the next morning, the rest of us went to bed soon after. 

The next morning, Kelley went to work, Anita and Chris packed up to go home.
I got cleaned up too, and walked to the train station in order to go into the city. Thank goodness I went a few minutes earlier than google maps said I should, as google maps led me into a trail/path that didn't exist! I'm glad I had time to go back to a street that took me where I wanted to go! The next train wouldn't come for another two hours, which would've been too late to be worth going into the city.
 

I arrived at Chicago's Union Station, then started walking. I stopped in a place called Argo Tea, for a chai latte made the way I wanted. That is, with real tea, not just flavored syrup. Then I continued walking.
I walked and walked and walked. It felt good. I took another couple photos of the bean, and a whole bunch of all the buildings of the city. The river winds through the city in a way that gives you plenty of places to take skyline type photos. Pretty.
Eventually I typed a specific shop into google maps and started walking in that direction.
Hoosier Mama Pie Shop is yummy. This was the first time I got to experience the yumminess, how have I not known about it previously? They make pie. And more pie. They have sweet pies and savory pies, and all of them sounded good. I ended up getting apple raspberry, and wishing later that I'd bought more. A lot more.

Then I walked back to Union Station, and caught the next train back to Kelley and Jon's town. Meatball and I hung out until Kelley got home from work, then all three of us relaxed. (Meatball's entire life is all about relaxing.)
The next day was my last full day in the states. Kelley and I didn't do anything crazy, just ran a few errands, shopped a little, picked up food for the next day.
Thursday morning it took me over an hour to pack up. I'm impressed with myself, I was able to get everything into just two packs. My checked bag weighed 17.2kgs, a whole lot more than it did when I arrived in the states!
Kelley drove me to the airport, traffic wasn't bad at all. My line to check in wasn't long, but moved sooo slowly. As slow as that was, I got through security really fast, I got to go in the precheck line. Yay!
My flight departed more than 45 mins late, I don't know why. A bunch of hours and turbulence later, I landed in Madrid, Spain.

continuing around bits and pieces of the states...

after florida i flew to seattle, mostly for lynnae's wedding..i had invited scott to be my date in seattle...he's a friend from my time in germany, it had been a few years since we'd seen each other..he lives in reno, and was able to get the weekend off to fly up..he and i explored the town, the first time for either of us to be in seattle...we both loved it...it's got great public transport, is environmentally aware, and has plenty to see and do..the day we went up the space needle we could see mt rainier and whateva the further away mountain is..apparently it's only that clear about 30 days of the year..the wedding was fantastic...lynnae and colin had organized everything really well..they got married at some gardens just outside enumclaw, which is out from seattle..since it wouldn't have been easy for everyone to get there on their own, a bus had been set up to take us all from the hotel to the gardens..it was exactly what i want in my wedding, if i ever have one...it was all about their family and friends having a good time, and we did...i got to meet colin for the first time, who is just as good looking in person as he is in pictures..and he's really nice..previous to meeting me he had only known me as the girl who sent postcards to lynnae every now and again..at the reception scott met julia, a friend of lynnae's from when she and colin lived in north carolina..(though julia now lives in portland)...hee hee...after the reception was over, there was an after party at a nearby bar..the yella beak saloon..when all of us wedding goers walked in, it was clear we werent dressed to fit in..the next day, i realized i had left my mobile at the yella beak saloon, so scott and i hired a car and drove all the way back..he's a great driver, i was happy to let him drive..the day we left scott and i drove back to the airport, and he checked in for his flight..i had a while to wait, but oh well..
my next visit was to new york city to finally see kristin again, and meet katherine for the first time...she's doing great...and their loft is awesome!!! on broadway, in manhattan...it doesn't get much better than that..i loved it...i'd never been to new york before, and knowing people and being able to stay in downtown manhattan was incredible..i got to walk everywhere...the statue of liberty and ellis island i got to visit one afternoon..you have to buy tickets for the ferry, which first drops you off at the statue of liberty..(a gift from the french, a while ago)..before 11 september, tourists could climb all the way up the statue..that's no longer allowed, which is probably a good thing, seeing as how there were no emergency exits, and they had had a couple health related fatalities over the years..the statue is copper (which is why it's green on the outside) and therefore gets REALLY hot inside, particularly during the summer months..apparently a lot of people attempted the climb up who weren't in good enough shape..from there i took the ferry to ellis island, which is where immigrants to the US all had to process through, back when..that's where the initial health screening was done, as well as information given, etc..they still have most of the records, and it's pretty impressive..it's a place where plenty of names were americanized for easier pronunciation..i took a practice US citizenship test, and aced it..some of the questions seemed like they were designed to trick the testtaker..the sight of the new york city cityline from the water was beautiful..the UN (did you know that the UN is technically not part of the united states? i don't know what it's governance is)..i saw what is known as ground zero..as was the intention of the powers that be, there is no attention drawn to the area..there is construction stuff there, building up the new buildings...i can't remember if it's a memorial, or just another building..the people of new york city want to send a constant message to the terrorists, that life will continue with no differences, despite the attack...one night we went to listen to the new york philharmonic in central park with 60,000 of our closest friends...we brought sushi to eat while listening, and the dogs loved getting out of the loft..one night we went to a restaurant for ukrainian food..yum..i love the amazing variety of food in the city..there are so many immigrants, something that hasn't changed since the city was first founded..one night kristin and katherine hosted a party for a group of their friends..it was to celebrate kristin finishing work at the hospital..she had enjoyed the work, but wanted to depend entirely on her private practice..i want to go back!! it would be awesome to see a show on broadway, check out the other borroughs, etc..plus, kristin and katherine are great people:)
from new york, i flew to toronto to visit brooke...she's one of my friends from korea..it was great to catch up with her, she's been through a lot...she looks amazing, maybe even too skinny..she started weight watchers during the year i taught at psa, and ended up losing quite a bit of weight..she's really strong, and controlled herself really well once she started keeping track of her points..i was there the weekend of toronto pride, so we checked that out..great music, good food, lots of fun..one of my nights there brooke and i continued our tradition of date night, which involves ridiculously bad fast food and a movie..i met her roommate tasha, a british chick..tasha has a strong personality, to put it mildly..i didn't get to see much (or any) of the city, but that wasn't the point of me going to toronto..getting to and from the airport in toronto was easy, there is a train the whole way..there is also good public transport around the city..brooke usually walks to and from work, though she could take the tram if she wanted to..
my next visit was to chicago to see megan...awesome...i knew her when we were both in germany..i took the 'el' into the city from the airport, and met her at one of the stops..the first thing we did was go to breakfast at ihop, my first time ever eating at an ihop!! i know it's not the classiest place, but i really wanted breakfast food..she has a great apartment, and a great roommate...the flat is huge!! i slept in the living room, on an air mattress, falling asleep to movies on the projector each night..we went to the taste of chicago...lots of yummy food!!! i'd heard that it is an expensive thing to attend, but it wasn't all that bad..there are tons of stalls set up, each one manned by a different restaurant from the city..each stall has a menu, consisting of just a few options..usually three choices, and a "taste" option..each choice costs a certain number of tickets..we walked all around the area to get a feel for what was there, then went back to places that interested us..using both of our sets of tickets, we tried a lot of different types of food, and loved most of them..after stuffing ourselves, we went to a concert by joss stone...i had heard her name ahead of time, but didn't really know her music at all..fun times..and great weather...one day i got to see megan's workplace, she works at argo tea..it's kinda like the starbucks of tea..there aren't nearly as many branches, but they have a huge menu..who knew there were that many ways of serving tea!!...i shopped a bit, and wandered a bit...chicago is a great city for wandering..so many people to see, so much going on all the time..it's another city with great public transport..i wish more cities were the same..
after chicago i went back to indiana for one last week, to pack up and figure out what i'll need for the next year and a half of my life!!! i also spent the 4th of july in bloomington, something i hadn't done in years..hana, dad, ann and i went to the fireworks put on by the city, around the football stadium..we set up our chairs on the lawn of one of the churches across the bypass, we had by far the best views i've ever had of the fireworks...
during the weeks i spent in bloomington, i realized that bloomington doesn't feel like home at all anymore...i felt rather unwelcome most of the time, as if i was intruding...seeing people around town was nice, but what used to be my home most certainly isn't anymore..now i feel homeless, and have no real desire to go back to bloomington for a long time..