"Last day in Chicago" written by Joe on estrip.org

Category: travel

12/09/21 01:36 - ID#60868

Last day in Chicago

(e:paul) left before us so (e:terry) and I had one more day before our train left at night.

Turns out in a big city you need to plan your day in advance, because a lot of things we wanted to do needed to be reserved.

We did manage to find a tasty Kurdish breakfast. Tofu scramble, fresh bread and a lot of dips. It was called The Gundi's on North Clark.

A lot of L rides and walking around. We tried to go to the free Lincoln Park botanical garden but they required tickets in advance.

Kept on walking around through the old town and eventually took the train back downtown. I showed Terry the crazy beautiful dome in the Chicago Cultural Center and the 7 story Macy's.

A quick stop in Boystown before we left, a last dish to eat some mediocre deep dish, and we were on the Amtrak back, heavy unicycles included.

Chicago is pretty amazing, I definitely think I could live there.

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Category: travel

12/09/21 01:29 - ID#60867

Field Museum

Saturday we spent the time with (e:terry)'s family going out to the Field Museum. It has to be the largest science and natural history museum I've ever seen, in a huge stone building near the lakefront.

We were there for about 5 hours and saw 5 exhibits:
1. A Monsanto sponsored exhibit on soil ecosystems
2. An 3D movie about a Titanosaur, the mind boggling fossil they had in their atrium
3. A lame exhibit about color in nature - basically they had a bunch of taxidermied animals and some plants grouped by color
4. An exhibit about the evolution of life on Earth
5. An exhibit about Chinese history

The evolution of life exhibit always makes me go nuts. The billions of years it took life to appear and evolve to basic life forms, mass extinctions and evolution again, all summed up in tiny exhibits, always makes humanity feel like such a blip.

Later Paul slept while (e:terry) and I gaybared. We met a ton of people and went from SoFo lounge, to Touche, to Cellblock.

SoFo was like Ohm with a big patio and kind of bear crowd, Touche was a kink/old man leather bar, and Cellblock is also sort of a kink bar (you can get your drink in a dog bowl).

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Category: travel

12/09/21 01:28 - ID#60866

Garfield Park Botanical Garden

Friday we spent the day wandering some more. We took the blue line to WIcker Park with the intention of visiting Humboldt and Garfield Park.

First we ate at a delicious veggie restaurant called Handlebar. The vegan chimmichanga (e:terry) ordered was so good.

Then we walked over to Humboldt Park which to be honest was nothing special.

We kept wandering south down to Garfield Park, where there is a free botanical garden. Later I found out from a Chicago native that if there's a neighborhood tourists shouldn't be wandering this would be it. We had no issue though.

The Garfield Park botanical garden is amazingly tall and free. Like most of the plants have probably three times the height to grow versus Buffalo's.

The garden was designed to be less potted plants and more of a natural setting than other gardens. Supposedly there is no floor, just Chicago's dirt underneath the beds. The fern room had a rushing brook and waterfall, and cactus room was beautiful. I'd visit a lot here if I lived here.

Wandering to Boystown that night we came across a store exclusively for rabbit related things. They even boarded rabbits and had social groups for them. I thought (e:robert) would appreciate it.

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Category: travel

12/09/21 01:26 - ID#60865

View from Hancock building

Thursday (e:terry) arrived so we did a lot of typical tourist stuff,

First off we walked up Michigan Avenue to the Hancock building and rode up to the 94th floor. It's a little outside the loop so you have a really good view of downtown.

Next up we took the red line south of downtown to Chinatown. They have a full vegan restaurant which was so good. Soy beef and broccoli is delicious. I love being able to order anything on the menu.

After that we wandered west through a radiology convention at the convention center, up along the lake through the museum district, and into downtown.

There was a very cute German Christmas market going on. Most of the time these things are just basically craftshows but this one had gluehwein and a bunch of food and trinket vendors from Germany and Austria.

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Category: travel

12/09/21 01:23 - ID#60864

Solo wandering

Wednesday (e:paul) was working so I had time to wander by myself. It's weird because I can't say I've ever really spent any traveling alone before. A big plus in not having to form consensus on where to eat or what to do next lol,

I spent most of the time wandering around the loop/downtown and the waterfront. So many buildings you can just wander in and look around, There's a big free Chicago Cultural Center/museum right off Michigan Avenue. Super posh hotels that you can walk right though.

A 7 story Macy's that's what AM&A's probably always wished it could be. (e:mike) it sounds like the multilevel department store you said you used to fantasize about.

I ate at the French Market inside the Metra train station just west of downtown. They have a bunch of different food stands although a lot seemed to have close (less commuters I guess).

So many things are named after Rosebuds there.

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Category: travel

12/09/21 01:14 - ID#60863

Chicago EUCers

Tuesday night we tried to go on a ride with the Chicago EUC(Electric Unicycle) group.

(e:paul) and I tried to get used to riding in big city traffic before taking the train to the meetup spot. On the way from the L stop to the meetup, there were all these cute dancing Jewish guys on every corner asking if you were Jewish, and wishing people a happy first night of hanakkauh.

These guys were seriously prepared for riding and had every motorized device you could thing of.

I guess we are definitely beginners because we lost the group in two blocks after I hit a red light and they kept going. No way could I keep up with them, they were going 30mph+. I'm too much of a scaredy to go that fast.

Didn't end up too bad because Paul and I rode through Lincoln Park, ending up appropriately at a middle eastern restaurant named Old Jeruselam.

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Category: travel

12/09/21 01:12 - ID#60862

Choo-choo-chicago

(e:paul) had a work shindig in Chicago, so we decided to make a trip of it. Paul and I headed out on Monday night via the Amtrak Lakeshore Line.

He wanted to bring the electric unicycles and I love the train, so there we go.

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Category: travel

01/27/17 02:52 - ID#60760

Rest of NYC

A dumpling place with a C-grade health inspection, 6 hours of marathon crunkness for (e:paul)'s birthday and a nameless Korean friend.

The women's march was happening the Saturday we were down. 9 hours after the protest started, it was still going. (e:hodown) said they had three times the turnout they were expecting. Fuck Trump and his tacky tower.

Down the street from the protest was a Microsoft store with people playing VR in the window.

(e:paul) and (e:hodown) in front of a church. That's evidence to get into heaven if they ever need it.

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Category: travel

10/06/16 02:13 - ID#60669

Trip to the desert

Last Wednesday we left for (e:hodown)'s surprise birthday in Phoenix.

We stayed with her and her mom. The whole weekend evolved to be likely the most complex suprise party in history. it probably deserved another post but (e:hodown) thought we were there for (e:lilho)'s birthday.

The desert is crazy. It was intensely hot and the sun was the most intense I've ever felt. The biggest vegetation you can see are sagarro cacti up and down the hills and highways.

On the upside we got to eat delicious Mexican food from Filibertos.

We stayed in Fountain Hills which was way out east past Phoenix. The first day there we went for a short hike near the lake where the world's second largest fountain. It used to be the biggest but they built a larger one in Dubai. Of course the biggest fountains are in the desert.

Scottsdale and Fountain Hills are suburban sprawl to the max. Every road is 4-8 lanes and it takes an hour by car to get anywhere. Not my type of town.

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Category: travel

10/04/15 11:33 - ID#60256

Air bnb in Pittsburgh

I booked an Airbnb for our trip since hotels were ridiculous. We were able to get a whole apartment nesr downtown for less than a fifth per night than a downtown hotel.

Unfortunately (e:Paul) was allergic to some mold there. So he called the next morning and had the money refunded. It turns out the next night, a cancellation happened at the super fancy omni hotel we booked before (Pittsburgh's former Statler). With Priceline we were able to book it for almost the exact price of the Airbnb. Look at Paul in all his bougie comfort.

Despite the mold I would still book an apartment rental again. In Germany you can book new apartments in the city centers for almost $30 a night. Its insane.