Road Trip to Chicago, BootsnAll Meetup
So last weekend rather than flying somewhere again, I drove to Chicago. Why? To see a bunch of other friends that all flew in from around the country so we could hang out, have conversations that frequently go something like “When I was living in Korea teaching English….” or “And one time in Bosnia….” or “Oh yeah? I’ll be trekking through Argentina next month, too….”, and get drunk. And for some reason that seems perfectly natural.
If you’re reading this, it’s probably because you know me from BootsnAll, the travel resource/network/community/forum/etc. that hosts this blog. If that’s not why you’re reading, and you’ve happened across this blog some other way, or are friends with me from elsewhere, go visit BootsnAll for all your travel knowledge needs. Anyway, every so often someone will decide that they’d like some company, and will invite people to come, see the sites of their city, and get shit-faced. And because so many of us are alcohol-loving travel junkies, we feel this is a perfectly logical excuse to do so. Last time this happened was this past February in New York City, the weekend of the infamous blizzard and 29 inches of snow in Central Park. This time, it was Chicago, hosted by Francesca.
I had to work Friday, and planned to go directly from there to Chi-Town. It’s about a 3-1/2 hour drive from Lansing, where my job is, but with the time zone change, I can almost trick myself into thinking it takes an hour less. Almost. I decided to dodge out of the job a bit early, since I had nothing to do but waste time, and figured I might as well get on the road. So after stopping to top off the gas tank and hit the ATM, I was on my way.
All was going well, until I realized I was getting awfully close to Indiana. The planned route was I-69 to I-94, and take that to the very south-westernmost corner of Michigan, then go through Gary, Indiana (a joy, really….) and hit Chicago. To be getting to Indiana after an hour of driving is far too soon…. Looking at my handy road atlas, I realized that when I went through the construction a half hour earlier, it was right at the interchange and I missed it. So here I am on still on I-69 about to hit the Indiana Toll Road. Not a big deal, really. It looks about the same distance regardless of the route. It did end up costing me an extra $3.70 for the toll road, though. No sweat. I’d never done the drive this way before, and have the other way, so at least it’s something new.
The drive is actually really easy. Not a lot of changing roads, no major traffic areas to worry about (until you get around Chicago, that is). So 250 miles and 3-1/2 hours later, I was in Chicago city limits. Capt. Steve (currently living in Dallas), Liz (from NYC), and (Boston) Bill were already there hanging out at Duffy’s, which is closer to the north side of town, so I had to navigate my way up there. Originally Francesca was going to have a parking pass for me, but she had to bail that night because she needed to attend a wake. It’s just as well, because the pass was for the Little Italy/UIC area, which is midtown, and several miles from where we were going to be. However, it did mean I had to spend about 45 minutes trying to find a parking spot. But I finally did, and even a spot which was not permit parking, not in front of a fire hydrant, and not in an otherwise no parking zone! It was a tiny spot, but luckily for my even tinier Toyota Tercel and amazing parallel parking abilities, all was good.
Everyone had moved from Duffy’s next door to the Bel-Air Lounge, which was smaller, had a better atmosphere, and, best of all, $3 Guinness! By the end of the night, the bartender told the owner they had never sold so much Guinness before. Naturally, the alochol-loving travel junkies would sniff out the good bar in a strange city! Drinks were had, stories shared, and before long the other New Yorkers, Kathryn and Rachel, showed up with Bill from Cleveland in tow, who were then quickly followed by Robyn, the South African living in Denver. Further drinking ensued. And then more drinking. And a little more, until the bar closed…. and this wasn’t even the official “meetup” yet, just the preparty! From the bar, Kathryn insisted we stop at the Weiner Circle on the way back to the hostel we were all staying at, the Arlington House.
The Weiner Circle. Wow. That’s really all one can say about it. Kathryn had been hyping this place ever since the mention of Chicago came up. In fact, they stopped there on the way TO the bar, as well. And yes, they are very good Chicago style hot dogs… but the Weiner Circle is SOOO much more. It’s an experience. One that cannot even be justified by words. It MUST be experienced. The brief rundown is, it’s a tiny little building, crammed full of people ordering food, staffed by rude and sassy black women. It’s perfectly natural for them to yell, swear, and demand tips of you. It’s hilarious. There seems to be absolutely no sense of organization whatsoever. I am rather amazed they knew what it was I ordered and got it right, much less anybody else. It’s pure chaos. A fantastic place to stop for food after the bar. But by far, the absolute best thing on the menu has to be the chocolate shake! If you’ve ever had it, you know what I mean.
We headed back to Arlington House from there. Well, not “back” for me, per se, since I hadn’t been here yet… I didn’t even technically have a bed yet, but all was good with my reservation, so I had no problem checking in. I headed there while others apparently had a few rounds in the kitchen with some shots of Aftershock. My many pints of Guinness had been plenty for me, so I think I’m glad I missed it.
The morning came quite quickly, and surprisingly headache free. After a few hours, I popped up and was ready to go. Once rallying the troops, we headed to the Salt and Pepper Diner for some breakfast, a place some others had hit up the day before. From there, we headed down towards the Blues Festival that was going on in Chicago that weekend. Spent some time wandering, listening to some music, eating some food, and just chilling out as various groups of people split up and did their own thing.
Steve, Liz, Robyn, her friend that met up with us, and myself took a walk towards the lake and down the shore, eventually ending up in Millenium Park. There’s lots of interesting urban sculpture around there, but the big new attraction is The Bean… a large, polished metal, um… bean shaped thing. It’s cool because it reflects all the buildings and sky around, but because of its curves, also distorts it. Underneath the bean, it’s shaped in such a way that multiple facets reflect off each other and create very cool shapes.
The evening’s official meetup was at The Map Room, which was a perfect spot. A travel themed bar with hundreds of different beers. They even have a guide printed up, breaking down the different brews into style of beer, substyles, and descriptions. It was almost overwhelming. I had to spend my first couple beers just reading through it, just so I was prepared to order the next one. It was quite the process! Present for the evening’s festivities was everyone from Friday night, minus Rachel, who had to fly to Portland that morning, plus our host Francesca and her sister Felicia, a couple of their friends, Dave C Sparty, who just moved to Chicago from Detroit, and Chicagoan Kate L.
After much drinking of fantastic brews, it was decided that some karaoke was needed. I’m not sure by whom… definitely not me, as karaoke is not my bag, but I’m always down to laugh at other people. We headed to Louie’s, where, surprise surprise, more drinking was had, as well as a rendition of Billy Joel’s “For the Longest Time” by the Boots crew. I may have taken part in this. I don’t exactly remember. After closing out the bar, it was back to our favorite Chicago drunken food spot, the Weiner Circle. More madness that is the Weiner Circle ensued. Chaos, yelling, cursing, heckling, drunkeness, hot dogs… it’s pure entertainment. I understand why Kathryn insists on it so much. Eventually we made our way back to Arlington to pass out.
The next morning was a little more rough for me, though amazingly still no hangover. Really… I was amazed. Back to the Salt and Pepper Diner for breakfast… again… and the dispersing began as more people had to catch flights. Chilling out was the plan of the day, as I tried to decide when to make the drive home. Wasn’t quite up to it yet, so I ended up napping for a bit. Everyone was out, except for Liz and Boston Bill, who were staying a day and two longer, respectively. After nap time, it was brought to out attention that there was still a fifth of rum and a fifth of scotch unopened. And somehow, before long, the rum was gone. This was really not expected, but apparently necessary. The three of us were just hanging out in the kitchen, talking, looking at some of Bill’s pictures, and before we knew it, we had killed the rum. And it was only about 16:00. What have we gotten ourselves into? Naturally, the scotch was opened as well. I took it much easier with that, as I still planned to drive home later. By midnight, I decided I really needed to be on the road, Liz was crashing out, and Bill, trooper that he is, needed to go to another bar. So we all did our respective deeds, and I got to driving.
4 hours and 295 miles later, taking the “correct” route this time, I’m back in the Detroit area, arriving as the sun was starting to rise… the sign of a good weekend. 8 more hours til work, so sleep was now needed….
These picture are from atop the Sears Tower on a previous trip to Chicago, but I like em, so I’ll add them here…
Tags: Chicago, drinking, drunk, North America, Travel, United States
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