Wednesday, June 6 Gerry and I had just traded in our first Hyundai Sonata—he'd spent a lot of time choosing the type of car based on mileage, price, and so on, and done such a good job of it that we stuck with the brand—and I was kind of excited t…
Wednesday, June 6 Gerry and I had just traded in our first Hyundai Sonata—he'd spent a lot of time choosing the type of car based on mileage, price, and so on, and done such a good job of it that we stuck with the brand—and I was kind of excited to be taking the new one (it was a lot fancier) on this trip. The night before I loaded my luggage, a tuba—yes, Jesse had had to leave his tuba at home, but now he'd need it—and snacks.
I arrived at Katie and Jesse's duplex at 5:50am, and she was ready to roll. We departed shortly thereafter. (My friend/neighbor Ariana would be taking care of the cats.)
• • •
I'd been to Chicago before, of course. Several times as a child (my first life) we'd spent quality time in Yorkville (a suburb, then) with my mom's family. And I'd changed flights in O'Hare countless times on my way to somewhere else. But since my divorce—my second life—I'd been to the city four times. The first was in 1995 (I think), when I and the three men I worked with flew up to accept a marketing award—for what we'd called the Kid City display, which won the Best of Industry Award. The best part of that visit was I had a room to myself high up on the twenty-something floor. It was peaceful and quiet and the view was spectacular, and I sat there and thought about changing my life and moving to a city after Jesse went off to college. It was interesting and introspective. (Also, it didn't happen. But I'd always thought of myself as a small-town gal, until that afternoon, when I started considering what a city life might look like. You know: museums, symphony orchestras, art, culture, lots of job possibilities … See what I mean?)
Also in the late '90s I drove Jesse and his friends Dennis Carter and Jay Parke to a music store in South Chicagoland to buy Jesse his first personal tuba. That was fun. Around 2000 I was there again with folks I worked with—a marketing team getaway—where our boss took us to all his favorite places, in particular the Navy Pier. Flew up one day, flew back the next. And in December 2006, Jesse called me and asked if I'd want to drive up to Chicago to see him perform with his undergrad professor's (Winston Morris) alumni tuba group at the MidWest Clinic. I actually blogged about that one.
• • •
Katie and I drove through Nashville, Bowling Green, Louisville, and Indianapolis on our way to Chicago. It was a beautiful time of year to drive that route. We talked and talked and talked—I got to know Katie a lot better. (I already loved her, of course, as did Gerry.) It's a minimum eight-hour drive, but finally, we were there, wide-eyed.
Approaching Chicago.
I know we drove along Lake Shore Drive in a sightseeing sort of way (as opposed to a native Chicagoan sort of way) and some guy got impatient with us. Katie took pictures of the Chicago skyline and the Navy Pier as we drove. Then we were in Uptown, and then we were in Evanston, where we were staying, twelve miles north of downtown and about twenty miles south of the naval station. It's gorgeous. College town, tons of small restaurants and shops, all in a beautiful setting. Home of Northwestern University, one of the world's leading research universities. Lovely, shady trees, beautiful old homes. And lots of expensive cars. Mercedes. Jaguars. Bentleys, for heaven's sake.
Here's the view from our room on the 8th floor of the Holiday Inn Chicago North-Evanston.
That's Immanuel Lutheran Church.
And yes … we did bring a tuba in from the garage with no elevator access.
After we were all checked into our Evanston hotel and had brought the tuba in, we went out to supper (vegan restaurant, delicious, didn't record the name) then came back and spent time strategizing this boot camp graduation (where to lurk, for example) like a pair of teenagers on their way to a One Direction concert.
Thursday, June 7 We had explicit instructions about where to pick up our tickets: the Recruit Family Welcome Center, between 10am–7:30pm at Burkey Mall-Navy Exchange at 2650 Green Bay Road. They were imprinted with our names. Then we wandered around the NEX (Navy Exchange), shopping a little—Navy T-shirts and suchlike.
Then we were off to Chicago proper to meet up with my longtime friend Chris Olsen—a filmmaker* whose documentary Beneath the White City Lights had just been nominated for an Emmy—for lunch. He had an office in the Riverwalk area.
Driving around? On our way to see Chris.
Chris had also told me where to park, how to park, and so on. First, download an app. Those of you who live in cities of good size may already know this but those of you who only occasionally visit cities may find this app helpful. I cut a $40 downtown Chicago parking tab by more than 75 percent!
Katie, Chris, me in front of Uno's.
Chris took us to lunch—he wanted us to have, in his words, "Authentic Chicago Pizza," so we did, at Uno's at 29 E. Ohio. We had deep-dish Chicago pizza at Uno's, then walked down to the Riverwalk to sightsee, to see the beauty of the real Chicago. (Side note: And the place where my mom was born and raised.)
The Gentlemen Statues
That's Wabash Avenue bridge (and beyond it, the Michigan Avenue bridge), and the building with the clock is the Wrigley Building.
No idea!
Chris is a very good tour guide. It was perfect, truly perfect. A beautiful day.
Then Katie and I headed back to Evanston, where we swung by the very well-known Bennison's Bakery, just two minutes from the hotel (in the car) to pick up some pastries for a quick morning snack when we'd be anxious to get to Naval Station Great Lakes. We relaxed for a while, and then went to bed early.
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