Chica-go: Part Uno of My Latest Trip

Big work trip of the summer... this year Chicago for a charter school conference. I usually go with the majority of our staff to our big ed-tech conference (this year in Denver) but because I have little responsibility for either event, and this year they were happening the same week, the bosses decided to send me (such a powerhouse) to an event that last year my coworker Cheri (the lead) maybe didn't have a strong enough team. So since the bosses weren't there, I feel like it gave them a little relief that I was to help hold down the fort. Although I'd have enjoyed seeing most of the staff in Denver, I was happy to have the chance to go explore Chicago. Whenever I start to feel a little... bored? over? my job, I remember that I do get cool opportunities like this chance to see Chicago. Though on work trips, I really have to make an effort to see the city. Our work schedule is not convenient for site-seeing as we usually work 6 or 7am til 5 or 6 or 7pm for days straight. At the end of that, I'm not too keen on walking. Plus it's hard to get a workout in if that's something I care about. Don't get the wrong idea- work trip really are work, and tough. But there are perks.

Luckily the first setup day wasn't too exhausting, though I did do a ton of box opening coordinating the bag stuffing which apparently wasn't even a duty of ours. Anyhow we finished at a decent hour that night and decided to explore.

That's why they call me "Legs." No really, one of trainers at my gym has nicknamed me that.

The big tourist attraction that week was The Taste of Chicago. It's hyped up to be that some of the best restaurants in the city have booths that you can buy samples from with tickets. I think it's more of fair-food but it was fun enough I suppose. I ended up going to the Taste three times so it was a little over-rated to me, and crowded, by the end.


Lots of crowd-fighting, which is not something I enjoy. I noticed that my crowd-anxiety has gone down a bit, but I still don't like trying to move through a crowd and stay with the people you're with without holding their hands. So weirdest thing I tried- it was a plantain pork dumpling. It was fried and tasted like... fried plain dough. Best thing- tie between some spinach-stuffed pizza and the Rainbow Cone (orange sherbet, pistachio, some kind of cherry, strawberry and chocolate ice cream piled high).

Nothing like an ice cream cone on a warm and balmy summer night in the city. Seriously I think I was in heaven in the picture below... simple pleasures.


There is something kinda cool about the cityscape. Not sure I'd ever want to live in a large city like that, at least for very long, (WAY too many people EVERYwhere) but something about it was impressive and interesting and pretty in its own urban way.


Oh man, one night we went to Giordano's pizzaria and had some of the best pizza ever. We had a half hawaiian half spinach and both were delicious. I swear it must have about 12x the cheese of regular pizza because it was sooooo creamy and rich and chewy and deliciously oily. Oh wow. I could eat that pizza every day. We left pretty fat and happy.





The other big highlight is that we saw Brett Dennen and Mat Kearney play at the Taste one night. Brett Dennen I like alright. He sings "Makes You Crazy" and it's pretty catchy but geez, live he did so much scatting that I thought I was going to loose it. Plus his voice can be very high-pitched and it eventually reminded me of nails on a chalkboard. Ouch. Mat Kearney actually grew up in Eugene. If you listen to "Nothing to Lose," he references being "a kid from Oregon."



So we made some pretty sweet signs (see below) and held them up for him (obviously below was just for that photo). We eventually got a shout-out from him "to the ladies from Oregon. Go Ducks!" Haha, my coworkers Lisa and Cheri brought their 17 yo old daughters who work part-time in our office to work the conference and they brought out the inner-teen in the rest of us because we jumped up and down and screamed girlie screams when he gave us a shout-out. Everyone else pretty much looked at us like we were idiots, and they didn't understand our signs, and/or thought we were big enough fans to have traveled to Chicago just to see him a play a free concert.


After our work trip, I stayed an extra two nights to explore more of the city. So... I dunno if I'm just getting soft because of age or because I stay in nice hotels for work, but downgrading from the Hyatt to a hostel... not cool. My hostel experience in Boston a few years ago (also after a work trip) was great. It was pretty clean and I met some really fun people to tour the city with, one of which now lives in Chicago and I got to hang out with. But this hostel just seemed so dingy and by the time I got there I just felt sweaty and tired and wished I was still in the cushy hotel (where some coworkers were staying one extra night) and I just didn't feel like being social and having to meet new people. In any case, I ended up not being able to figure out the bus system (so confusing, especially for someone who's barely ever taken mass transit), so I taxi'd back to nearly where I'd started just to go to the Art Institute with my coworkers.

The Art Institute was cool though. I like art. I don't particularly like modern art because I don't "get it" most of the time, and/or I feel unimpressed because I feel like I could just as well splatter paint on a canvas, or paint a whole canvas black like it's some kind of interesting statement. I wish I had more appreciation for it, but there are some things I really like.

This was one of the more famous pieces they had there, Georges Seurat's "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte." I took Intro to Art 101 in college, I get it, the composition of small dots was kinda cool. (I say that and yet the texture is what I like about Jackson Pollick's pieces, as well as Van Gogh.)
But wow what a crowd around it. Same with Gustave Caillebotte's "Paris Street: Rainy Day." A little overrated I think. I missed where Van Gogh was featured. And we went in the evening on a free night so I ran out of time to explore all the sculptures they had, which looked really cool and I love ancient sculptures. But here are the select other things I enjoyed:

Monet's "Water lilies." Classic. Ya know what, it's just a lovely painting. I was actually pretty fond of several of Monet's pieces, as I've always been. They're just simple and peaceful and masterfully done.






Hubert Robert's "The Old Temple" (1787). You can't tell from the picture but this was huge. And something about the deterioration of this once-masterpiece, hauntingly lovely. Like my approach to reading Shakespeare, I try not to overthink it. If you think you get it, you probably do. Take the sense of meaning you're feeling and enjoy it.







Christoforo Stati's "Samson and the Lion" (1604-07). Also very large. Oh the epic struggle between man and beast ;)











So in my day(s) off, well the Friday I ended up working almost half the day. At least I was in a coffeeshop in Chicago working than at home, right. Then I went to the city zoo. And to the beach on the lake, which was the main thing I'd been looking forward to, just some alone time in the sun on a beach. Could've spent days just doing that. Noteworthy: there are quite a few parks in Chicago. It's actually a much greener, and more tree-d, city than I'd expected. Maybe I could do that urban life if there were enough parks.



Then fortunately both nights I was there, I met up with my friend Zita. She's the one I met at a hostel in Boston and she's a pharmacist (by day, and DJ by night, shhh, it's secret) in Chicago and young, hip and single. She was kind enough to take me up to the 96th floor of the John Hancock tower and buy me a few drinks. Wow I would need a GREAT paying job to be able to kick it with her for very long. She, of course, was very encouraging of me moving to Chicago, where there would be many more opportunities to meet awesome young professionals. Though she's on about 4 dating sites and doesn't seem to have found any winners yet either. Anyhow she's very fun to talk with and knows a ton about the city and the fun places to go and I was very happy to have gotten to hang out with her.


On the dude note, I suppose it's worth mentioning that unfortunately I did not meet any potentials on my trip. Someone bought me a drink but he was this kinda short, stuck-on-himself, 2nd-year-law-student. Ugh, men and their egos. Whatever, you're not that interesting or brilliant. I really don't know who's going to win me over at this point. I'm feeling a little cocky and like, ya know, I'm pretty awesome and want someone to really be impressive to me as well.

I did spend a fair bit of time during this trip talking to and texting a guy from eHarmony who lives in Utah. Our first phone conversation was long and he seemed really compatible in his communication style with me. But half the pictures I saw of him I wondered if I'd be attracted to him if I met him in person. Would his personality win me over? Or would I just feel like "ehh, he's cool, he could be a friend, but I wouldn't want his hands on me?" Or would I think he was handsome and just not very photogenic? We had a surprising amount of things we'd gone through in common it seemed as far as past experiences/relationships. And I was initially excited about him, despite our 11 hr distance because I guess I figured, well if Mr. Right lives elsewhere I could always move (I'm not opposed to leaving Bend), it's worth talking to him and exploring that... It's been a long time since I've really felt I had any kind of partner. And I'm really ready for one.