July 2013. One of my best friends graduated with her Master's degree from an online school based out of Chicago. The graduation happened to coincide with her birthday; she, our other friend, and I had never been to the city and we figured there is no better reason than a double celebration! And away we went...
We did all of the 'traditional' things a first timer should do in Chi Town. We ate Giordano's pizza, we drank great beers, we cartwheeled and danced our way through the night. The next day, a bit slower, we visited the river, the Bean, Navy Pier, Wrigley Field, John Hancock Observatory, and Schubas. We ate delicious Thai food, befriended bartenders, laughed our asses off, speed walked to help a friend out, and watched the guest of honor try not to throw up on the subway. It was an incredibly good time.
Fast forward three years exactly and I have the opportunity to be there again! Not with my same two besties, but with two new friends I met a few weeks ago in the Nashville area. Daniel and Jesus and I kept in touch and they were encouraging me to definitely make the trip to the city. I have another friend there, but her work schedule and the lack of dog friendly parks made it difficult to meet up last minute. Poor planning on my part. After my much needed tranquility days in Gibson City, Neville and I made the 2 hour drive to Chicago. Boy does the traffic suck, but it is interesting that the train runs right between the highway lanes.
We drove around the city and saw some familiar sites. We were geared up to go to Millennium Park until I realized it was not a dog friendly park. Damn. Oh well. I wanted to see street art so we drove out of downtown and came across a few blocks of it. I parked, leashed Nev up and we walked around for a few miles. We walked under and over train tracks and through residential neighborhoods. The art was great, again, people who have artistic talent blow my mind because I have none. We also came across a shady park where pup could run around a bit. There were sticks everywhere so he was happy, of course.
A few hours later we headed back to the car to meet up with the men. Jesus was waiting for Nev and I at a park near the spot we were headed for dinner, Big Star Tacos. We walked through the park until Daniel met up with us. The line for Big Star was impressively long and I was glad they called ahead to put our name on the list since this fat kid was hungry. We wandered around a few blocks in the area, with my unofficial tour guides pointing out cute stores and themed bars. We headed back to the dog friendly restaurant and the tacos were delicious- worth the wait! It was great to see these new friends of mine and catch up with them. This had been a long day and I still had a two hour drive back so we all hugged goodbye and we were on our way again. I got back to Gibson City in just enough time to catch another gorgeous sunset. The moon was huge and low, but it escaped from me by the time I got out my camera and attempted to chase it down. Another one for my memories, I guess. Illinois has been perfect, but tomorrow we are on the road again!
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| Thanks for dinner, guys! |
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