Miles 726-726: Chicago
In the morning, we wanted to run again, but Jackson opted out. Mom stayed at the hotel with him and my dad and I went for a Father’s Day father-daughter run around the North-Western campus. We did a little less than four miles in a little over 30 minutes. Check my dad’s Instagram post for some pictures. Shout out to Elizabeth and Beckett: North-Western is right on Lake Michigan and we got to see all their boats and where their rowing team practices. When we got back, we got dressed and made a plan. We wanted to visit the Museum of Science and Industry (suggested by Jackson’s teacher, Mr. Pollard, who used to live in Chicago) and had an architecture tour on the river at 4:15. Apparently since the traffic was bad, it was much faster to take the train throughout the city. I made the very smart decision to wear running leggings instead of pants, which came back to haunt me later. The train rides were cool, as was the Museum of Science and Industry, where I got some pictures and a quote, both of which shown below. Thanks to Mr. Pollard for suggesting that. There was a really cool scale model of Chicago that was really fun to look at, and the weather section was also great. For lunch, we went to a place called Devil Dawgs. I got a legit Chicago Dog there, and it was actually pretty good. Beware: the peppers, called Sport Peppers, were very spicy!! My dad refused to eat them and he loves spice. We visited Lake Michigan and I dipped my hand in. It wasn’t that cold, about the temperature of a non-heated swimming pool. After that, things went a little bit downhill. The temperature started to drop and the wind to pick up. By the end of the day, we were bundled like we were on a ski trip in June. Apparently that’s pretty normal for Chicago. I keep forgetting how far north we are. The architecture cruise was actually really fun, learning about the history of the buildings and the different styles (I know you guys will call me a nerd). I would have enjoyed it a lot more if it was protected from the wind or warmer in general. The walk back to the train station was absolutely miserable: 25 minutes in the (what felt like freezing) cold. We had dinner at a local place called Farmhouse. I got the risotto, which I would definitely recommend, and the desserts were insanely good. There were apple cider maple donuts holes and a Blondie sundae, which were both delicious. It felt a lot like Christmas on the way back, having just had very Christmassy dessert and being all bundled up and talking and laughing with our family. Jackson kept making silly jokes by making fun of Donald Trump, who we already insulted when we saw his tower, and mispronouncing famous hard-to-pronounce names, like Vladimir Putin and Saddam Hussein. When we got back to the hotel, we had more drama which I guess was due because I had a calm night last night. The elevator was being so loud and shaking around, so no one felt safe riding in it. You always felt like it was going to plummet. We were in a room right next to the elevator and couldn’t focus, sleep, or do anything because it was so loud. We got moving to the other end of the hall, and we can still hear it. My mom’s spent the past half of an hour trying to call Holiday Inn to complain because 1) the front desk doesn’t act like they’re worried or they care and 2) the elevator is dangerous: you can feel it shaking as you go down. I chose to go down seven floors of stairs instead of taking the elevator. I’ll let you know tomorrow how it goes, but if you don’t get any word from us, you probably know what happened 😉. When you finish reading this, I need you guys to comment and tell me whether we should run to North-Western again to tomorrow or go the other way on the edge of the lake, where it’s more isolated. I miss you guys!! Love you!
“Science discerns the rules of nature; industry applies them to the needs of man.”
“Don’t do dumb things.”