Deal's Gap - Sept.6-7th 2007, Chicago

Day 6 & 7 - Albert Lea, MI to Chicago IL
Time & distance: 7 hrs. 15 mins, 587 kms
States crossed: Wisconson & Illinois

Another day on the super Interstate highway. Today, we had to be in Chicago so that I can have my tires changed. It is at the wear bar and screaming out to be replaced. The day was going smoothly and we covered a lot of ground until we got close to Chicago. We lost each other and I continued on to the bike shop hoping that my party will be there waiting. To my dismay, they were no where in site when I got there. After a hectic guess & search, we managed to re-group and then headed towards downtown Chicago.

Chicago was one of the two planned rest cities. The idea was to stay here more than a night to get some R & R. We checked into the Travel Lodge right by the Loop (downtown of Chicago loving called such because of the loop that the overhead commuter trains make around this busy area). We found the people to be very friendly. The city is beautiful with lots of architecture to see, so that was a treat for me.
After checking in, we decided check out the restaurant scene and went for a nice dinner at a new highly recommended restaurant called Gage. The interiors were beautiful, reminescent of an old train station. The decor pieces were very fitting and reminded me of the early 1900's. The food was excellent and an inviting change from all the fast food we've been having on the road. The server was really friendly and openly suggested some great night spots in town. It was very tempting, but having a long day of lost and found, we decided to just walk across the strret to Millenium Park instead.

Millenium Park is a 24 acre public park and cultural centre built over old railroads just in time for the new millenium. It consists of many public areas, one of which is a Frank Gehry designed outdoor music pavillion. Another cool area is the Crown Fountain designed by artist Jaume Plensa. It consists of two 50 foot tall glass block towers with an oversize video image of a person's face projected onto the side of the tower. There are a few different faces that were taken from a cross-section of 1000 Chicago residents. The cool thing is that these faces don't appear to do much, but if you wait long enough, their mouth starts to pucker up and water spouts out from it. Children really enjoy this fountain and it's especially funny seeing some of the unknowing children be by startled by this sudden burst of water over where they are standing. The inspiration was apparently the Gargoyles traditionally found at the top of buildings, but here they used residents instead.
Another very cool attraction in this park is Cloud Gate or loving called "The Bean" by the locals. It's a mirror polished stainless steel elliptical sculpture that's visibly seamless. Designed by Anish Kapoor, this sculpture is like a giant kidney bean which reflects and distorts the cityscape in weird and wonderous ways. It is so captivating, you can spend hours just looking at reflections from different angles. I was like a little kid in a fun house of mirros. Pictures can not do it justice. In fact, we liked it so much we went back again in the day time the next day. I would recommend anyone to make a trip to Chicago, even if it was just to see this.
Our 2nd day in Chicago was spent mostly sight seeing. We joined an architectural boat cruise tour which pointed out significant buildings and history along the Chicago river. After the tour, I commuted out to pick up my bike and the rest of the gang continued to play tourists.

I under-estimated the commute out to the sub-burb town where the bike dealer was and missed them by 15 mins. I had no choice but to commute back into downtown and hence wasted a total of 6 hours! It was a good thing I'm on vacation because I would be really pissed if it happened at home where my time is always prescious. I had no choice but to make the best of it. I guess this is when the PDA games come in handy.