A Saturday in Chicago

Daytrips are one of my most favorite things. My brother and I decided Thursday night that we would go to Chicago for the day on Saturday to meet up with our cousins Simon and Carson, and Carson's family.  Best decision ever! Such a fun day, the kind that blows the dust out of the corners of your mind and brightens your mood for a long time after.

It was unusually warm for a Saturday in December but the weather made up for it by raining on us for most of the day. We passed the time in the best way possible: eating amazing food, walking for hours, laughing and talking and taking silly photos. It was so good to see my relatives. Simon lives in Canada and we only see each other about every 2 years which is ridiculous and I haven't seen Carson since I was maybe four years old. He has such a sweet family and it was lovely to meet them. The best part was Simon hopping in the car and coming back to Indiana with us for the rest of the weekend.  Thank you Greyhound bus for making last minute travel rearrangements possible!

{Typical Midwestern weather}

It doesn't really matter though, Chicago looks gorgeous even on a dreary day.

{View from Millenium Park}

"Chicago, Chicago, I'll show you around.."

This weekend WRH Club and Cary Residence Hall cosponsored a day trip to Chicago to see the Broadway musical Wicked for their residents. Naturally, Catherine and I were the first to sign up, along with Catherine's best friends who live next door to us, Lauren and Shannon. I love love love the city and was beyond excited to go. For the low low price of $30, you get a bus ride to and from the city and a ticket to see the musical.

College is awesome.

We began our day by rising at the foreign hour of 6:30. We packed our bags, buttoned our coats, and were on the bus by 7:30. It's only about a 2.5 hour drive there and we commissioned the Purdue tour bus so it was a pretty comfortable ride. Shannon ended up not being able to go so I sat by myself...for about 5 minutes. Girl in Houndstooth Coat scanned the bus and decided, out of all the empty rows surrounding us, she wanted to sit by me. Let me be the first to say I am all for meeting new people and I am fine sitting next to strangers as long as their thigh is not pressed up to mine. awkward. I kept shifting towards the window and the thigh kept moving. This sad little game of cat and mouse continued until my cheek was smooshed against the cold glass window. Finally, when I could feel my face no more, I decided to end the madness. I grabbed my bag from the floor and plunked it down between us. Since my bag could be mistaken for an ocean barge, it worked. She had to move the offending appendage. Victory was mine.

We got to the Windy City at 9 their time and were off the bus and into the brisk morning air. We didn't have to go to the show until 2 so we were free to roam at will. First stop? Coffee shop. Catherine and Lauren gratefully chugged their Seattle's Best while I stood nearby, hoping to inhale some caffeine in the steam. Of course I could have purchased my own but let it be known that I loathe the taste of coffee.

• Side note: part of my life's philosophy is that if you have to acquire a
  taste for something, why taste it in the first place? And yes, this means I
  place coffee-flavored things under the same umbrella as alcohol, cigarettes, and sushi.
• Side note disclaimer for all you concerned adults: fear not,
  the only one of those things I have actually ever tasted is coffee.
• Side note tangent: Did you know that in the Andes Mountains, the main meat
  source is cuї? That is all well and good until that I found out in English
  that means guinea pig. Talk about acquired taste.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch called Chicago, we went to Millenium Park to take pictures and hang out until stores opened.

Millenium Park is full of fantastic art and sculpture, some of it amazing and moving and some of it incomprehensible.

This is the ampitheather. Fantastic architecture, ridiculous art. It featured "Arctic Soundscape". A soundscape is an environment created by sound. Let me put it layman's terms: it sounds like someone put in a CD that recorded sounds in nature and blasted it out over the huge soundsystem in this ampitheater. This soundscape featured sounds entirely of the moaning wind and what sounded like seals being murdered. At jet engine decibel level. I was not impressed. Art, in my opinion, is a quiet entity. I do not consider soundscapes to be art.

This is is my favorite piece. It is called Cloud Gate. We called it the Magic Bean. Many pictures ensued.

Catherine reflected in the bean. A rather cool image, if I do say so myself. and I do.

At ten, we left the park to experience the pricey side of Chicago: the shopping. We went into Macy's which has nine floors and an FAO Schwartz inside. We went to a few other stores, but not many because Catherine hates shopping and Lauren and I had to nearly exchange purses so we wouldn't buy everything in sight. I made them go into H&M before we had lunch though, because that is my favorite clothing store in the whole world. They were beautifully patient while I tried on squillions of things and ended up only purchasing a scarf. It was more than I would usually pay for a scarf but it's gorgeous and my neck was cold.

We lunched at Jimmy John's, a sandwhich chain found here in West Lafayette but we promised ourselves we would have authentic Chicago cuisine at dinner. Afterwards, we wandered into the Chicago Cultural Center and saw this display of coral reefs that had been entirely crocheted. It was amazing. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside but it was astoudning. The array of yarn was a riot of color. They had a section that had been crocheted entirely using plastic bags, displaying the terrible destruction of the Great Barrier Reef. Did you know that 10% of the world's plastic produced every year ends up in the ocean?

It's the reason why we have to see coral reefs made of yarn in a museum, as opposed to the real thing.

Well I am tired of messing around with the formatting of pictures on this blog so I think I'll end here tonight. I'll post the rest of the pictures and story tomorrow. Or sometime.

Kiss Hug. Bonne nuit.