Chicago

Everyone in Chicago is so friendly; it’s just such a friendly city. This is what Amber keeps telling me all morning over coffee. I think she misspoke slightly. Certain folks in Chicago are super friendly ... though I’m not sure they are all there. Some of them definitely are. The first lady we encountered however may just have had a few loose screws up top. Audrey offered to show us around seeing as Amber had an interview that afternoon, which she nailed by the way....WAY TO GO AMBER!! Anyhow, as we are walking to the metro, we encounter a woman out on what seemed to be her daily walk around the neighborhood. She was clad in a pink walking outfit and matching sneaks...oh and the socks, I can’t forget the socks. They were just plain white socks, like the non-athletic kind, but she had them pulled all the way up as if they were the old-school 70’s tube socks. Out of nowhere, she begins talking about random stuff. She was all over the place, to most of which we were all 3 just nodding and smiling. But in the end, what I got out of it was that God was bringing a big storm (aka the rapture) because people are doing evil things like shooting planes out of the sky and stuff. Oh and the neighborhood had changed a lot and she used to live in San Antonio where they had roaches the size of her hand. Friendly? Eh...maybe....but I’m voting a lil more on the crazy.

We spent the day roaming around doing the typical tourist thing. We walked all around stopping at the typical attractions, like the bean. The bean I don’t quite get. Is is cool? Sure...I guess? I just don’t quite understand why it is such a big attraction. It’s just a large metal structure in the shape of a bean ... or a kidney. I think I may start calling it the kidney....I think that’s a tad more fitting. Like “Hey have you ever seen that giant metal kidney in Chicago?” I would probably be more intrigued by that line than just a bean. 

Lake Michigan, however, is beautiful ... and huge. It’s like a freakin’ ocean. But I can understand now as to how people could really live in such a city as Chicago. It’s nice and all but pretty standard in my opinion in regards to large cities ... but that lake makes it superior to many....I’m just sayin’.

One thing that I am quite jealous of Chicagoans is their access to different beers. Deschutes (which is out of Oregon in case you’re not cool enough to know where that is) is available in Chicago. Oh what I would do to have access to Deschutes beer on a daily basis. It is most definitely one of my favorite breweries in the country. And now Audrey and Amber can enjoy it whenever they please ... um can you say jelly?? On the other hand, Chicago proved that day to be just as hot as North Carolina, and their winters are way more harsh ... so perhaps that’s the trade off.

The following morning, we awoke, had our coffee, gathered our things, and bid them fair-well. We had a long trail ahead of us. Jesse’s friend, Brad, had a spot for us in Rapid City, South Dakota ... so we had a ways to travel ... but just like 950 miles....that’s only like 14 hours right?? No problem ... or so we thought.