Thanks again to Laurel for last week's monumental Hawaii entry. Now we're moving to somewhere a bit less exotic. Yes, you guessed it: Illinois. Like many Illinois travelers, my experience doesn't go far beyond the Chicago metro area. I'll hit on that in a second. First, the rest of the state.
Really no clue. I've driven through south-central Illinois and I've driven through southern Illinois. Not much to say about south-central Illinois since it was 2:00AM and I couldn't see anything. The truck stops were commodious and clean at least. There weren't many truck stops in southern Illinois though. Just farms. I went about 100 miles with no gas station. I had to get off the highway and explore a little farm town to keep the car going. I finally found a small gas station. You know, the kind that closes at 8:00.
So enough of all that. Dull unless you live there I guess.
Chicago on the other hand is a fantastic city. Great architecture, great food, great music. I've visited Chicago only a few times. I did spend a summer across the lake in Evanston. That's back when I wanted to act for a living. Ah, what a summer. We were each given plays to be in. About fifteen kids to a play. Mine was the worst. It was a Suffragette Movement play that featured clowns. I had to wear a little red nose and all. We took tumbling classes. Fucking hoot I tell you. All my friends said it wasn't as bad as I made it out to be. But it was. Trust me. Clowns are annoying enough. Mediocre actors who think they're great pretending to be clowns? Ca-fucking-tastrophe.
Chicago gets a bum deal, mostly because of its weather. The winters are cold in real temperature but downright satanic if you include the wind chill. It's that mammoth lake. The lake literally has beaches for the summer that turn to ice fields in the winter. Not that the summers are pleasant. They can be, but when a heatwave hits, you may as well just camp out in the frozen section of your favorite supermarket. A vicious heatwave vanquished the region when I lived there. I was at Northwestern in an un-airconditioned dorm and holy shit. You see, the whole place is really insulated for the winter time. Meaning the humid air gets trapped and never leaves. Damn, what sad memories.
But if you can get over the weather, it's a city of many charms. A small town in a massive metropolis' body. Jen always hates on the place because it's "landlocked." To me Echo Park feels more landlocked than Chicago. Unless you've seen Lake Michigan, it's hard to get it fully. Chicago is not a landlocked city by any stretch. Sure, the sea is inland, but it's still a sea... Basically. And it's not like Jen likes the beach! She never goes in the water, and she hates sand. We'll visit one day and she'll see.
Not much else to report. It's worth mentioning that Brian over at Two Points Collapsing hails from outside Chicago. Let's give Brian a hand, shall we!
Oh and one more thing. For those who saw the Dark Knight (which is almost certainly everybody), Chicago is the stand-in for Gotham.
1 comment:
yeah! i love illinois! or at least, i also love chicago, and also think most of the rest of the state is only good for its ability to produce grain for the rest of us.
some day we should organize a big trip to chicago and show everyone how great it is!
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