Scruff Magruff, Chicago Illinois, 60652

I'm writing this from a cheap motel in Chicago! Yesterday morning, as planned, I woke up early and packed. I said my goodbyes to my Aunt and Uncle and cousins and packed up my car.

It was a 7 hour drive from Minnesota, through Wisconsin, to Chicago in Illinois. The interstate through Wisconsin had tons of awesome scenery. It was very hilly, like miniature mountains covered in lush green forest. I was racing from a thunderstorm behind me, so it was really humid, with tons of mist rolling in through the valleys.

Once I entered Illinois there were toll roads every 10 minutes and no lie, 20 miles of construction that took a 45 minutes to get through. It cleared up for a while until I came up on Chicago. The highway kept getting wider until before I knew it I was on 14 lanes going deeper into Chicago. I had been nervous about the highway driving and city driving, but I've actually surprised myself; I think I'm pretty good at it! You have to be a bit aggressive, and you're constantly going 130 km per hour, but I feel totally in control.

I got to my hotel easily enough. Dragged my luggage and stuff into the hotel and checked in. They told me my room wouldn't have wireless internet because I was getting a cheap motel room next door to the actual hotel, but I quickly found that I could get the signal, even though it's unreliable and weak. The thunder storm I'd be racing from finally caught up and it was a big one. So that night I just got settled in and uploaded pix to flickr while chatting with people on MSN and Facebook while watching American TV. It was sort of neat to be in America while Obama wins the Democratic nomination. It's been cool hearing Americans opinions right from their mouths.

I was nervous because the next morning I was planning on taking the El-train to downtown Chicago. So, as planned, the next morning I woke up early and left my hotel. I went to the station, bought my ticket and waited for the train. It's essentially an above ground subway. When it came I boarded and took a window seat. There were definitely some shady characters, but I figured as much. The train actually went right through one of Chicago's slums and... Wow. I mean, the houses were all boarded up, mattresses right in the street, stripped cars in the 'lawns', which were just mud, and groups of black people (just saying what I saw) sitting on the front porch drinking 2 litres of beer and smoking pot, at 11:00 AM!

I accidentally got off a few stops early, so I just walked around downtown. It was incredible. The buildings were HUGE, the roads were PACKED and so were sidewalks. So busy and bustling. I always thought a big city (and I was in one of the biggest in North America) would be intimidating or claustrophobic, but I actually loved it. Everything felt important. People were walking out of the Chicago Stock Exchange, and the Chicago Tribune building, etc... Eventually I asked someone for directions and worked my way to Millennium Park.

Millennium Park was designed by the same guy who did Central Park. It was amazing. I got to see The Bean and The Crown Fountain Monoliths. I wondered around the park for a bit with a nice cold drink. It was extremely hot and humid out. It really felt like summer for the first time. I wonder what it was like back in Winnipeg.

Eventually it got so hot out I needed to go indoors. I found the Chicago Institute of Art and bought a ticket. It was really cool. Got to see a lot of great art including some really famous ones.
It was really neat looking at a Van Gough, Picasso or Salvador Dali and realizing that was the ACTUAL painting, the artists themselves had sat in front of that canvas for hours, the same one I was now standing in front of.

I had a Chicago deep dish pizza for lunch in the in-museum restaurant. Very different from the pizzas I'm used to, but it was great. Very filling. After that I continued looking at the different exhibits for a while and eventually headed back outside. I just walked around downtown for the next few hours, working my way down to the waterfront and following a few walking paths. I had my good camera around my neck and was snapping photos like crazy, like a true tourist. But everyone was, so I fit right in. Downtown Chicago is huge! I must have walked like 10 miles today!



By around 5:00 PM I was beat. I'd been walking all day in the sweltering heat. So I hailed a cab, which in itself was awesome. I felt like such a big city kid, lol. On the cab ride home I listened to my Ipod and just reflected on everything. I'd had a freakin' great day! I can honestly say today was one of the best days of my life. I'm really glad I ended up coming on this trip alone. The idea had always been to go myself, but the thought of going alone scared me and I ended up inviting people. But when people backed out I forced myself to go anyway, and I'm so glad I did. It was surreal. I kept having to remind myself who I was and where I was. I never thought I'd be alone in downtown Chicago, miles from ANYONE I know. And all on my own steam. To think not all that long ago I was scared to leave my basement.

This trip is turning out to be exactly what I wanted it to be.

I talked to my cab driver for a bit as we got closer to my hotel. As he dropped me off he told me I was the nicest fare he'd had in months and asked if I lived in the city. When I told him I was from Canada he said "Ooohhhh! That explains it!"

I dropped my stuff off in my room and headed down to the hotel bar and had a drink and chatted with the bartender for a bit. I ended up getting a little drunk. Finally I came back to my room and started the long process of editing and uploading my photos from today. I started at 6:00PM and it's 1:00AM now and I'm still not even close to done. I might not get them all finished tonight...

Tomorrow morning I have to check out by 11:00 AM and then I'm heading back into Canada. Driving is going to feel slow when I'm back in Canada! I'm going to crash in Cambridge at my Dad's girlfriend's daughter's place. Really cool of her for letting me stay there; I've only met her once briefly a year ago. I'm going to bypass Toronto because Mike said he'd show me around after the 12th, on my way back. So after Cambridge for a night, just for somewhere to sleep, I'll head to either Montreal or Ottawa.

This road-trip is turning out to be the single best idea I've ever had. I'm having an amazing time, and getting exactly what I wanted to get out of this!

Well back to uploading photos...