Courtney's Visit
One of my dearest friends, Courtney, came to visit Chicago pre-Fourth of July weekend. Unfortunately, poisoning delayed her trip by a day but we packed a lot into her four day stay.
For her first full day, we started the morning with some recovery yoga, inches from Maggie's bed (I had moved into the living room to be closer to our one window AC unit). We then walked around Millennium Park so Courtney could see the Parisian inspired Metra arch, the spiting fountain (aka Crown Fountain), the bean, the silver slithering bridge that goes over Columbus Dr., and Buckingham Fountain.
We then walked our way over to the Art Institute a little after they opened.
A new exhibit had just opened, The John Singer Sargent exhibit, which was available (at an additional cost to the tickets), so we headed there first. After soaking in some captivating portraits, we quickly moved through the museum highlights (American Gothic, Van Gough, Picasso, etc.). Before heading to the Happy Place Popup (Courtney's birthday gift to me), we enjoyed some tasty Chicago style hotdogs right next to the Art Institute.
I wasn't really certain what this Happy Place Popup was going to be. From the description, it sounded like the only objective was to take as many selfies as you could. And well, that was pretty much it. It was housed in a one-story warehouse that had been divided into many different rooms, each with its own theme and someone there to take our picture. My favorite rooms were a disco dance party (just an empty room with silver streamers on the walls) and a bubble dome that blew confetti around. This was a brief adventure because we moved through the rooms pretty quickly. That being said, it was a fun time. Thanks for my present Courtney!
From there, we headed to the Sear's Tower and endured the horrible, stuffy lines in the basement of
the Tower for two and a half hours. Once at the top, of course, you get in another line to go in on the ledge. Pictures from the ledge taken care of, we walked around and enjoyed the sites of Chicago from above, which is always a fun perspective.
The next morning, after I ran and Courtney biked, we went to the Museum of Contemporary Art. Downstairs we saw some neat work that reflected on humans and the environment using textiles, sculptures, painting and the smell of coffee and cloves. Their main exhibit was I was raised on the internet, which was fascinating. The object was to explore the ways technology has shaped/changed the way we see the world. We got to try those virtual reality headsets, sing karaoke with morbid lyrics, and add the contents of our pockets to a virtual/collective thing (sorry I can't be more technical, it took pictures of our items and added these to pictures of other people's items).
Next we ordered up some deep dish pizza from Giordano's. Though I swear we ordered a small, we received six slices. To alleviate the uncomfortable feeling of too much pizza, we walked around Magnificent Mile and ended up at the John Hancock Center. We had already decided the Sear's Tower was enough but we decided to walk in and around it. There was almost no line and the price was reasonable (I had no idea there was a resident discount), so we decided to check it out. As we wound our way around the line dividers we were amazed at how few people were there, considering that it was July 3rd and lots of people were probably visiting. At the top, we enjoyed a view more north and closer to the water. Their gimmick is "the tilt." Courtney and I watched as people lined up along the glass wall and were then titled over the city. I'm sure it would be neat, but we were fine without trying it. There were seats and a bar area, so Courtney and I got a drink and lounged there for a bit. It was a much better experience than the Sear's Tower; we were pleasantly surprised.
Our last activity for the evening was watching High Fidelity at Millennium Park. We went home first to relax for a little under an hour and then gathered blankets and snacks before heading back downtown. It was way more crowded than when Maggie and I went to see Hairspray, people are serious about their picnicking here. We saw a candelabra!
Courtney's flight left on the Fourth so we had time for one activity that morning: kayak architecture tour on the Chicago River! I really enjoyed this. We opted for a double kayak, sun screened up and headed out with ten or so others on the River. Our guide, a friendly guy from Louisiana, pointed out a few of the architectural sights and gave some Chicago history along the way. It was a little scary as the big architecture boat tours came through, but we managed to stay out of their way.
Maggie kindly offered to drive Courtney and I to the airport that afternoon, and then she was off! It was great getting to see her and tour her around Chicago. Thanks for visiting!
That night I wasn't up for going to Navy Pier for fireworks, so Maggie and I walked to the Lake Shore path and sure enough, we could see the fireworks in the distance. Additionally, there were fireworks being lit off in our park, other parks, everywhere (are they not illegal here?)! I've never worn rain boots on the Fourth of July, but I got to here in Chicago (I don't think I'll ever get used to rain in the summer time). It was a nice, low key way to see some fireworks before bed.
We then walked our way over to the Art Institute a little after they opened.
A new exhibit had just opened, The John Singer Sargent exhibit, which was available (at an additional cost to the tickets), so we headed there first. After soaking in some captivating portraits, we quickly moved through the museum highlights (American Gothic, Van Gough, Picasso, etc.). Before heading to the Happy Place Popup (Courtney's birthday gift to me), we enjoyed some tasty Chicago style hotdogs right next to the Art Institute.I wasn't really certain what this Happy Place Popup was going to be. From the description, it sounded like the only objective was to take as many selfies as you could. And well, that was pretty much it. It was housed in a one-story warehouse that had been divided into many different rooms, each with its own theme and someone there to take our picture. My favorite rooms were a disco dance party (just an empty room with silver streamers on the walls) and a bubble dome that blew confetti around. This was a brief adventure because we moved through the rooms pretty quickly. That being said, it was a fun time. Thanks for my present Courtney!
From there, we headed to the Sear's Tower and endured the horrible, stuffy lines in the basement of
the Tower for two and a half hours. Once at the top, of course, you get in another line to go in on the ledge. Pictures from the ledge taken care of, we walked around and enjoyed the sites of Chicago from above, which is always a fun perspective.
The next morning, after I ran and Courtney biked, we went to the Museum of Contemporary Art. Downstairs we saw some neat work that reflected on humans and the environment using textiles, sculptures, painting and the smell of coffee and cloves. Their main exhibit was I was raised on the internet, which was fascinating. The object was to explore the ways technology has shaped/changed the way we see the world. We got to try those virtual reality headsets, sing karaoke with morbid lyrics, and add the contents of our pockets to a virtual/collective thing (sorry I can't be more technical, it took pictures of our items and added these to pictures of other people's items).
Next we ordered up some deep dish pizza from Giordano's. Though I swear we ordered a small, we received six slices. To alleviate the uncomfortable feeling of too much pizza, we walked around Magnificent Mile and ended up at the John Hancock Center. We had already decided the Sear's Tower was enough but we decided to walk in and around it. There was almost no line and the price was reasonable (I had no idea there was a resident discount), so we decided to check it out. As we wound our way around the line dividers we were amazed at how few people were there, considering that it was July 3rd and lots of people were probably visiting. At the top, we enjoyed a view more north and closer to the water. Their gimmick is "the tilt." Courtney and I watched as people lined up along the glass wall and were then titled over the city. I'm sure it would be neat, but we were fine without trying it. There were seats and a bar area, so Courtney and I got a drink and lounged there for a bit. It was a much better experience than the Sear's Tower; we were pleasantly surprised.Our last activity for the evening was watching High Fidelity at Millennium Park. We went home first to relax for a little under an hour and then gathered blankets and snacks before heading back downtown. It was way more crowded than when Maggie and I went to see Hairspray, people are serious about their picnicking here. We saw a candelabra!
Courtney's flight left on the Fourth so we had time for one activity that morning: kayak architecture tour on the Chicago River! I really enjoyed this. We opted for a double kayak, sun screened up and headed out with ten or so others on the River. Our guide, a friendly guy from Louisiana, pointed out a few of the architectural sights and gave some Chicago history along the way. It was a little scary as the big architecture boat tours came through, but we managed to stay out of their way.
Maggie kindly offered to drive Courtney and I to the airport that afternoon, and then she was off! It was great getting to see her and tour her around Chicago. Thanks for visiting!
That night I wasn't up for going to Navy Pier for fireworks, so Maggie and I walked to the Lake Shore path and sure enough, we could see the fireworks in the distance. Additionally, there were fireworks being lit off in our park, other parks, everywhere (are they not illegal here?)! I've never worn rain boots on the Fourth of July, but I got to here in Chicago (I don't think I'll ever get used to rain in the summer time). It was a nice, low key way to see some fireworks before bed.
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