Day 3: 4/9/2012

Akron, OH to Chicago, IL

421 Miles

We woke up and hit the road pretty early on monday, leaving behind nothing but my shampoo and conditioner... Sigh :p Because we were still using the "avoid tolls" setting, it was a while before we found something for breakfast, but we finally stopped for and early lunch at A&W', which is so much better when the root beer is served in an ice mug :-) Yum! A while later we stopped at a welcome center just before entering Illinois, thinking we'd just get a Chicago visitor guide... And woah. Indiana knows how to make a crazy (slightly scary) over achievement of a visitor center... This place was... Crazy is truly the best word to describe it. It was like walking into a carnival but everything was just life sized displays. Much like a horror movie with wax figurines who you're sure are about to come alive and get you. Seriously. Woah. I took a brochure for their Annual Perogi Festival as a remembrance... Really thought that guy was going to come alive, go mad, and throw perogi's at us after he lit them on fire. And then we ran...

 On the way around Chicago, we hit a tiny bit of slow traffic, but mostly kept moving smoothly. We saw several signs for "Accident Investigation Areas" around there, which were interesting. It seemed to be pretty good sized pull outs to one side or the other of the highway, presumably somewhere the police would direct accident vehicles so as not to block traffic. We arrived at Pim and Bruce's house around 3pm and had a late lunch of pizza, yum! Afterwards, Pim walked down with us to the Glen North Metra station to take the train into the city. We were able to purchase tickets on the train, and then got tickets for a later ride back once we arrived at Union Station. We got to ride on the upper level of the commuter train, kind of a fun treat :-) 

We started walking from Union Station toward Lake Michigan (little did I know!) and on the way passed the former Sears Building (to which I was oblivious until later), and along what turned out to Historic Route 66! The second sign said "End Historic Route 66." Pretty amazing to realize we walked the end of such an important route! After treating ourselves to some Starbucks (numbers still in action!), we continued down to Lake View Drive and then down to walk along Lake Michigan toward Ina's apartment. To the east, buildings were faintly visible across the water, some other town on the lake. Very cool :-)

We arrived at Ina's apartment building near Navy Pier after crossing the Chicago River on the bottom level of a two level road and pedestrian bridge, and I was very amused to see the notice in the lobby that "Guests must sign in and be announced." Be announced... So great. The doorman was so good as to announce us and we were buzzed in to the elevators, then ion up to floor 17! Quite an amazing apartment, and incredible views! The view was out over Navy Pier where the ferris wheel is and Lake Michigan. Ina said there are often fireworks, and that she hopes to never get tired of them... That would indeed be very tragic.

Ina made us some fantastic split pea soup with bread for dinner and it was perfect :-) We also talked about various things to do around Chicago and looked for deals online. We found a Google Offer for an architecture cruise half off and purchased it with Bruce and Pim for wednesday, which is exciting! In true Ina fashion, the dinner started with great cheese and crackers and was finished off with assorted desserts, from lemon bars to cookies, with milk and coffee. We've missed your cooking and hosting Ina!

We caught the bus back to Union station, which was scheduled to arrive at 9:37 for a 9:45 train... Of course the bus was late and the next train was an hour later. But did we miss it? Oh no, we ran to catch it! And catch it we did :-) Kind of fun, hehe. We walked back to the house and got to see Bruce for the first time! So much fun to spend time with the uncle who reminds me most of Dad! When I was little, I walked up behind Bruce thinking it was Dad and ran away when I realized it wasn't, hehe. 

Pim had done quite a bit of research for the things we talked about doing, so we sat for a while and planned out our two days in Chicago. We decided on the Field Museum and Navy Pier for Tuesday with Pim, possibly with Bruce for dinner; and then the architecture cruise, Memorial Park (The Bean), and the Chicago Art Institute on Wednesday when Bruce could spend the whole day with us. It has truly been amazing to spend time with so much of the East Coast (ish) Irvings these past two winters, and our time in Chicago is another major highlight! And finally... Sleeeeeepy time. Night!