My Kind of Town

Well, I think I've finally recovered from all the big doin's last week to write about all of it. Giant blog entry, here I come...

Last week I returned from my first ever trip to the mid-west, and liked it far more than I ever expected. I was Miz Cool about the whole "let's go meet Mike's family in Chicago" all through the planning stage up 'til the day of departure. Then the Worries rushed me (damn wee beasties). I started thinking, this isn't just a trip- this is a BIG one. The "come visit us and feel like a caged animal in a zoo while we pick you apart for a whole three days" trip. Lord knows I'm not the best with confrontation, and I started having day dreams of his mom and sisters tying me to a chair and interviewing me Spanish Inquisition-style. On top of this I thought, "Dear god, what if i don't like Chicago? What if the city makes me angry and its ugly and horrible and covered in goo? Ack!" Thankfully, Mike did his best to settle my ruffled feathers on the flight.

We landed at O'Hare at 12:30 in the morning on Friday, with his parents and all three of his sisters (Christine even came in by bus from college in Iowa) ready to greet us at the airport. Mike and I were more than a little frazzled from a day at work and the flight, but I could see how much seeing his family perked him up. We stopped at a 24 hour diner to have some punch n' pie and chitty chat before heading to our respective abodes.

Julie, the oldest sister, very nicely let us stay with her for the three nights we hung out in Mike's hometown, Carol Stream. The house we stayed in was actually Mike's grandmother's house before she passed, and where his mom grew up. I quickly learned that keeping things in the family is a way of life for his parents (more to come). The next day, we visited Geneva (one of the locations where they filmed Road to Perdition) for breakfast and shopping. We went to this store called the "Little Traveler" which was by no means "little"-- it was more like a Costco-sized place of weird home decor and clothes squished into a picturesque victorian home. Very strange. At one point, as we were wandering around and getting lost between the "men's golf shirts and rayon hawaiian tees" room (Mike renamed it the 7th level of hell) and the "Gay Paree lampshade" room, this lady stopped us and asked if we were part of a French group. I think it's because we were making fun of some of the hideous glitter and fuzzy chick-butt covered Cosby sweaters on one of the racks. Mike and I immediately started saying, "Mais oui! Bonjour! Pas du tout! Champs Elysee!" much to the woman's chagrin.
After a brief walk around the city we headed back to his parent's house to hang until dinner. The next few hours consisted of "The Grand Tour", including the wonders of Mike's old room, left almost exactly as it was when he left (teenage mutant ninja turtles included- hee hee). This tour ended in the basement where I finally saw what Mike's been warning me about for the past few months. His mother has kept, organized and documented everything that his family has ever made, bought or used. Ever. I don't think people who haven't lived in pack rat families truly understand the level this can be taken to until they really see it. I think I probably took it better than Mike thought, just considering I grew up with a 2 car garage that never fit a car in my lifetime due to the mountainous piles of STUFF (I am happy to say my parents have now moved twice since I've left the nest, and gotten rid of the Mountain. Now it's a rather small hill-- bravo!).

That night we met up with some family friends and went out to a Mexican restaurant which also served as the Friday Night Fish Fry. This was a new concept to me- the fish fry. I guess it's not growing up Catholic, but I've never seen so many restaurants do the fish. Every locale, be it Greek, Mexican, the pizza parlour on the corner-- they all seemed to join in on the frying. Saturday we ended up meeting with one of Mike's old buddies and his wife at Ye Olde Applebees. They were funny and sweet, and I felt like I got on really well with both of them. Afternoon was spent hanging around the house and re-visiting childhood albums (of course they had to come out). The sisters gathered around and told me how awful Mike was as an older brother-- it's their job, of course, to tell me the horror stories. I laughed through it, but I think Mike was rather mortified. We went out for dinner to a Polish smorgasbord restaurant with their lovely and hilarious Aunt Carroll. She regaled us with more familial stories while also picking up men half her age in the bar next door. I think everybody's got an Aunt Carroll in their family-- that wacky no-nonsense relative that just shoots from the hip, but does it all with love.

Sunday was our day to head to the city. We hung out till the afternoon at his parents house, then the family drove us up (sans Christine- she headed back to college). We had dinner with them at Uno's--originator of Chicago deep dish style pizza. It was a wait, but MAN was it yummy. We wandered around the streets for awhile after, trying to walk off our potbellies. They left us back at our hotel, where we crashed for the rest of the night.

The next day was our one official full 24 hours in the city, and I was prepared to see as much as I could. It was an absoltuely GORGEOUS day outside, blue sky and 70 degrees. We walked EVERYWHERE. The Navy Pier, a stained glass museum, Billy Goat's Tavern for lunch where we were harassed just like the infamous SNL sketch-- "cheezborger, cheezborger, cheezborger....no coke, pepsi!", Millennium Park (which holds the BEAN as seen in photo above), Chicago Art Institute (amazing), Sears Tower (106 stories to the skydeck), and then all the way back to our hotel. We were exhausted, my feet were decidedly destroyed for the day, but it was awesome. I think what I appreciated most about the city was it's obvious love for art and architecture. I've never seen so many beautiful buildings and public art. The city's big but definitely walkable, and every few blocks there seemed to be some plaza with an homage to art. It was refreshing and truly inspiring...

By Tuesday it was time to depart. We had a wee bit of time during the day to do some last-minute shopping and walking. Saw the Marina City (two giant apartment buildings which resemble corn cobs), the old Chicago theatre, and revisited the Water Tower. His parents picked us up and we made a dash for Oak Park where Frank Lloyd Wright made his home. We did a self-guided tour of the Unity Temple and then drove to his studio/home and took pictures. Mike swore the trip wasn't fully complete without a trip to White Castle which we proceeded to do on the way to the airport. I'm sure I'll get a lot of crap for this, but honestly, it didn't do anything for me. Those "sliders"? Yeah, I think we all know why they're called that. I'm only going to say I'd highly recommend not eating them before a flight. Gurgle....
The flight back was smooth and we got home about 11:30pm. All in all, a good trip.
Oh, and those Worries? They didn't come back to bother me again.