And the Adventure Begins...June 22, 2007

Friday morning Lindsay and I woke up at 4am, long before the sun was even thinking of rising, and left my house by 5:45am. The drive through the southern tier of New York was long but beautiful. Route 81 takes you through softly rolling hills dotted with cows, horses, and sheep. Lindsay’s boyfriend Jeff gave us the following fun car ride game to play:

The Cow Game

As you pass cows in pasture on your side of the car, you count them. The person with the most cows by the end of the trip wins. The only caveat is when you pass a graveyard your cows die and you must start counting all over.

I was up 197 cows to Lindsay’s 48 when we passed an unfortunately place graveyard around Olean. I came back in the end though and by the time we hit Chicago I was leading with 67 cows. Stay tuned for further score updates.

After leaving the seemingly never-ending state of New York, we passed quickly through a sliver of Pennsylvania and entered Ohio. Not only was the highway construction onerous but also driving through Cleveland on I-90 is much like the seventh circle of hell. Directionals are optional, as are speed limits and common courtesy. I didn’t know people could drive 90 miles an hour while making obscene hand gesture with both hands. Lindsay and I sought refuge in horribly loud sing-a-longs to classics produced by The Backstreet Boys and Sir Mix-a-lot.

The only good thing Ohio produced was lower gas prices, down to $2.85/gallon.

From Ohio we followed I-90 through the entire northern length of Indiana. It was nice to see the change in our country’s landscape from the curvaceous hills of New York to the flat, corn-filled fields of Indiana. We also began to notice more and more houses of worship cropping up as we went along.

Despite my mother’s doubts about making the 13-hour drive in one day, we pulled in to Chi-town and located our hotel in Lincoln Park around 7:30 Friday evening. The area reminds me of the South End in Boston, complete with brownstones and attractive twentysomethings. We met up with Lindsay’s good friend from college for dinner and then went out afterwards to a lively bar in the neighborhood. After making lots of friends at the bar (for anyone who knows me and Linds you know that we make friends everywhere) we got in around 3am. It was a great 23-hour day.

The next morning we woke up at 7 to move the car (the on-street parking rules here are a bit of a hassle) and then got ready to explore the city. We took the “L” red line to the “Chicago” stop, which puts you at the top of Michigan Avenue, or the Magnificent Mile. We spent a lot of time strolling down that street (stopping along the way to see the Water Tower and the Hancock building) until the weather decided not to cooperate. The rain made it a perfect time to visit the Museum of Contemporary Art. Their two installations, one featuring different types of photography the other a feature of South American artists, were great. Luckily for us we finished our tour of the museum just as the rain let up so we walked over to Lake Shore drive and meandered down to Grant Park and Navy Pier. Along the way we had to stop by one of the beaches and put our toes in the water just to say we were in Lake Michigan. That water was coooooooold.

We had lunch at Navy Pier and then continued our walk down to the Loop (passing by 200 South Wacker Drive!!). Lindsay and I were both struck by Chicago’s stunning architecture. From the Tribune Building to the bascule bridges, Chi-town mixes it up to create a truly breathtaking city.

Finally, to end the day, we took the L out to Oak Park to visit the home and studio of Frank Lloyd Wright. Unfortunately we got there too late and the last tour of the grounds had already begun so we walked around as much as we could (and looked in every window we could see in to). We enjoyed a latte along the quaint, boutique-lined main street before taking the L back to Lincoln Park. It has been quite a day and I don’t think I have ever walked so much in my life so we’re calling it quits.

Tomorrow morning we’re getting up to see Wrigley Field before putting Chicago in our rear view mirror on our way to Wisconsin. It’s been a long and wonderful two days, but now it’s time for some cheese…