Hello Chicago!

Hello friends and family, the hiatus is over. The blog is back! As are Andrea, Ellie and I after our ten day adventure back to the Midwest. Herein lays the tale of said adventure—grab your popcorn and a comfy chair, Part I begins now...

We got to the airport Saturday morning thanks to our great neighbor Bob, who had his silver Chevy Impala parked in his driveway at 8:00 am sharp so we could start loading our bags and Ellie’s car seat. At the airport we checked in, got through security, changed Ellie’s diaper and fed her in preparation for her first flight. We were surprisingly calm and collected, and we knew God was blessing us from the get-go. It was kind of cool getting to go on at the first boarding call, having an infant and all. Not that we really needed any extra time to get situated: the flight was effortless. Ellie earned her wings with flying colors as she hardly made a peep the whole flight to Denver. Having a jet plane instead of a prop kept the noise level low as well as helped us get there a little faster. What is normally a four hour drive to Denver took us 45 minutes!

In Denver, we easily made our connection to our Chicago flight, and the plane we took was ginormous: three rows seating 2-5-2 across! It was heading to Amsterdam after Chicago, so it had to be big and comfy. Here, I have to give thanks to the man who gave up his aisle seat for me to sit next to Andrea for that flight—God, you know who he is. It was cool too, the flight attendant knew of our seating needs, and after she saw the man give up his seat (to go sit in the middle of the 5 seat row!), she came by and personally thanked him, saying she was going to get him a complimentary cocktail in-flight. Sweet! Little blessings are great to see in action…

So we got to watch the latest Pixar film Cars on our way to Chicago, which was a great surprise, being a huge Pixar fan and all. Andrea and I had to take our headphones off quite a bit to take care of dirty diapers, but it was still fun. This flight also seemed quick, probably because of the big plane and the tailwind from the Rockies. Needless to say, we didn’t get to finish Cars. But when we touched down in Chicago, we could have cared less, as we were greeted by a beautiful Chicago fall day. Sun was bright, sky was clear, and the temperature was pleasantly crisp. It made us wonder, “Why did we ever leave Chicago?”

After collecting our baggage (and it was baggage!), we ran out the lower level and hopped aboard our Avis rental car shuttle. It was fun being back at a place where we had flown in and out of so many times, picked up friends and been picked up ourselves. The honking horns, the yells of cops to hurry up traffic, the bus missing cars and taxis by mere inches, the overall hustle and bustle—I’ve got to be honest, it was a little nostalgic.

Getting on the bus, we had Ellie in our arms, her car seat and base connected together, a large roller bag, a carry on roller bag, Ellie’s diaper bag, and Jon’s poker set. Now I have to tell you about this poker set. A couple weeks before the trip, I sent an e-mail to all the groomsmen asking if they’d like to chip in on a gift for Jon from the guys. I had seen at Tuesday Morning (a GREAT discount store) this amazing poker set at a huge discount. It was the premium WSOP (World Series of Poker) set from 2005, with a huge aluminum case with glass front so you can see all the chips inside. And it weighed a ton! So with the groomsmen’s approval, I snagged the last one and lugged it home. Now imagine me with my 20 pound carry on from Grand Junction to Denver, then Denver to Chicago, then Chicago on the bus. This was a labor of love people! O.K., back to the Avis lot…

We went inside with our entourage of bags and baby, and started answering all those life-or-death questions about rental cars, “Do you want comprehensive coverage? Do you want to bring the car back full of gas or empty and pay for it now? etc., etc.” Once we finally jumped through the hoops, we started picking up bags and heading for the lot to search for our car out of the hundreds neatly arranged for our viewing pleasure. Here’s my thought process, “Big green roller, check. Little maroon roller, check. Diaper bag and car seat, check. Ellie, check. O.K. lets go…wait, I’m missing something.” As I’m thinking, Andrea’s out the door and walking, while I’m frozen staring at the red and white tiled floor, picking my brain. “I know my hands were carrying something else…” And then there was that dawning in my mind, you know the one, the rising of the sun on your mental darkness that issues in a wave of sheer panic, which life has taught you to quickly shove aside in crisis mode to start formulating a plan? Yeah, that was me. “Oh my gosh,” I’m saying in my head, “I left it on the bus.” We got off about ten minutes ago, it could be back to O’Hare by now! Andrea, who finally realized she was walking without me, came back as I said, “I left the poker set on the bus!” I dropped my bags and started running out the side doors to where, miraculously, I saw our bus driver helping passengers get on the bus with their luggage to ride back to O’Hare. I asked him if he’d seen any packages left on the bus, and he said no, but I was welcome to check. So I hopped aboard and scanned with my eyes from one side to the other as I paced down the aisle to where we had been sitting. There was another couple there, and I had to look under his legs to see if it was there. Sure enough, to his surprise, was the poker set. As politely as possible, I reached around his legs while saying excuse me, and pulled out my 20 lb. dumbbell. I jumped off the bus and back into the building before I could catch any stares or hear any words. With a huge look and sigh of relief, Andrea greeted me at our pile of possessions, not saying a word, and we finally got out to our car. When all of the sudden…

We realized the four door sedan we were to be driving was a gold Ford Taurus with plastic hub caps. Now I don’t know what it is with me and rental cars, but I’ve become somewhat of a snob. I think it began a few years ago when my dad and I started meeting in Phoenix for our yearly golf outing. We got to the rental car lot that year, and here were all these brand new Ford Mustangs, Chrysler 300’s with chrome rims, etc. And knowing my dad’s, oh, how should I say this, expensive taste, I knew we would be cruising under the palm trees in style. You can imagine my shock and chagrin when we stopped at this huge Ford Crown Victoria with bench seats. My jaw hit the ground about the same time as my golf clubs. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Flash forward to Chicago, and I’m stopped dead in my tracks. “Andrea, I can’t drive this around Chicago.” She’s looking at me like, “Really, you’re kidding, right?” I looked at the car again, then back at her, and my face said, “I’m dead serious.” “O.K., go talk to her.” So I went back inside, found our clerk, and asked her if we could switch to the Steel Grey, alloy rimmed Hyundai Sonata parked next to the Ford. She said she had already given us an “upgrade,” but I sweet talked her, showed her “Blue Steel” (thanks Zoolander!) and walked out with a changed rental contract. She couldn’t give me the grey one, but the blue one in the back row was ours. Disclaimer: Sorry Uncle Terry, nothing personal (he’s a Ford Dealer). And to my senior readers, I have nothing against American made cars; it’s just that the Taurus is distinctly not made for us 20-somethings.

Finally, we were driving on I-90 toward the city skyline, bags (and poker set) in the trunk, Ellie secured in the backseat. “It’s good to see you again, Chicago,” I said as I looked at our old friend, reaching across the flat expanse of Illinois. In addition to the city, we were equally taken aback by the vast expanse of R&B radio stations, and quickly found ourselves bobbing our heads to the beat as we cruised.

We had called Jon in the Grand Junction airport for driving directions, and now we were following them to his third story apartment between the Ukrainian Village and Hispanic part of town. Right on Division, left on Wood, right on Rice. We were there.

Jon met us out at the gate, and it was so good to see our dear friend. We exchanged big hugs before he helped us up the spiraling staircase to the top floor and to the apartment he and Kara had moved into the week before. It’s beautiful: the colors, the high ceilings, the wood floors, the view of the Sears Tower from their bedroom window, their decorating, all beautiful. They found the place on Craig’s List (online classified ads) a few weeks before, and got it out of several other possible renters. This was the second time we had seen Kara in context to Jon. I had seen her on campus at Trinity, and Andrea and I had officially met her a little less than a year ago on our last Chicago trip. So it was good to see her and Jon together and start knowing them as a couple. After all, we were mainly here for their wedding…

After the introductions, the ooing and awing over Ellie, Jon and I headed out to pick up some Lou Malnati’s deep dish pizza. It was a longer drive than we expected. A totaled motorcycle crash, a sea of onlookers, and a fair share of the Chicago P.D.’s finest diverted us on a scenic byway through the gentle ghetto. We had to pick up some beer as well, so we found one of the most interesting liquor stores I’d ever been to for a six pack of our favorite Hacker Pschorr. This picture of Kara, Jon and Ellie is in their living room on that first night.

The next day, Andrea and Ellie went to Wheaton to catch up with a bunch of her college friends, and some of the girls she mentored while in college. Kara had to go clean her old apartment out in the suburbs, which freed up Jon and me to go play in the city. We took the bus to the Magnificent Mile, and then started bumming around. We checked out Crate & Barrel, which is something Jon is enjoying more and more now that he’s out of the bachelor pads of the past and finding a stable, clean, home environment. We had fun at ESPN Zone, our first time there, battling each other on games like skeet shooting, rally car racing, BMX biking, and street luge. We then went into Room and Board, another modern furniture store, to sit in this leather chair Jon had enjoyed at a hotel one time. Therein, we had an awkward encounter with a gay couple who had some weird intentions—or so we think. We quickly left the store and began our search for a good Irish pub. Fado is too popular and commercialized, and we just wanted some good Guinness. With the help of our good friend Andrew Waggoner via phone, he directed us to the Celtic Crossings at 751 N. Clark. No T.V., no food, just a cool Dublin-like pub for a great chat and some great beer. Jon and I proceeded to spend the next two and a half hours in there with our two Guinness, and much to our delight, a picture of a sea captain that we named Captain Wessel in honor of Erik, who wasn’t arriving until Wednesday. Oh, how I miss those times when they’re gone… I could meet with so many cherished friends every week and share life like that. Anybody want to move to Ireland with us?

Another incredible surprise were the musicians that showed up around 6:00 to start filling the room with wonderful Irish tunes. A flute, fiddle, the Bodhran Irish drum, and a harpsichord made that last half hour seem like we were right on “the isle.” Pulling ourselves away, we hopped the bus on the corner back to Jon’s place. Andrea met us there shortly, and we traveled to the Portillo’s drive thru in Chicago for some pasta, burgers, and chocolate shakes/malts to bring back to the pad.

So much to tell, so little time: time to take a breather. Part II, and possibly Part III, will be coming your way later in the weekend or early next week. Lots of pictures to share as well. Love to All!

Peace and Blessings,

Graham, Andrea & Ellie