One of the professional associations of which Andrea is a member held a conference in Chicago. She asked me to come along to make it a road trip for the two of us, but I suspect she also wanted to split up the 11-hour drive with someone.
Chicago? I had to consider this carefully. Growing up deep in the southern heartland, it was infused into my bones that there are absolutely no metropolitan areas worth visiting anywhere north of Atlanta.
Maybe I wasn't being fair. One of my previous jobs included frequent trips to the west coast. When making flight plans I learned to always avoid Chicago because more often than not I hit weather delays when passing through the Windy City. Adding to my bias were numerous tales of municipal graft and an entire genre of movies like The Untouchables.
Regardless, I joined Andrea and we arrived a day early so she and I could take in some of the sights before her conference itinerary pinned her down. We asked our shuttle driver for the best way to get into the heart of the city. "You two are my only passengers on this run so I'll take you straight to the train station."
He then proceeded to give us a data dump. "I'm taking you to Rosemont station. Catch the eastbound train and get off at Jackson. When the train is above ground you'll pass through a lot of neighborhoods. Take a look around you. That's the real Chicago."
Dude was about to school me on the local scene.
"You're gonna be on the train for a while, so make sure you look around you. Check out the neighborhoods and buildings on the way in. Now that's Chicago. You see, there's downtown Chicago and then there's the real Chicago. You'll only find tourists and business types downtown. We locals don't go there unless we have to. It's old, dirty, and the tall buildings funnel a lot of wind coming off the lake turning the whole city into a wind tunnel." He then looked at what we were wearing. I thought I was ready in a moderately heavy raincoat. "Hmph. You guys are probably gonna feel it when you get there."
When we surfaced from the metro, we indeed ran headlong into a stiff breeze. Coupled with the drizzling rain, the temperature was much chillier than back at the hotel. Also, like any inner city, there were a lot of dingy areas. Dude was looking pretty damn clairvoyant at this stage.
But as Andrea and I strolled in the rain for a good half hour, we also found a lot that caught our interest. Much to our amazement and gastronomic enjoyment, the iconic, vaunted Chicago pan pizza lived up to the hype. Both the Art Institute of Chicago and the Field Museum are world-class curators of their respective fields. As we continued our stroll, I was stunningly reminded that Chicago is a terminus for the mother of all roadways - Route 66.
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When Andrea or I order something new at a restaurant, we ask each other afterward, "Would you order it again?" In this case, Andrea and I concluded we would "order it again". Even though "Jesus may have just left", we both found sufficient points of interest to make a return trip to Chicago.
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