I crawled out of bed after Cindy left for work and decided to schluff off the jet-lag and lethargy and go out for a jog. True it had just dropped below freezing and the with the wind coming off the lake it would be much colder, but that should certainly to the trick for waking me up. And it did. I headed towards Lake Michigan with the wind in my face, jog along a little bit of shoreline, taking in absolutely incredible views of the city, all the while treating myself to a free microdermabrasion. It was invigorating and inspiring.
Now to try and share some of this new found energy and resolve with Skye.
I told her "Today was a new day and we were going to really see Chicago. Today we were going to wake up early and get up and get out. But....
First back to Numero Due to pick up the credit card I accidentally left there the night before.
After picking up the forgotten card, we started our hike toward the Chicago History Museum.
We made our way up Michigan Ave, through the ritzy section known as Magnificent Mile, pointing out as many buildings as I could remember from the architectural tour and the guide books, we weaved through the Gold Coast neighborhood, all the time getting blown around and learning beyond question why Chicago got the nickname, the Windy City.
We made it to the museum at around lunch time, which was unfortunate because we already had a lunch destination and this meant that we wouldn't have much time and we would be hungry to boot. I considered getting lunch first and then coming back to the museum, but I had plans on making it to another museum or attraction in the afternoon. In retrospect, I wish I would have taken that course of action because it was a really interesting museum and deserved more time than we gave it. Oh well, you know what they say about 20-20 hindsight.
School was in session.
One of the things that I love about home schooling is that you can go at your own pace. You can linger at exhibits that interest you and skip past others. Judging from what I've seen over the years at museums across the country, the school field trips feel more like a vacation or get-out-jail excursion than a learning experience which is too bad because there is so much to learn and the exhibits and presentations have become very user friendly.
Like many museums these days, they had an audio tour. Without this or a guided tour museums can be pretty horrible for Skye given her dyslexia, however if she can throw on some headphones she is completely engaged. I like it because I can check out the exhibit while listening and more often than not the audio-guide will go into greater detail than the plaques generally offer.
I still do love the written word.
Anarchy, misunderstood then, and still very much misunderstood.
My tattoo probably wouldn't have gone over so well back then.
I had of course learned about the Haymarket Affair in school but this exhibit brought it to life and I finally realized the events import. Funny after all these years....
I continue to be amazed at the sacrifices some are willing to make.
Chicago's history and story is incredible. I had no idea how significant this country was and is to our nation. So glad that I have finally been able to make it here and to explore.
Home schooling has reinforced in me something I already knew, that is the more I know and learn the more I realize I don't know and how much I have to learn.
I share this sentiment completely but am worried about what, how and why we "educate".
My photo choices were odd to say the least, as there were great exhibits on the city's beginnings,
the Great Fire, unions, the blues, architecture, the '68 Democratic convention and the riots that followed and more and more. But....
Skye's audio guide ran out of power and we were running dangerously low as well.
It was raining outside and we still had a mile and a half to go, so we grabbed a cab and were whisked away to try out another Chicago favorite, the Chicago Dog.
We journeyed long to make it to this very "authentic" hot dog stand, The Wiener's Circle.
A Chicago-style hot dog is a steamed or water-simmered, kosher-style, all-beef frankfurter on a poppy seed bun, originating from the city of Chicago, Illinois. The hot dog is topped with yellow mustard, chopped white onions, sweet pickle relish (often a dyed neon-green variety, sometimes called piccalilli[), a dill pickle spear, tomato slices or wedges, pickled sport peppers, and a dash of celery salt. The complete assembly of a Chicago hot dog is said to be "dragged through the garden" because of the unique combination of condiments.
Some variants exist, adding ingredients such as cucumber slices, but the canonical recipe does not include ketchup, and there is a widely-shared, strong opinion among many Chicagoans and aficionados that ketchup is unacceptable. A number of Chicago hot dog vendors do not even offer ketchup as a condiment.
More garden than dog. There were two pickle spears larger than the dog itself. I made Skye get the traditional dog so that she would have the Chicago experience, meanwhile at this "authentic" joint I heard the word ketchup a dozen or so times along with, request for a veggie burger, which they did indeed have. Turns out half the people in there weren't from Chicago. Ha, ha, ha..
It was a delicious dog and the fries were heavenly. Just pretty funny all the other stuff.
We headed back towards Michigan Ave, through Lincoln Park and Old Town. We had been through the Hershey store and The Ghirardelli Chocolate Company earlier and I had promised Skye a hot cocoa which helped fuel the 2 1/2 mile march through freezing winds and sporadic rain. Yummy chocolate
Skye had a delicious Sea Salt Caramel and I had a "Decadent drinking chocolate" which was amazing for the first few sips and then was too chocolaty even for me. But those first sips were to die for.
If there had been any doubt left after the first couple days it was completely erased by this experience,...I was going to gain weight on this trip, guaranteed.
A quick shot of Skye as night takes over on Michigan Avenue.
