Waking up in our parking garage/makeshift hotel, was nice. I think we’re finally getting used to sleeping in the van. The bed is really comfortable. But its only a full sized bed and its exactly 6′ 1″ long with 30″ to the ceiling, so it takes a little getting used to. We went down stairs to the corner bakery, to use the bathroom and get our WiFi on. We’ve had no problem finding WiFi or showers or places to sleep yet. I’m getting a feeling that we won’t have much of a problem. I mean, McDonald’s has free WiFi, and they’re everywhere. Campsites and Truck stops have showers, and Walmarts let you sleep in their parking lots. This country was built to be traveled. To start off today we walk back down to Millennium park cuz we somehow missed out on the Crown Fountain. Its a really cool fountain with these giants faces spitting water and a wading pool. It was filled with kids but that didn’t stop us from jumping in too.
From there we walked up the “Magnificent Mile” (Michigan st) to another tourist trap the John Hancock building. Its not the tallest building in the city, its not even the 2nd. It’s the 4th tallest in the city 6th over all in the states. But it has a 94th floor observatory that’s recommended over the Sears Tower (tallest in the states). Go figure. It was pretty cheap and unlike the empire state building wasn’t crowded at all. We didn’t wait on any lines, we just went right up. they give out complementary audio tours on iPod touches, very classy. Narrated by Ross from “friends” its very informative and really adds to the experience. He’s full of interesting facts. From there it was off to get some food. We took cab a little ways north to the “Wiener Circle”. A hot dog spot that’s known for its rude staff. They talk shit to you as you order, saying stuff like “what the fuck do you want.” Check out the video on Youtube from an episode of this american life. Since we went on a Wednesday in the middle of the day they didn’t talk shit. They were just short with us. We both got Chicago style hot dogs. Which consists of a charred hotdog with relish, tomatoes, mustard, hot peppers, onions, pickles, and celery salt all on a poppy seed bun. It was an interesting eat. We got fries as well. They were perfect, dirty (lots of skin) and wrinkly. For dessert it was a short walk to Molly’s cupcakes where we had delicious gourmet cupcakes. We split a Sherbet and Ron Bennington. Both amazing. Next was Navy Pier and the worlds first roller coaster, invented in Chicago (Thanks Ross Geller). Well it wasn’t the original Ferris wheel but a replica. Jillian, as per usual, was really scared. It was a very tall Ferris wheel but it moved extremely slow and unlike the wonder wheel in coney island, had no movement. She demanded that I not breath or move an inch for fear of the whole Ferris wheel would exploded into a million pieces. As I sat in the prison cell ride she finally caved in when the wheel hit its peak and started to descend. Suddenly she was perfectly fine, and we were free to actually enjoy the ride.(Just breaking her balls) After we got off the ride she said she wanted to break her fear and go on every coaster she could….. I love her. we walked around the pier for a bit but the heat was starting to get to us. We pushed thru it and walked all the way down back to the Crown Fountain and this time we went all in getting soaked and cooled off. We sat in the sun and dried off and watched all the kids playing in the pool for a good long while. Then back to the van for an other break. Food-wise Chicago is known for their overly garnished hotdogs and there deep dish pizzas. After tackling the dogs we decided to get at the deep dish. So dinner was Giordano’s. It was Gior-delicious. We got a small deep dish and couldn’t finish it all. We wanted to give the left overs to a bum but had a hard time telling if some of these bench sleepers were actual bums or just normal people. I didnt want to be like “wants some food bum” and have the person be like “f you , i’m just waiting for a bus.” we passed up at least 8 suspects, and finally left it next to a sleeper. Then it was off to the Buckingham fountain to watch its water display and light show at night. (we didn’t get to see this the other day) In honor of our last day in Chicago, the city got together and through us a fireworks show off the navy pier. How thoughtful and beautiful. Back to the garage to end another exciting day. We got a long day ahead of us tomorrow and no showers in the horizon. L-I-V-I-N!!!!!
Miss you sis!
-Ricky
Next stop: Milwaukee