Escape to the Country

Living in Chicago is an amazing experience. And not one that we are interested in being done with anytime soon. That being said, the city can be exhausting. It is 24/7/365 excitement. Work, parties, Chinatown, Little Italy, the sirens, the lights, the wind, the list goes on and on. These things considered, combined with the fact that I worked out of town for a week, had three days at home, and then was back on the road, Eric and I decided to take a weekend out of town last weekend. 

Our first stop was Milwaukee. If you're a Chicagoan like us, and you're looking for a great place to spend a day, or weekend, let us recommend Milwaukee. (Author's Note: We lived in Milwaukee {aka MKE} prior to our move to Chicago, so yes, we are biased.) When we lived there a lot of people wanted to compare MKE to Chicago, say "MKE is like the stunted little brother of Chicago." But no. That's not fair. Milwaukee is a charm of a little-big city (think Reno!). There is culture, small business, a city market, a lovely riverwalk, amazing theaters, an NBA team, and great event venues. If you're a reader, you absolutely must visit Downtown Books located right downtown on Wisconsin Ave. (Yes, I know when you click on the link it will say Milwaukee St.; it is on the corner.) Moving on. Milwaukee was merely a pit stop (to say hi to our MKE Besties!) on our way to Kohler, WI. 

Kohler is 50 miles north of MKE on 43, so the whole trip will take you about 2.5 hours from the City. (We live on the very southern edge-drive time may vary from other areas.) Kohler is also home to The American Club. We were refered to this particular hotel by a work acquantaince who warned us that it might be a bit pricey. It wasn't too bad (I'm guessing after being there that it is the down season, and we would never be able to have taken this trip from April - October). 

 

{The lovely resort.}

The American Club is running a package for about $300.00. This package included a king size bed suite, strawberries and champagne, and brunch at The Wisconsin Room on Sunday morning. Absolutely amazing! 

 

{So you've all seen a bottle of champagne, but look at those amazing strawberries!}

Because of the time of year, and the fact that it was dark most of the time we were there, we weren't able to capture for you the beauty of this place. The hotel was built to house the employees of the Kohler plant (you know, they make faucets!). It's old, and full of hallways and fireplaces and libraries. Outside are phenomenal gardens, full of swings, small tables, benches, trees, and what I imagine would be flowers (again, during April - October, so it's possible we will never know!). Saturday night Eric and I spent a large amount of time sitting in the gardens enjoying the sheer silence. Exactly what we were looking for in our 24 hour escape from the City.

 

And Off We Go...

“A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.”
John Steinbeck

So, a new adventure to tell our readers about at the end of this very long, and surprisingly fast, weekend. For the first time since we have been in Chicago, Eric and I traveled! Now, we have done the quick trip up to Michigan since we've been here, but we were yet to tackle the real travel--getting to the airport, getting around the airport, and getting home from the airport. This weekend was a birthday party for Eric's grandmother, who turned 80 today! Here's a little bit about our weekend, and of course some tips about traveling in the city.

One of the things we love, and have written about, about Chicago is public transportation. We live close to a Blue Line Stop, and knowing that the Blue runs to O'Hare we quickly planned our attack. A 5:40 a.m. flight from O'Hare means arriving at the airport no later than 4:40 a.m. We, however, are flying standby and therefore should get there by 4:00 a.m. since we have to check in at the desk and that can take a while. Of course we use our trusty Google Maps to plan our trip, and discover that we need to plan an hour and twenty minutes to get from our building to the airport. Oh! And the last train that can get us there by 4:00 a.m. is leaving at 2:30. Working backwards.....Train at 2:30, need to shower, make coffee....Yup, guess we need to set an alarm for about 1:00 a.m.

Upon making this realization we debated if we should go to bed or just try to stay up all night, but we decided to lay on the couches and see if we dozed a bit, which we both did. We started our day at 1:00 a.m., about two hours after falling asleep, and if you know us you are not surprised that we found ourselves runnign a few minutes behind. At 2:15 we darted out the door and hoofed it to the train. Would you believe that at that point we learn that the train is not running? We had been on the Transit website just hours before and no update about a non-running Blue Line. The CTA employee who was posted at the stop told us if we just walked a few blocks we could grab a shuttle for free, so of course we were all about that! Walk a few blocks, stand around....no shuttle. Look north, south, east and west....We see no shuttle. What we do see is time ticking down, and a cab, so we jumped in and sped off to the airport.

O'Hare is a fine airport, but it might be important for you, if you are an early traveler, to know that the ticket counters do not open until about 4:30 a.m. So, if you have a 5:40 a.m. flight it is not worth getting there at 3:30 a.m. You will in fact be sitting on the cold, concrete floor because they only have about 10 chairs and we can assure you that you will not have been the only person to make this mistake. Apparently many will misjudge worse than you and be there even earlier. Also, there is no where for you to get so much as a sip of water (unless you can figure out how to get your mouth under the faucet in the bathroom, which is not an easy thing to do) prior to going through security. If you plan to arrive before the ticket counters and security open, you need to pack a bottle of water.

Security in O'Hare (for those considering travel, O'Hare is known in the flying world as ORD) was quick, though I should caution again that it was 4:30 a.m. The TSA workers were more friendly than TSA works in most airports I have been in. Once you're through security you will find limited options for food, but there are options. At 4:30 a.m. we could have had Starbucks, McDonalds, or Hot Dogs. I am not joking. And yes, we did see people eating chili dogs this early in the morning. We flew standby, and we were quickly cleared for our flight, and arrived Atlanta about 9:00 a.m. local time. All things considered travel through Chicago was a pretty easy. As always though, some tips for our future travelers!

• The cab from the South Loop to O'Hare at 4:30 a.m. cost $38.50. This was for two people (there is a surcharge for a second person), one suitcase (they charge for that too), and included the $0.50 fuel surcharge (this is a new charge, and I am not sure how long it will last, but you should be aware). Keep in mind that starting travel in a different part of the city or traveling during a time of day where there are cars on the road will cause your rate to change. I would plan on $45.00 including the tip.
• On the cab front, remember that the cab driver has to take your credit card. If you do not have cash, worry not. They are not allowed to turn it down. If they try to turn it down, ask them to call their base and run it from there.
• Again, if you fly in the a.m., do not arrive at O'Hare much before 4:00 a.m. The ticket counters and security are not open. This is especially true if you do not have checked luggage. Seriously. You will just sit there.
• We found more food options on our return flight, when we were in ORD at about noon. You'll find the best options right out of security, before you go to your gate. Do not order a beer. It is $8.50 for Bud Light. Who does that? Also, I know that there was a Cinnibon place because I saw the bags, but I did not ever actually see it. If you're like me, and a Cinnibon is the only thing that makes flying good, leave yourself enough time to go exploring!
  
• If you plan on using the CTA, leave yourself some extra time for unexpected line closures or stops. If you do take the CTA, you can use the Blue Line to get to/from O'Hare and the Orange Line to get to/from Midway.
• To use the CTA, you have to buy a transit card. This is a small, disposable card that is also reloadable for your trip here. You can buy them with cash at any station, and with credit card at some stations. This will allow you to ride the CTA trains & buses. It's $2.25 per person, per train ride (11.08.2009).
  
• Before coming to Chicago, check out the Transit website so that you can make the travel plans that fit the best with your destinations.
  

Zoo Days

(Ok, yes, I know, not the best picture of us, but it is us in the zoo. For those of you who know me, I was hangry at this point, thus Eric had to carry the bag. It did, however, have all the books that he insisted we bring, and also the four free energy drinks we received upon exiting the subway.)

Wow! Hard to believe it has been more than a month since our last post! Well, we are back, and with a lot of stored up adventures and information for you all!

As fall rolls in there is always a scramble to find outside things to do "while the weather is still nice!" So, let me recommend a wonderful inside/outside adventure that also happens to be free! Can you imagine something better? No, I didn't think so.

Eric and I recently ventured up to Lincoln Park to visit the Lincoln Park Zoo. I am aware that most people think zoos are a great trip; lots to learn, a chance to see things (by things I suppose I mean animals) that you would never otherwise see, etc etc etc. However, after a particularly scarring experience with a European zoo during a trip to Spain, I had sworn off zoos. On this particular weekend, though, Judy (my mother in law) was in town, and we were determined to show her as much of the city as we could, for as little money as possible!

I say that the zoo is a great inside/outside adventure because on our trip it happened to rain. Or more accurately, pour! For a long time. At a lot of zoos (I suspect--again, very little zoo experience!) this could be a bummer. However, at the Lincoln Park zoo this gave us an opportunity to thoroughly enjoy the inside exhibits. These include an extensive monkey (primate?) exhibit, a beautiful "jungle" theme exhibit with a lot of birds & warm weather small animals, and the exhilarating tiger/jaguar/lion exhibit!

My favorite exhibit of the day was the bat house. The bats were cool, sure, but the underground rats were insane! They had no hair, and the plaque next to the cage said that this is because they live underground and never see the sunlight. If they ever came above ground they would not survive because their bodies are not built for that.

For the city dwellers, I also really recommend the farm exhibit. Here you will have the chance to learn about farming and gardening, and also visiting the more common animals--cows, pigs, chickens, even rabbits.

All things considered the Lincoln Park Zoo is totally worth a visit if you are trying to do the city on a budget. Even for those of you not crazy about zoos!

Here are some things to consider:

• Unless you are staying in Lincoln Park make a trip to www.hopstop.com before you head to the zoo. You're way out there in Lincoln Park, which can make finding the subway stops difficult.
  
• If you're staying downtown, you can take the brown line or the red line. I would suggest the red during the day, and the brown after it gets dark.
  
• Bring a bottle of water and some small snacks. There is a snack pavilion, but I think that we spent $1.50 on a snack size bag of pretzels, and passed on drinks all together because of the outrages prices!
• When you enter the Zoo, take the time to view the map posted near the entrance. It can be kind of confusing and disorienting once you're in there, and you may end up walking in circles. (Oh, and to help, the buildings all look pretty similar!)
  

My Sister, My Daughter

Well, if the title didn't give it away, then I will just have to tell you. This weekend Eric and I ventured to Chinatown for our most recent adventure! And what an adventure it was. For anybody who has ever traveled to a big city, or who lives in a big city, I think you may have found that all big cities have a Chinatown. Chicago is no exception.

Living in the South Loop, Eric and I are pretty close to Chinatown. The unfortunate part is that a stretch of the seedy part of town is what separates us. So, we decided to take the Watertaxi. The Watertaxi really could be a blog post of its own, but for the sake of time, I will just tell you simply here. What it is is a taxi service that runs through downtown Chicago, but obviously only when the river is not frozen. It has four stops, and is set up essentially so that commuters can have a quicker way into downtown from their Metra depots. Thanks the the Chicago Office of Tourism, we had a coupon for a buy one get one free fare. If you're interested, you can find the coupon here. Let me assure you; if you are planning to go to Chinatown you want to use public transportation. You can take the Watertaxi or the Red Line, or a bus (I don't know which one) or a cab even. Just don't walk! I tell you this from experience; yes, we chose to walk!

Chinatown is like a village unto itself in this huge city. Houses like this one



are not uncommon. This is a single family home decorated with Chinese inspired plants, images, and window coverings. We are pretty sure that this house is the reason why every development in the area looks exactly the same. And yes, I said developments. The area is undergoing major building, and has beautiful condos being built everywhere. If it wasn't for the aforementioned seedy parts of town, Eric and I would seriously want to consider living here. Oh, and also for the fact that we couldn't find a store that didn't sell only Chinese food.

There are a ton of things to do in Chinatown. There is a war memorial for Chinese vets, and even a piece of the Great Wall of China. Also, for those with a curious spirit, it is a little amazing to see everything in a single place (outside of China I suppose) labeled in Chinese. (Ed. note :: It may be a faux pas to call all writing "Chinese" since perhaps there are dialects. However, I am unaware. Please, if you know better, feel free to leave me a notes in my comments!) Even the Walgreens has Chinese writing and dragons on it.

Ok, so you've gotten to Chinatown (hopefully on the Watertaxi, or public transportation), and you've seen the writing and the wall. What next? Well, really the only thing to "do" in Chinatown is to visit the tourist/shopping center.

This is a picture of the "plaza" area in the shopping center. It is pretty much a two story outdoor mall, which contains an outdoor market (flee market perhaps?) specializing in baby tiny turtles, knick-knacks made in 1994, and knock off bags (some good, some not some good, all worth taking a look at). Approximately 85% of the area, though, is made up of restaurants, and because it seemed absurd to go to Chinatown and not eat Chinese, we partook.

We ate at a noodle restaurant of some sort, which was actually really good. We were drawn in by the display in the window, which showcased all of their dishes made out of plastic. Eric was especially excited by the red fish, which was an entire fish stuffed with all types of vegetables. It was $19, and we did not eat it. Instead we split an order of crab rangoons and shrimp and scallop fried rice, both of which were absolutely fabulous. For drinking & dessert, we had a mango blended drink (essentially blended mango, ice, and vanilla frozen yogurt). These drinks are all the rage in Chinatown. The restaurant we ate at had a window to the outside where they were selling these like a street vendor would. I had to have one since they seemed to be a specialty of the area. If you are, like I was, wondering what the black things are in the bottom, let me tell you; they are tapioca balls. I remember, vaguely, an experience with tapioca pudding as a child. I am not sure what about this memory made me think this was a good idea. However, the drink itself was a great idea! The tapioca balls were less. They tasted a little bit like slimy boogers. The drink is served with an abnormally large straw and every once in a while when you take a sip, one of them pops up the straw. Not something I would do every day, but something I really enjoyed doing in Chinatown! After our Chinese shopping, our walking, and our lunch Eric and I decided to head home. We did, in fact, take the Watertaxi home (considering especially how unhappy I was that we skipped the Watertaxi and maybe risked our lives, or at least our wallets, by walking there). The Watertaxi is a cool experience, and a great way to see a lot of the city in a short amount of time. Moral of the post, if you're coming to Chicago, and going to be here for more than two days, Chinatown is worth the trip. Here are our pointers ::

• As previously stated, take public transportation. Chinatown is a relatively small area surrounded by not the best part of town.
• Come hungry! There are a ton of options for places to eat, and if you're hungry enough you could hop place to place. Appetizers at one place, lunch/dinner at another, dessert somewhere else. Oh, and don't forget your tapioca drink!
• Bring cash. I know, I know, we live in a credit card/debit card society. But Chinatown has a great street market, the kind of place you can negotiate to the price you want to pay, and the vendors will take only cash.

Final tip of the blog. If a trip to Chicago Chinatown is not in your near plans, experience a bit of it wherever you are. Through a little of research, I was able to discover that a bunch of places sell tapioca drinks and refer to them as "Bubble Tea." For my Lansing area readers, these are (or were) fairly common in East Lansing, in a few places on Grand Rive just off of campus.

Love Actually

Well it has been a while since our last post, but for good reason! As you may know, Eric and I are actually now Chicago's Newest Newlyweds.Well, this might be a bit of an exageration, but our hiatus is due to the fact that we have been in Michigan for our wedding and honeymoon, both of which were amazing. If you want details or to see pictures, you can visit me on Facebook, or check out our wedding website once we have the pictures back. (When that happens, I will be sure to post the link!)

In the meantime, as we tip-toe out of northern Michigan, campers, and silence and step gently back into Chicago, I'm going to tell you about our latest find, and one I think every Chicago person much know about. Visitors, I am very sorry, but this will not appeal to you as much.

If you're residing in Chicago, I think you must checkout www.groupons.com. I know I promised that we would not be posting links (we are not, after all, a free advertiser!) for a business that has not provided exceptional service, but since this is an online resource I think it's ok. Groupons is a daily "coupon" offering for something in the City. It could be a coupon to do something, but something, eat somewhere, visit a place, anything really. Every member of Groupons gets a daily email stating what the offer is that day. The most compelling to me so far was 40% off of a cooking class (a series of classes actually). If you're interested in the deal, you can buy the coupon for whatever the discounted price is. The catch, though, is that "X" number of people have to buy it or the coupon is no good. I know, sounds a bit risky, but you can see when you look at the website how many people have bought and if the deal is "on" or "off." If you're up for an adventure, and at a discounted rate!, please check out www.groupon.com!

For our faithful followers, keep checking back because in the coming posts we'll be discussing the name change of the tallest tower in the Windy City!

By Land and By Sea...Or River

This 4th of July weekend something happened for Eric & me that rarely happens. I had a full day off! Deciding that we needed to take full advantage, and that we better have a great adventure to post about for our now three (and hopefully growing!) faithful followers, we set out for our next Chicago Adventure; The Boat Tour!

There are a million or so options for which boat tour you can take through the city. There's the speedboat tour which promises extreme speeds and if you take the "Maximum tour" a soaking wet good time, the double-decker boat tour, the 30-minute-so-you-can-say-you-did-it tour, the 75 minute crash course in architecture tour, and so on and so on. Being not particularly particular about what tour we took, we looked for any of them that we wouldn't have to walk to Navy Pier to catch (if you are interested in the adventures that could await you at Navy Pier, stay tuned, that post is in the works). However, the "We-Start-Anywhere-But-Navy-Pier" Tour does not exist, so off we set.

We left our apartment (in the South Loop, if you are familiar at all with the City) around 11:30 thinking we could be to the Pier in time for the 1:15 tour with whatever company's website we had visited last. However, around 1:00 we arrived to the last little neighborhood before Navy Pier and found a vendor selling tours from the sidewalk. Yay! For $35.00 per person we had secured our spot on a 2:00 tour instead. We ended up on the Chicago Line tour. You can read about all their offerings at www.chicagoline.com. (Reader Be Advised :: I will not post links to any vendor that does not provide a great experience!)

To pass our hour, we dined on premade lunches from what has become my favorite little market in Chicago, Fox and Obel. This market is located in the RiverEast part of the City and Eric assures me that if I had to shop here for my groceries weekly I would probably hate it. It is pricey! But we had our picnic style food, and we sat near the river & ate our lunch before boarding the boat.

The tour lasted about 90 minutes, which seemed to be a great amount of time on such a perfect day. The tip here is to pick to take your boat tour on a day that is about 75-80 degrees. Our day fell right into this range, and was mostly sunny meaning that for part of the boat we were really warm and for part we were cool, but for most of it we were perfect! The Docent (which I believe is a very big word for Narrator) of the cruise was a very informed lady who I think was named Nancy. The boat took us down three branches of the Chicago river and Nancy explained to us how the river was forced to run backwards (apparently all rivers run in the same direction...except the Chicago river).

From the boat we had some amazing views of the city, which I am posting here.

This picture here is the view of the Trump International Tower taken from the river. While we both wish that we didn't, Eric and I think that this might be the prettiest new building in Chicago. (It's hard to beat the beauty of the Tribune building!) The hotel/tower is built on the river. The bottom part is a hotel, and the top part is condos. It's all a light blue reflective glass. And yes, for the Apprentice fans in our audiance, this is the building that Bill Ransic worked on after his famous win on Donald Trump's show.

This picture on the right is the Sears Tower, again as seen from the Chicago River. For those of you "In The Know" about the happenings around here, soon the Sears Tower is going to be renamed. Stay tuned,
you know we'll be blogging about it! Anyway, for now, it's still the Sears. For a time it was the tallest building in the world. Now it is the tallest in Chicago. If you're wondering how it stands so tall with all the famous Chicago wind, it is because it is actually a compilation of nine towers of various heights. This gives the tallest tower the strength it needs to stay standing. The newest addition to the Sears are the "Ledges" which are two boxes made of (hopefully very thick) glass. They are on the 103rd floor, and when you buy your ticket to go to the observation deck, you can now step out into the glass boxes and look directly down 103 stories. The Ledges opened this week, and they are on the list of things we need to do so we can blog about them!

Finally, the last picture. While this picture may be boring to you, it was the most exciting for me! These buildings are the buildings that Eric and I look at out our window. Which means that just beyond them is our living room. Perhaps if the building was taller, or the trees were....well, not there, we would have a picture of our own building as seen from the river to show you. As it was, we saw the very top corner of it, got really excited, and didn't have the camera ready at the precise moment it came into our line of site. Instead, for your viewing pleasure, here are the buildings near our building!
As per my usual, I am going to end this post with some tips & suggestions for making the most of your Chicago River Tour.

• Be prepared to spend. This is not a cheap adventure. The more reasonable prices that we saw were well over $20.00, and generally speaking closer to $30.00. The Chicago Line was $35.00, but that included free coffee, lemonade, water, cookies and muffins. For the extra $5.00 over other tours, it was well worth it to have free drinks and snacks.
• Decide what you are looking for in your tour. If you're simply interested in seeing the buildings from the river, or being on a boat for a little while, I would not suggest the 90 minute tour for you. There are a lot of options when it comes to how long your tour will be. Remember how long 5 minutes seemed the first time you had to give a public speech? It's going to be a little bit like that; on a boat.
  
• Pick your topic! The various companies all offer different tours with different discussions. Ours was only about the architecture which was interesting but if you're thinking you'll learn about the City, the great fire, or anything but the architecture, do some research and find the right cruise for you!
• Sunscreen sunscreen sunscreen. You're sitting in no shade for a minimum of 45 minutes, in the middle of a river, with glass buildings surrounding you. This is not rocket science. Don't ruin the rest of your week by having a terrible sunburn. (For the non-believers, during a recent adventure to Navy Pier, on a very, very overcast day, I received a terrible sunburn that I am still peeling from!)
  

To Taste or Not To Taste

There are a few famous Chicago events that every Chicagoan (if that's not what Chicago residents are called I haven't been here long enough to know what we are called...) knows about. If you don't know about them before you move, the people that are here will make sure you do know about them. One such event is the yearly Taste of Chicago.

The Taste (as we'll call it here) is an annual event held at Grant Park/Millennium Park (I think they are different places, but they're very close together if not attached) where local restaurants come out and cook/sell/serve their food to attendees. How it works. You stop at a booth when you enter the park and you buy a strip of tickets. This year (2009) you got 12 tickets for $8.00. Then you use those tickets as currency at all the vendor's booths. The event is usually held over the course of a week culminating over the Fourth of July weekend.

Eric and I decided to check out The Taste one because we were curious and two because I am notoriously bad at going grocery shopping and thus there was nothing to make for dinner. We went on the first weekend, Sunday, around 5:00 p.m., figuring that the weekend tourist crowd may have died down by this time. For $16.00 we had our tickets and were off.

The good. We were intent on having our first Chicago style hot dog and thus set off looking for a hot dog vendor. Nathan's was the first we found, which was perfect since they're somewhat famous for their dogs. Eric had the spicy Italian dog and I had the Chicago. The reviews from both of us were good food, enjoyable experience. We sat in the shade in the park, listening to a band sponsored by a local radio station, and enjoyed our Chicago culinary experience for a mere fifteen tickets. The remaining nine we spent on a jumbo cookies and creme ice cream cone. It was phenomenal. All in all, it was a great Chicago dinner for two people for $16.00, which is virtually unheard of!

The bad? Well....Everything else I would have to say. Eric summed up the event by saying that The Taste appeared to be the place to go when you hoped to display your breasts inappropriately. And no, we are not talking chicken breasts here. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that we saw one girl (I say girl, though she may have been a woman, because I want to believe that women have come farther than what I am about to tell you) walking around in low slung blue jeans, high heeled sandals, and her lacy black bra. Yes. That's right. Bra. Not bathing suit; I wish I could say bikini top. But no. Bra. She was carrying some type of cardboard sign that no doubt was advertising something (though I would have to assume something of very little value), but even that could not distract from the point that she was in fact walking through a public, city park in her bra.

In the hour or so that we were there, we witnessed a fight over pack of cigarettes that seemed to include a drunken-feuding couple (we assume they were a couple at one point anyways) and a homeless man wearing camo pants and no shoes, and later two of Chicago's finest. Apparently she bought the pack, and her (former?) better half was attempting to steal them. We can't figure out where the homeless guy came from. The situation was brought under control when the police (who I am sure have been retelling this story since Sunday) opened the carton of Marlboro Menthols and split it; five packs to the drunk woman, five packs to her drunk ex, and then sent them both on their way out of the event in opposite directions of course. Again, not sure what happened to the homeless guy. Deciding this was more commotion than our new-to-the-city hearts could handle, we meandered our way towards the ice cream cone and the park exit.

Later, near the exit while we enjoyed our cone in a new patch of shade, we saw the cops arresting a group of...well...I don't know what they were a group of. But they were in handcuffs being escorted by the police to the police trailers set up on site. That was it. We had to leave.

What did we learn at The Taste? What bits of wisdom do we have to pass on to newcomers such as ourselves? Well here it is...

• Don't be deterred. A lot of Chicago residents tried to convince me not to go to The Taste since it is such a huge tourist attraction and there is a lot going on that makes the event more overwhelming than enjoyable. While this turned out to be true for the most part, remember that you live in the third largest city in America and that the fun in that comes in going to all the crazy events the City hosts. And yes, the City does in fact host this event -- it is sponsored by the mayor's office. You may not go every year, and I support that!, but you should go once so that you have the experience. (Side note :: If you do go, and you find it to be more overwhelming than enjoyable, next year when you know somebody new to the City, don't discourage them from going! Allow them to embrace the excitement and decide for themselves if they'll ever go again.)
  
• If at all possible, go to The Taste during the week, during the afternoon. This may be the perfect lunch date. We have heard that this is the calmest time, with the smallest crowds. This may take away a certain entertainment value, but trust me, your food will taste much better this way. If not possible, I would suggest a week day, evening, late. The event went on this year until 9:00 p.m., with the last tickets being sold at 8:30 p.m. I would suggest going at 8:00 p.m.
  
• Be sure to stop on your way to The Taste and buy a beverage. Of course, do not attempt to bring alcohol, you'll be forced to dump it out before you enter. However, there are no drinks for free, and if you don't come prepared, you'll be forced to spend your very valuable tickets on drinks.
• Start with one strip of tickets for each person. Each booth will have full size options (such as our dogs) for a set ticket value, but they will also offer smaller "Taste Portions" for about half the value. (Nathan's offered 1/2 a Chicago style dog for only four tickets.) All things considered, you can probably eat a meal's worth on one strip of tickets (provided you follow our previous advice-see above).
  
• Aside from your drinks (again, see above!) and enough cash to buy one (maybe two) strip of tickets for each person, do not bring anything with you! I know. You want to take pictures, and this is a totally natural desire. But the event will be way more enjoyable to you if you are not concerned that somebody may attempt to pick-pocket your bag or steal your belongings. And based on the ratio of police to participants that we witnessed, this is a very real concern.
  
• Which leads me to my next point. If you are wanted by the police, do not go to The Taste. The police are everywhere. All over the place. You cannot avoid them.
  
• Unless you are very patient (which I am not always), do some research before you go. The Taste's website will post a list of the vendors as well as a map of the area so you can figure out where each will be. Try to decide what you want to Taste, and where you can find those things. The park is huge and the crowd is vast, which makes wandering aimlessly far less enjoyable than it usually is in this city.
  
• Enjoy! I had a lot of expectations about the event, which for the most part were disappointments to me. However, I did enjoy watching the insanity, and seeing what it looks like when all the Chicago breeds (residents, the homeless, suburbanites, and tourists) all come together in one seemingly small space. Set your expectations aside, consider it an adventure, and enjoy The Taste!
  

Public Transportation :: Learn it, Use it, Ask questions!

I'm thinking that there might be some type of unwritten blogger rule about blogging twice in one day (who am I kidding, one hour!), but I'm going to claim blogger ignorance and do it anyways. As I said, the premise of this blog is to help those who move to Chicago with some of the lessons we have learned. Well, here is lesson number one. And I encourage anybody who ever may travel to Chicago to read as well!

During my second week of working in this city, I decided to venture out and attempt the system. First thing I do, walk to LaSalle and jump on the Blue Line. Things are going well. Later in the day, I take the Blue to the Red...Sounds complicated, but things are going good. I am, however, strangly aware of how I look sitting on the train; I look like the girl who is new to the city, brave face plastered on, attempting to look indiffernt to everybody, secretly looking for danger in every place...After a whirlwind afternoon of running around the city like the young professional I am, I decide to complete the final challenge in my Public Transport Pentathalon: The City Bus.

Let me preface this by saying that I am, after 14 days, very aware that the 22 bus stops right outisde of my apartment building. What does this say to you? Because to me, this say, "Take the 22 Bus!" which is exactly what I did! I walked until I saw the sign that said, "22" and I stood there, again attempting to look as though I knew exactly what would happen next. And low and behold, up pulled the 22 Bus, and I climbed on. Now, I haven't been in the city very long, so I am not at all sure what I should be looking for on this adventure, but I see things that look right. Big buildings that is. I see big buildings. And then I start getting currious. While I see street names that are right by my building (!), I see nothing that looks familiar to me (??). Then, I see Lincoln Park. Hmm. I live in the South Loop. That's about three miles from Lincoln Park. (?????!!!!!)

I do, at this point, what I think any twenty-something-engaged-about to be married-young professional woman would have done. I call my mom. And I say, "Well, I might be on the wrong bus. But they run in a loop, so eventually I will get back to where I started right?" And together we agree that that is probably right. Until I hang up. And the very nice guy in front of me asks me where I am trying to get. I am totally caught off guard by this, and I stumble trying to tell him where I live, which is mortifying. Suddenly Nice Guy 1 and Nice Guy 2 start yelling at the bus driver. There is a flurry of activity during which I figure out that I am not headed downtown. I am not headed towards the South Loop. Nothing looked familiar because nothing is familiar! I am headed to Evanston. Eric's been there (it's about 30 miles out of the city) and said it is lovely. I'm sure I'd love to visit. What I am not sure I want to do is take a bus there when I am supposed to be in my office!

You may be asking what I did at this point, and I will tell you. I jumped off the bus as quickly as I could, and I ran in the direction they were all pointing and telling me to go. I have no idea why I ran, especially given the three inch Steve Madden's I was wearing. But I did, for about a block. Then I did what I should have done in the first place. I called my office, and I asked somebody to give me directions back to work!

What did I learn? What lessons do I have for those of you moving to the city? Or even just visiting the city? Here is what I learned ::

• The bus numbers are important, yes. But what is more important is knowing that you have to catch them on the correct side of the road. My mistake was catching the 22 Bus headed away from my building. If I had stood on the other side of the road, I would have caught the 22 Bus headed towards my building.
  
• Always look at directions before you go anywhere. Google has a great system that allows you to get directions walking, driving, or by public transport. Use this.
• If you are only interested in public transportation, and you are nto going to walk, then better than Google is www.hopstop.com. Really. Check this website out. It will change your urban life!
• When you live in Chicago, you should never have less than $15 cash in your wallet. If you follow this last piece of advice you will never have to be lost. As soon as you sense a problem, grab a cab and have the driver deliver you immediatly to your destination!

Bright Lights, Big Cities

So, as our current loyal followers (all five of them, optimistically) know we are actually not yet Chicago's Newest Newlyweds. We are, though, new to Chicago and about to be married, so I guess that's something.

Eric and I are starting this blog together, in our attempt to help anybody who may be moving to Chicago adjust. While we don't have much to offer, we will post the things that we learn, via our incredible adventures, in hopes that those people will find them, learn from them, and adventure themselves in a much less frustrating way!

Back story. We moved to Chicago just about a month ago because my job transferred me here. Eric and I met in Milwaukee, which we considered a city of substantial size. I've enjoyed a lot of traveling in my life, as has Eric who grew up outside of Atlanta. Given all of this, we were ecstatic at the thought of living in downtown Chicago. I think we even referred to it as the chance of a lifetime. And it has been. Really.

It has also been overwhelming, lively, and frustrating at times. We have about six weeks worth of back stories to post on our blog, so every new post won't necessarily be something that happened that day. But it will, we assure you, be something that has actually happened to the two of us during our time in the City. Read, enjoy, and post comments and questions frequently. We'll reply. Oh. And feel free to email us at ChicagosNewestNewlyweds@gmail.com!