So, Chicago? Pretty goddamn awesome. KC? Absolutely lovely. And it turns out I had a nice post-trip treat waiting for me back in ol' B/N.

Most of the Chicago trip was excellently documented by my mom. I have a lot of pictures, a few of which I can share while I expound upon my adventure in the Big, Big City.



The train coming out of Bloomington on Friday (3/9) was an hour late, as is to be expected with Amtrak-related ventures. Dan and I got into Chicago proper around 1pm, met up with his Aunt after some mixed up wandering and a couple cases of mistaken identity. We went for some Thai after that, then Dan and I headed off to the Cultural Center for some free brochures/maps/etc. After meeting back up with Dan's Aunt, we took a short jaunt to an El-station and I took the blue line train for forty-five minutes northwest to O'Hare. Mom's plane was several hours late; we met up at the baggage claim and stood around catching up for twenty minutes while waiting for the complimentary Super 8 airport shuttle, and pretty much crashed out when we got into the room.

The next morning, Ma took a picture of me just sitting in the hotel room (above). She has a new camera and hasn't gotten tired of playing with it yet. Although it was early and I had slept poorly, I tried at a smirk for her.



Day 2: Mom and I met up with Ellen and ate some brunch at a Cosi, after which we regrouped and headed to the Museum of Contemporary Art. The lobby walls were covered with foil-like stuff perfect for writing on, and we did, since we were being encouraged by posted signs to write on the walls (don't think that I would go out of my way to desecrate some beautiful MCA stuff!).



Dan met Ellen and I at the MCA, and we went through the place as completely as we could without dawdling too long. We saw some mega-huge goldfish, and a really cool film exhibit about female vocalists in Iran, among other amazing stuff! After we had finished inside, the group of us headed outside for some pictures; Mom took this picture of Dan, Ellen and I posing like the sculptures in front of the museum:



Yeah, we're pretty much the shit. Even if we are blatant tourists -- well, except for Ellen, but I don't think she minded goofing off with us!



After our exhausting day trip to the MCA, Ellen took us to this lovely Asian cafe. I had the caterpillar rolls. For dessert, the four of us shared the Bamba, which is the best dessert I have ever eaten! Explaining it would only tarnish its perfection.

After Tamarind, Ellen, Dan and I escorted my mom to the nearest Blue Line station, and she headed back to the hotel. Dan, Ellen, and I went to Ellen's boyfriend's place (far northeast side) to play poker and goof off. I ended up getting back to the hotel room at 2:30am -- Dan didn't get home until 5am!



Day 3: Mom and I decide to attempt to find the Museum of Science and Industry without any aid. We took the green line through the SOWF SIDE, ended up getting a little turned around and found ourselves at the Dusable Museum of African American history instead. I got some very beautiful postcards!

We did eventually make it to the Museum of Science and Industry, and we realized how foolish it was to think that we had budgeted enough time to spend there. The place was huge; I could have walked around for days!



The naval room in the MoS&I was the cutest thing ever! Look at me with this model of the Leviathan. Isn't it the cutest little liner ever?

Dan met my mom and I for some dinner at a Steakhouse. Dan found some really greasy Mac&Cheese to munch on since he's a vegetarian, but I'm pretty sure it had some meat in it, because he got dreadfully ill later!!

After Mom headed back to the hotel, Dan and I hit up Erik for some good times. We took a walk through Hyde Park; Erik showed us where he vandalized part of the bridge for his movie, Placebo. We also saw Erik's favorite sculpture in Chicago, which is of a man giving a giant fish a big hug -- it's in front of the Shedd. We went behind the Shedd and the view of the skyline from there was phenomenal! And it was so quiet! After our walk, Dan and I chilled with Erik for a little while; Ellen came over with her boyfriend, and we all chilled until Dan was well enough to walk to the El-station.



Day 4: Mom and I decided to take it pretty easy today. We went to the Museum of Contemporary Photography and saw the awesome "love hotel" exhibition.



See the bondage gear?



Later that day, Mom and I went up to Alyssa's neck of the woods to chow down on some Ethiopian cuisine par excellence. We crammed an entire chef's platter into our gaping, hungry mouths, and then we took the above picture.



Day 5: I was supposed to be on the 9:35am train and I missed it by ten minutes, because we went to the wrong train station. It's a good thing I did, though, because then we had time to go to the Art Institute of Chicago... It was seriously the bomb.



Here's a detail of Monet's "Two Sisters"... which, yes, we saw in the flesh paint.



Hmm, mom has this big platonic art crush on Frank Lloyd Wright. I bet she creamed her pants a few times looking at some of these pieces!



That's Union Station, where I got mugged right before hopping on the train. But don't worry, I'm okay and my bank card is canceled and there wasn't much cash in there anyway.

I got back into town around 4:30pm. Dan and his friends met me at the station, and from there we proceeded pretty much directly to procure various vehicles and ride out to Funks' Grove for some much needed nature R&R. Unfortunately, I fell ass-first into a creek. But that's okay. Dan and I got pretty early nights, and we ran around B/N the next morning until we had our shit together enough to head to KC.

KC was pretty amazing. Chrissy is getting to know some very interesting individuals, and she's eeked out some familiarity for herself among the overwhelming surroundings. KC really is the somewhere that is nowhere! Chrissy's roommate Alex turned out to be extremely generous and good-natured. She cooked us spaghetti the first night we were in town.

Before we left the city, we got to see Chrissy's studio, and we got to go on a day-trip to Swoope Park, which is just outside KC. Chrissy tells me that the boulders there make it look just like a mini Jackson Park, whatever that means.

The drive back was relatively uneventful; I drove the entire way and didn't feel completely exhausted until we got back into town. Pretty good, considering I'd been sleeping on a short couch for three nights!

And, so, now I'm back here in Blo-No, not without some amount of regret.



Fortunately, this charmer decided it was high time I fall in-like with someone. I got my own private piano concert last night, followed by an endless night of laughing and studying and licorice tea and cigarettes and music and other less mentionable but still incredibly enjoyable activities.

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