Things I learned this weekend:
1. When I say I'm going to use mobile blogging, I'm a liar.
2. Indiana looks a lot like Ohio.
3. Pennsylvania never ends.
4. New Jersey is still evil.
5. What life really means, because of deep dish pizza.
6. Other things.
I had every intention of blogging throughout the trip, but as it turns out, 2 days isn't a lot of time to see a giant city, so I didn't have much time to sit down at the computer. I did absolutely take advantage of the Twitter application, as is evident by the very up to date
THINK POUND TWITTER ACCOUNT.
Anyway, the whole weekend, though long, was pretty fantastic. It's probably because I don't know how to drive, but I really enjoy road trips. Especially those in a giant fancy van full of people I like. The drive getting there was a little intense. We got off to a late start, and before we knew it we were lost in Jersey. Not that I was surprised by this. Mike and I have driven in Jersey before, it's a giant maze of one ways and no U-turns and clueless people and the smell of garbage. I was able to get directions from the manager at Fuddruckers, where we consumed consumables of the dinner variety, and we were back on the correct highway in no time.
This, of course, was not our only setback. We were on the correct highway for no more than 20 minutes before we were stopped in a man eating traffic jam that only New Jersey could create. About an hour later, we were flying free and into the night, 3 hours behind schedule, soundtrack provided to us by the all 90s alternative/grunge satellite radio station.
Anyway, long (long... long... LONG) trip short, we made some stops here and there, drove throughout the night, some went crazy, some slept, some didn't. I slept about an hour. We got to Chicago and were greeted happily by another massive traffic jam. And then, finally, arrived at the glorious Holiday Inn near O'Hare airport and nothing else.
Opted not to sleep upon arrival. It was nearly 2pm and we had a whole city to cover. Sleeping would have only robbed us of our day. So some of us took the L out to Wicker Park and ate some of the best BBQ I've ever had in a great neighborhood with the sun shining and the birds chirping, and my body screaming "WHAT ARE YOU DOING??? I HAVEN'T SLEPT IN 31 HOURS!"
Afterwards we headed off to Navy Pier, which was a great spot to hang out and decompress after the adventure we had just had. Then three of us headed out to Wrigleyville to meet up with others. Wrigleyville may have been my favorite neighborhood of the few we had time to visit. I'm not a baseball fan, but it was still very cool to be outside Wrigley Field. Went to a great place with dueling pianos to end the night, and then dragged ourselves back to the hotel to get some well deserved sleep.
Saturday began with a trip out to Museum Campus, where all the (you guessed it) museums are located. Aside from that, it's a gorgeous park with really great views of the skyline, crazy art installations, and Soldier Field not too far away. Soldier Field is sort of insane in it's design and a little bit stunning to take in.
After that came THE Chicago experience. Deep dish pizza at Lou Malnati's. Yes. YES. It was everything I expected and still more. I'd never had deep dish before, and I'm glad I waited until I was actually in Chicago. (Because that was clearly intentional). Fantastic pizza that didn't rape our wallets. Can't complain there.
Between pizza and our Chicago debut, we swung by Steppenwolf theatre to satisfy my theatre nerd desires. And then headed to Second City to soak in as much comedy genius as we could... by standing in front of the theatre for about 45 minutes. THE SHOWS ARE REALLY EXPENSIVE.
Anyway, the main event: THINK POUND AT SNUBFEST. Chemically Imbalanced Theatre could not have been more welcoming to all of the out of town groups. Free pizza, beer, soda... BACKSTAGE SPACE. (Unreal to us). The first set we did in the showcase brought the damn house down. We had a really good crowd and we pleased them in all kinds of ways. (Ohhh yeah). The groups performing with us were all hilarious people, though we didn't get to see them do their things I can only assume they were all insanely talented. The second set we did for the competition also was fairly well received, and we got to meet more awesome and hilarious people who were pretty much all from the east coast. All in all, it was a really great night, and an experience I'm really glad we all had as a group.
The trip back was less eventful than the trip there. Shorter by 5 hours, though being down one driver took a little bit to adapt to. We unfortunately also did not think to account for the time change coming back. These elements all contributed to us not pulling into the city until midnight, which caused us to not be able to return the car on time, which means that it is now sitting in parking garage around the corner from our apartment waiting to be returned in an hour or so, which means we're being charged an extra day. Well... yeah. C'est la vie, I suppose. We just spent a whole weekend in one of America's great cities, so I find it hard to complain. If that's what had to happen, then so be it.
I would have liked just one more day in Chicago. There was still a lot I didn't get to see that I had really wanted to, especially Lincoln Park and the zoo. But that just gives me another reason to go back out there and visit. And when that time comes... I'll probably fly.
Anyway. We have a car to return.
*K
