DAYS THIRTY AND THIRTY ONE

CHICAGO, IL - PHILADELPHIA, PA

843 miles

SUNDAY

After only sleeping a few hours, the three of us woke up and headed out for a funfilled day in Chicago. We first had brunch at Inspiration Kitchen, a restaurant dedicated to helping homeless people of Chicago hold jobs and get back on their feet. 

The brunch was delicious, and a great way to start our day. We drove down into the city center which was quite an interesting experience. Lollapalooza was taking place over the weekend, and where we wanted to see was right next to it, so parking was a joke. 

It was very difficult to find a spot, and the garages were all $30+ dollars. We finally found something with two hours parking, and had to walk about 20 minutes to get to our destination which was Millennium Park. 

I was super excited to see the Pritzker Pavilion and Cloud Gate (the bean). I wrote a term paper on Anish Kapoor - the artist behind Cloud Gate, so was happy to see this monumental piece in person. It's really beautiful the way that it reflects the crowd and surroundings back onto the viewers, and brings the sky back down into the earth.

 We walked over to the Art Institute of Chicago, and went in to check that out, (unfortunately Kenny had to go move the car) and it was a really nice collection! Two notable pieces that they have are American Gothic and La Grande Jatte.

 We met Kenny back outside after some work, because cell phone reception was impossible to get. We walked around a bit more, down to the Chicago river and checked out some the beautiful architecture that Chicago has to offer, and then drove over to look at Lake Michigan. 

The water here is a super beautiful blue-green color, and it's awesome how the beach is just right at the edge of the downtown area. We then went to Pequod pizza, where Kenny and I were introduced to Chicago-style deep dish pizza. 

I really enjoyed it, and love the thick dough and crust. I hope I can find some good deep dish pizza at home. We then went back to Dave's where I fell asleep in approximately 20 minutes. 

MONDAY

Our first stop this morning was Weiner Circle. It's a hot dog restaurant in Lincoln Park, Chicago where apparently all of the workers are mean and make fun of you. We got by without any ridicule, and had some good Chicago style hotdogs.

 They're super charred, and are supposed to come with a bunch of toppings, but I just got ketchup on mine. We then drove out to Highland Park, which is about 45 minutes north of Chicago along Lake Michigan. Kenny's good friend from college lives up there, and we had a really great time visiting. On our way to his house, we stopped by the house that Cameron lives in in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. 

It was vacant, and apparently has been for sale for $1.65mil since 2011. We drove up the drive way and walked around to check out the famous glass garage. The place was super cool to see in person, and I'd totally buy it if I had a spare couple of million lying around. We also found out that Billy Corgan also lives in Highland Park, and we hoped to see his house, but instead found out that he also owns a Chinese Tea House- style cafe called Zuzu's, on Kenny's friend, Jamie's block!

 We got some drinks there, and then were able to go meet up. We hung out around his house and walked down to the beach, which is really rocky, but super beautiful! I'd love to be able to come to this beach all the time.

 We got dinner in town and had delicious steak sandwiches which are made on garlic bread. We hung out a bit more, then had to say goodbye to begin our trek back home to Philadelphia. We dropped Dave back off at his place, and left around 8:30pm. 

Kenny drove the first few hours out of Illinois, and through Indiana. I took over for most of Ohio, and then Kenny drove across Pennsylvania. This was a verrry long ride, and I luckily was able to sleep for some of it, but Kenny powered through like a champ with a cup of coffee. We arrived back in the King of Prussia area around 7:30am, so we got to sit in Tuesday morning rush hour traffic back into the city, but made it home around 8:15am. 

After 31 days, we made it back. There was no better feeling than picking up our cat for the first time in almost 5 weeks, and then sleeping for hours!