![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amezriSo here we go... my Chicago trip log. Full of ramble as usual since this is directly copied from my log book, which is definitely not as complete as some I've done. I've filled in stuff where I could remember things I wanted to mention...
If you just want to look at the photos, they're here. There are a ton from the Field Museum and the Art Institute.
------
Thursday, January 4, 2007
Got up at 4:00am and of course fiddled with downloads before I finally went to get showered and dressed. Checked in at 5:00am (hooray rapid check-in!). Going through security, my sterling bracelets apparently set off the scanner. WTF. I worked there for over a year going through the thing like 6 or 7 times a day and that never happened. Meh. Whatever. I did have a nice chat with one of the TSA guys I recognized though.
[scratches on page] And now I have this pen that doesn't write so I'm basically etching words in paper. Argh. I also couldn't find the gum I thought I packed this morning, so I had to go and buy some from Paradies. Seems all my trips start with some sort of minor mishaps... but Chicago, yay!
My plane arrived at Chicago a little early, so I had time to poke around the Spirit of the Red Horse stand. I bought two sterling silver rings to stack on rings I already wear because they're a tad too big and keep sliding off. The new ones are just silver bands with a bit of engraving. Hopefully it'll keep me from flinging off these other rings I like.
Went and found![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jen_ella's gate. Had to use my deductive reasoning since I only vaugely remembered what airline she was flying and about what time it was to get in. Good job though, since I met her as she was coming through the gate. We headed to baggage claim, where I called shoemaster to ask her something about the L and ended up waking her up. Ooops. We made it to the correct stop without incident though, and met up with shoemaster about a block from her town house. I found the L pretty easy to navigate -- far easier than the subway system in NYC, because OMG do I get lost there.
Signing in to a DePaul dorm is a seriously complicated matter involving picture ID, a guest pass, and being entered into a database. I suppose you get used to it though. *shrug* We dropped our stuff off in her room (jen_ella snagged the spare room. Heh.) before heading to the Student Center. shoemaster bought me a muffin and juice. Breakfast FTW!
After foods, we got on the L andshoemaster got off on Jackson to get to class while jen_ella and I get off at Roosevelt and headed for the Field Museum. okay,I need to complain about the walk to the Field Museum beacuse, seriously, wtf? You have the cross the street three different places and then take this ridiculous winding path through a park are before you get even close. Blah. Anyway. We walked around and saw (I think) nearly all the exhibits. Very cool stuff; I got a lot of photos. Picked up some nifty things at the museum shop.
It had started to rain by the time we left the museum. Blah! We caught a cab back to meet up withshoemaster at Jackson and State. jen_ella and I stopped at a couple shops on the way. We ended up back at shoemaster's for a while before heading to the Bourgoise Pig where we were supposed to meet up with taraljc. There was a scheduling mishap and that didn't end up happening, but we did have a nice dinner. We'll be meeting up with her on Saturday instead.
OMG RAIN. My trip to Ireland several years ago totally damaged me and I'm now super-sensitive to cold rain. Ugh. Hate it. On the way back to the town house, we stopped at Dominick's for snack foods... which tojen_ella means bread, olive oil, olives, artichokes, and mozzarella. I was certainly intrigued.
Back at the town house, we watched The Cutting Edge, which neitherjen_ella nor shoemaster had scene before. OMGWTF, dudes. Best movie ever! XD It was my favorite sappy romance before I could admit to liking sappy romances because a) D.B. Sweeny and b) snark! Yes, my love of snark started early.
Tomorrow, it hopefully won't be raining because we're planning on a fair bit of walking.
------
Friday, January 5, 2007
Got up at a reasonable time and showered. Headed out withjen_ella, who'd already been up for hours. We went to the Bourgoise Pig for breakfast before heading for the Art Institute. We did a lot of wandering around and I'm pretty sure we saw all the sections by the end of it. I definitely hit my art tolerance for the day, though. Took lots of photos, especially of the statuary that might be handy for me later.
Oh! But while wandering through, I spotted a guy wearing the Lil' Soap Threadless shirt over a pink button up. It made me happy.
On the way to meetshoemaster, we wandered into some shops on the Magnificent Mile. We waited for a little bit at the Water Tower and when shoemaster showed up, we got our pictures taken by... well, by a lighted tree near the Water Tower and not by the actual Water Tower. Heh. We got an assist from two other girls who were tourists and also looking for someone to take their picture.
We went to Chinatown and wandered in and out of some shops. I bought some tiny things and snack foods.jen_ella was looking for bowls to replace some broken ones she'd bought a while back in San Fran; of course shoemaster and I didn't think she'd ever find it -- boy were we wrong! She found matching tea cups and two sizes of plates! We also stopped in at a Chinese bakery for a snack. I got a curry beef bun, jen_ella tried the lotus mooncake and shoemaster had the.. I think it was called honey noodle? It looks like a big rice crispy. I also got a pice of mango cake to share. Very yummy and altogether it was less than $5.
Went back toshoemaster's to drop off stuff and collect her roommate, Martha, before heading to Giordano's for dinner. Great pizza! But I could only eat one piece! After dinner, we went back to the townhouse to drop off leftovers before getting back on the L and heading for Navy Pier. We went to th Build a Bear so shoemaster could make a Ray bear. Yay! Then we walked around the pier before looking for Dick's Last Resort. Uhm. If you like loud, obnoxious patrons and wait staff that abuses you, visit it. The band was good but yeah. Meh.
Got back to the town house and though we were getting up early the next morning,shoemaster and I did end up geeking a little bit on the computer. I showed her a Blackpool clip and she showed me some DueSouth stuff.
I love, love, love, that photo of the clock because somewhere in my demented brain it makes me think of "The Girl in the Fireplace."
------
Saturday, January 6, 2007
Last day in Chicago! Woe.
Woke up at about 7:30am this morning. Got ready to meet withtaraljc. I packed up my bags while shoemaster registered for Muskrat Jamboree (I do not understand DueSouthiness!).
Met withtaraljc and wyoluvr at Pick Me Up for breakfast. Food portions are HUGE! We all geeked out over... everything. Seriously, everything. There were stories about fandom and fandom crazies and all sort of other fun things. It was an awesome time! :D taraljc and shoemaster geeked over Due South, which of course I do not understand, and so was lost for all of that, except for anything I've absorbed from the flist. Also, it's possible that all our geekery shocked jen_ella XD
We roped our waiter into taking our picture :D Hehehe. I also am mathematically challenged and I needed an assist on calculating the money for the bill XD Hey, I'm an art student -- we don't do numbers.
After foods, we headed fortaraljc's for a little while. She showed me sisbet's Doctor Who on Holiday vid, which was neat. The mashup song was even better. I want that -- one of your needs to sent me that! [um, no you don't -- I've already gotten it.]
Lefttaraljc's far too soon and headed back to shoemaster's to get our luggage. Last sign in to the townhouse! Got our stuff and said goodbye. *sniffle* Caught the L to the airport and was a bit shocked at the mass of people waiting to check in at Southwest... then remembered that I could do rapid check-in. Hah! The pre-checkpoint guy (checking IDs and tickets) commented on my Threadless shirt (MP(3)), first asking if they were soldiers, then going, "oh, hey cool! I like that" when I said they were musicians. Heh.
jen_ella wanted something to eat before her flight, so we stopped a restaurant where she had real food and I had chocolate chip ice cream, which I wasn't sure I was going to get at first because first the kitchen said they didn't have any, then they did... but then they didn't... and then they found it under the vanilla. Heh.
Sawjen_ella off to her gate before heading to mine. Called my mom on the way to let her know the flight would be on time and then called shoemaster again to say goodbye.
My plane arrived in Albany early! Damn, Had I known about the fine weather months ago, I'd have planned on staying an extra day. Ah well. I hear it was 70 degrees at home while I was gone.
After getting some stuff sorted, I headed tothebigfatman's where there was a bit of a party going on. Didn't stay too long as it was late and I'm sure she was tired, but I stayed long enough to give her the wee gifty I picked up from the Field Museum (little woven bag with a little knitted llama [on FIRE!] from Guatemala).
If you just want to look at the photos, they're here. There are a ton from the Field Museum and the Art Institute.
------
Thursday, January 4, 2007
Got up at 4:00am and of course fiddled with downloads before I finally went to get showered and dressed. Checked in at 5:00am (hooray rapid check-in!). Going through security, my sterling bracelets apparently set off the scanner. WTF. I worked there for over a year going through the thing like 6 or 7 times a day and that never happened. Meh. Whatever. I did have a nice chat with one of the TSA guys I recognized though.
[scratches on page] And now I have this pen that doesn't write so I'm basically etching words in paper. Argh. I also couldn't find the gum I thought I packed this morning, so I had to go and buy some from Paradies. Seems all my trips start with some sort of minor mishaps... but Chicago, yay!
My plane arrived at Chicago a little early, so I had time to poke around the Spirit of the Red Horse stand. I bought two sterling silver rings to stack on rings I already wear because they're a tad too big and keep sliding off. The new ones are just silver bands with a bit of engraving. Hopefully it'll keep me from flinging off these other rings I like.
Went and found
jen_ella's gate. Had to use my deductive reasoning since I only vaugely remembered what airline she was flying and about what time it was to get in. Good job though, since I met her as she was coming through the gate. We headed to baggage claim, where I called shoemaster to ask her something about the L and ended up waking her up. Ooops. We made it to the correct stop without incident though, and met up with shoemaster about a block from her town house. I found the L pretty easy to navigate -- far easier than the subway system in NYC, because OMG do I get lost there.Signing in to a DePaul dorm is a seriously complicated matter involving picture ID, a guest pass, and being entered into a database. I suppose you get used to it though. *shrug* We dropped our stuff off in her room (
jen_ella snagged the spare room. Heh.) before heading to the Student Center. shoemaster bought me a muffin and juice. Breakfast FTW!After foods, we got on the L and
shoemaster got off on Jackson to get to class while jen_ella and I get off at Roosevelt and headed for the Field Museum. okay,I need to complain about the walk to the Field Museum beacuse, seriously, wtf? You have the cross the street three different places and then take this ridiculous winding path through a park are before you get even close. Blah. Anyway. We walked around and saw (I think) nearly all the exhibits. Very cool stuff; I got a lot of photos. Picked up some nifty things at the museum shop.It had started to rain by the time we left the museum. Blah! We caught a cab back to meet up with
shoemaster at Jackson and State. jen_ella and I stopped at a couple shops on the way. We ended up back at shoemaster's for a while before heading to the Bourgoise Pig where we were supposed to meet up with taraljc. There was a scheduling mishap and that didn't end up happening, but we did have a nice dinner. We'll be meeting up with her on Saturday instead.OMG RAIN. My trip to Ireland several years ago totally damaged me and I'm now super-sensitive to cold rain. Ugh. Hate it. On the way back to the town house, we stopped at Dominick's for snack foods... which to
jen_ella means bread, olive oil, olives, artichokes, and mozzarella. I was certainly intrigued.Back at the town house, we watched The Cutting Edge, which neither
jen_ella nor shoemaster had scene before. OMGWTF, dudes. Best movie ever! XD It was my favorite sappy romance before I could admit to liking sappy romances because a) D.B. Sweeny and b) snark! Yes, my love of snark started early.Tomorrow, it hopefully won't be raining because we're planning on a fair bit of walking.
------
Friday, January 5, 2007
Got up at a reasonable time and showered. Headed out with
jen_ella, who'd already been up for hours. We went to the Bourgoise Pig for breakfast before heading for the Art Institute. We did a lot of wandering around and I'm pretty sure we saw all the sections by the end of it. I definitely hit my art tolerance for the day, though. Took lots of photos, especially of the statuary that might be handy for me later. Oh! But while wandering through, I spotted a guy wearing the Lil' Soap Threadless shirt over a pink button up. It made me happy.
On the way to meet
shoemaster, we wandered into some shops on the Magnificent Mile. We waited for a little bit at the Water Tower and when shoemaster showed up, we got our pictures taken by... well, by a lighted tree near the Water Tower and not by the actual Water Tower. Heh. We got an assist from two other girls who were tourists and also looking for someone to take their picture.We went to Chinatown and wandered in and out of some shops. I bought some tiny things and snack foods.
jen_ella was looking for bowls to replace some broken ones she'd bought a while back in San Fran; of course shoemaster and I didn't think she'd ever find it -- boy were we wrong! She found matching tea cups and two sizes of plates! We also stopped in at a Chinese bakery for a snack. I got a curry beef bun, jen_ella tried the lotus mooncake and shoemaster had the.. I think it was called honey noodle? It looks like a big rice crispy. I also got a pice of mango cake to share. Very yummy and altogether it was less than $5.Went back to
shoemaster's to drop off stuff and collect her roommate, Martha, before heading to Giordano's for dinner. Great pizza! But I could only eat one piece! After dinner, we went back to the townhouse to drop off leftovers before getting back on the L and heading for Navy Pier. We went to th Build a Bear so shoemaster could make a Ray bear. Yay! Then we walked around the pier before looking for Dick's Last Resort. Uhm. If you like loud, obnoxious patrons and wait staff that abuses you, visit it. The band was good but yeah. Meh.Got back to the town house and though we were getting up early the next morning,
shoemaster and I did end up geeking a little bit on the computer. I showed her a Blackpool clip and she showed me some DueSouth stuff. I love, love, love, that photo of the clock because somewhere in my demented brain it makes me think of "The Girl in the Fireplace."
------
Saturday, January 6, 2007
Last day in Chicago! Woe.
Woke up at about 7:30am this morning. Got ready to meet with
taraljc. I packed up my bags while shoemaster registered for Muskrat Jamboree (I do not understand DueSouthiness!).Met with
taraljc and wyoluvr at Pick Me Up for breakfast. Food portions are HUGE! We all geeked out over... everything. Seriously, everything. There were stories about fandom and fandom crazies and all sort of other fun things. It was an awesome time! :D taraljc and shoemaster geeked over Due South, which of course I do not understand, and so was lost for all of that, except for anything I've absorbed from the flist. Also, it's possible that all our geekery shocked jen_ella XDWe roped our waiter into taking our picture :D Hehehe. I also am mathematically challenged and I needed an assist on calculating the money for the bill XD Hey, I'm an art student -- we don't do numbers.
After foods, we headed for
taraljc's for a little while. She showed me sisbet's Doctor Who on Holiday vid, which was neat. The mashup song was even better. I want that -- one of your needs to sent me that! [um, no you don't -- I've already gotten it.]Left
taraljc's far too soon and headed back to shoemaster's to get our luggage. Last sign in to the townhouse! Got our stuff and said goodbye. *sniffle* Caught the L to the airport and was a bit shocked at the mass of people waiting to check in at Southwest... then remembered that I could do rapid check-in. Hah! The pre-checkpoint guy (checking IDs and tickets) commented on my Threadless shirt (MP(3)), first asking if they were soldiers, then going, "oh, hey cool! I like that" when I said they were musicians. Heh.jen_ella wanted something to eat before her flight, so we stopped a restaurant where she had real food and I had chocolate chip ice cream, which I wasn't sure I was going to get at first because first the kitchen said they didn't have any, then they did... but then they didn't... and then they found it under the vanilla. Heh.Saw
jen_ella off to her gate before heading to mine. Called my mom on the way to let her know the flight would be on time and then called shoemaster again to say goodbye. My plane arrived in Albany early! Damn, Had I known about the fine weather months ago, I'd have planned on staying an extra day. Ah well. I hear it was 70 degrees at home while I was gone.
After getting some stuff sorted, I headed to
thebigfatman's where there was a bit of a party going on. Didn't stay too long as it was late and I'm sure she was tired, but I stayed long enough to give her the wee gifty I picked up from the Field Museum (little woven bag with a little knitted llama [on FIRE!] from Guatemala).
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-01-08 05:57 am (UTC)*facepalms*
I am so sorry!!!!!
no subject
Date: 2007-01-08 12:19 pm (UTC)Glad we got to meet up either way!
no subject
Date: 2007-01-08 05:06 pm (UTC)which will be easier once I run out of WitB.