Chicago

Chicago Fog

My drive to Chicago began with Caribou (Thanks, Jeff!)...

...And a surprise phone call from a Bend friend sitting at the airport about to fly to his home city of Chicago.  He was making sure I had a place to stay.  I find it's so rare that I actually talk on the phone anymore.  It was such a nice way to begin a 7 hour drive.  Thanks, David!

I drove through the flatlands, or heartland, of America.  Hazy farmhouses and cornfields scattered the landscape for miles and miles and miles.  Shadowy slivers of tree branches stood through the misty cornfields.   Ohio and Indiana blended together, one picked up where the other left off.  Meanwhile, the turnpikes took a large percentage of my cash.  For such an expensive route of travel, most of it was a corridor of orange cones and construction.  Perhaps that money was supporting the dozens of service areas along the way.  I was happy for the Starbucks option, but not sure it was worth it. 

Chicago and Central Time snuck up on me.  A fog was sitting over the city and the lake.  It wasn't until I saw a thick shadow of a tall building that I knew I had arrived.  The city turned back time as I sat in traffic along Lake Shore Drive watching the runners along Lake Michigan, the green areas, and the beaches. 

I was told that the area I was staying in, Uptown, was a product of the roaring 20s, a victim of the Depression, and a low income housing area for a number of years - up until today.  Now there are some coffee shops popping up, which means the white people have rediscovered it.  Gentrification is on!

Chicago seems like a sprawling city that I need to get know better another time.  I woke up to sounds of kids on the playground and stepped outside to take a look at the back porches of the dozens of buildings around me.  It's warmer out this morning than it was in the fog that I arrived in.  Catching up with an old friend (Thanks, Ben!) and enjoying the hospitality of my friend's sister (Thanks, Laura!) made this stop quite delightful. 

On to Minneapolis!