Just got back from 5 days in Chicago. Not exactly my idea of a Spring Break trip but my daughter is living up there so I was obliged make the flight north.
Windy City? Check
It was my first time there and we actually stayed in Evanston, home of Northwestern University, Auburn's purple clad opponents in 09' Bowl season. First off, Chicago is a pro sports town. Nothing worn but gear for the Bulls, Cubbies, Sox, Blackhawks and Da' Bears. As a matter of fact, I might have seen 3 people total wearing Northwestern stuff in Evanston. I had on my AU gear and half expected the derogatory comment from people in a couple of the sports bars around Evanston. Nope. They don't know...don't care. Not their thing.
I know 5 days isn't enough to get a true guage of a city that size but honestly, I wasn't overwhelmed by any means. It's still cold, windy, dreary and nothing will bloom up there for another month. In case I didn't mention it, I hate cold weather. Had to make the trips to at least the two most famous sports venues in Wrigley and Soldier Fields. Cubs weren't in town but I had to at least see the stadium and look in as much as possible. Pretty cool stuff and seeing bleachers erected on the roofs of buildings was awesome. Soldier Field has the huge columns outside and the sides of the stadium look like the old monument we've all grown up seeing on the tube. The rest of the stadium looks like some alien space ship landed on top of it. I'm sure the inside is nice but that's one goofy looking fucked up stadium from the outside.
Did the whole downtown thing with the Miracle Mile and shops, bars, etc. Spent a day at Navy Pier, which was really the best thing I found about Chi-cargo. Lots of restaurants, shops, bands, amusement park and stuff. Right on Lake Meat-Chicken, which was far more impressive than I imagined. Lakeshore Drive runs the length of the city and everything on the lake side of the road is dedicated to running, biking, sports of all kinds. Pretty well done.
One observation. The women in Chicago are fat, pale and bland looking. Thank God for Southern women.
Speaking of the south....I knew we had arrived home when making the drive south from the airport in the Ham. My wife is on the phone with her mom. They're talking about someone in her church who died and the wife says, "So, you're going to the funeral then on to the fish fry?" I will plunk down good money on a bet that these words have never been uttered north of Kentucky. Got in late Wednesday night and hit the rack. Woke up next morning and when I got in the car, the first thing I heard on the radio was "Of course the big story in the State is that Chaz Ramsey will be meeting with NCAA officials next week...."
Wasn't that fond of Chicago but I did think back to how nice it was to be away from all this for a few days.
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