Chicago, My Kinda Town

I already write a few blogs, but I felt like I needed one more. Why, you ask? Well, it's quite simple. I have more to say. Whether or not you want to read even more of that is yet to be discovered.

This blog will be dedicated to my city, Chicago, Illinois. I love living here and I try as much as possible to get out around the Chicago area and try new things and repeat old favorites. I never really use my other blogs as a journal of what I do with my days, so this will be party for that too. The bigger focus will be on the wonderful things to do, see, and experience in the Chicago area (this includes the suburbs, even though they are not Chicagoans).

To start, I'll talk about my date with my city on June 26, 2010. A teenager from my church and her best friend wanted to go downtown to go to the Taste of Chicago. I volunteered to take the since I wanted to go to the Taste. We were five minutes away when they suddenly didn't want to go anymore. Instead of immediately abandoning my crazy idea of spending an afternoon with two 14 year olds, I stayed agreeable and offered to just park the car and we would hang out on Michigan Avenue.

We headed to Water Tower Place. I knew right then that I wasn't about to follow two teenagers around a mall. That shit wasn't even fun when I was a teenager. So I told them I was going down to the food court and I'd see them later. The food court in Water Tower is amazing. It's on the Mezzanine Level. It's called FoodLife. It has everything one could possibly want to eat. I'm. Not. Kidding.

I got a California roll, a glass of Chardonnay, and a loaded baked potato. I know those things don't match, don't judge me. It's what I had a taste for. I enjoyed my lunch at watched the Ghana playing in the World Cup on the television at the bar. After I ate, I headed to the park across the street which is literally one of my favorite spots in the city. I don't know the name of this park, but it's at the corner of east Pearson Street and north Mies Van Der Rohe Way. I sat there for a couple hours under the shade of the trees and read my Kindle. I listened to the muffled sounds of the city floating by and the laughs of children playing on the nearby swing sets and jungle gyms. I thought about heading over to the Museum of Contemporary Art, but decided against it since sitting was more appealing than walking at that moment.

After the kids had tired themselves out, we headed back to the car and headed home. It was the loveliest afternoon I've had in a while. Just me and my city. And those two teenagers.

Places Mentioned In This Post: un-named park, Water Tower Place, FoodLife, Museum of Contemporary Art

Neighborhood in Chicago: North Michigan Avenue aka The Magnificent Mile