The cleanest public restroom I have ever seen

Saturday, May 23^rd, 2015.
Chicago, IL

Its 9am in Chicago (7am in LA… also known as earlier-than-I-have-to-wake-up-for-work) and I am slowly waking. I am completely engulfed in a slowly deflating air mattress. It’s strangely comfortable though; I feel like I’m being hugged. Eventually I navigate my way out of the center of the air mattress and get ready for the day. We all three enjoy a continental breakfast in Erin’s kitchen. We have a full day of Chicago awesomeness planned and I cannot wait to get started.

Our first order of business is to take the train into town for a boat tour of downtown Chicago. We will be meeting another long-lost AmeriCorps friend named Zakiya.

One the way to train station I mentioned to Erin that I would like some coffee. She assures that there will be plenty of coffee on the way to the station. There is not. 2 train rides later (and the train is awesome, by the way) we are in central Chicago. As we meander through the city to the docks on the river I am hawk-eying potential coffee shops and continue to come up short. I ask Eric for coffee a fourth time and she recommends 711 (a recommendation that can ony be given in earnest by a true non-coffee drinker).  10 more coffee-less minutes pass by and as I lose all hope we pass by a Starbucks. Crisis averted.

Soon we arrive at the dock for our tour boat; this is where we will meet Zakiya. I make a quick scan of the crowd and recognize her immediately. She looks exactly the same.

We politely line up and board the tour boat. We are ready! The tour is pretty cool. The buildings downtown come right up to the edge of the river. I have never really looked at buildings up until now. They are both majestic and awesome. We all take a ton of pictures, become slightly sunburned, and end up back where we started. 

Our next order of business is to walk around downtown, where Erin will show us lots of pubic art. First we visit Millennium Park, which has an enormous amphitheater and the cleanest public restrooms I have ever seen. From there we go to the bean and I get my obligatory photo (bucket list!). It is super crowded, but it’s a beautiful day and I can’t really blame all of those people for wanting to go to the park. We visit a few other famous outdoor art exhibits, including a courtyard filled with giant legs. It’s so freaking cool.

Finally we are exhausted and starving and Erin takes us to her favorite Indian restaurant. This is where we part ways with Zakiya, vowing to meet up again later.

Next we head to beach. Yes, the beach. Lake Michigan looks like an ocean and the buildings come right up to the sand. It’s incredible. After walking around and stopping for coffee / tea, we are all exhausted. It’s officially time for happy hour.

Erin has arranged for happy hour at a rotating bar on top of a very, very tall building. We have to wait a while for a table, but it’s worth the wait. The view is awesome and we order several rounds of drinks. The conversation quickly turns to memories of AmeriCorps. Erin remembers how I yelled Eli and his girlfriend one time for taking too long in the shower. I have no recollection of this, but I am proud of my past self. The conversation progresses and I realize that I barely remember anything that happened 10 years ago. Even though I have no memories, I still feel nostalgia for that time in my life. After 3 glasses of wine and a few small plates, we are ready to leave.

We take a cab over to an improv theater in Andersonville. I am really looking forward to seeing the late show. We stand in line and eventually learn that we are waitlisted. Soon we learn that we are not attending the late show at all. We are bummed but also ready to explore Andersonville. We end up at a small pub down the street. After a big plate of fries and several rounds of beer, we decide that we are exhausted. After all, it was a pretty big day.

We Uber back to Erin’s house and pass out for the night. Tomorrow is our last full day in Chicago. So much more to see!