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Wednesday (Day 3):
This is the day that we got to experience the true Chicago. Instead of going along the lake shore, the boys and I went downtown… into the heart of the city.
Our goal was to go to the Sears Tower in the morning and then go to a museum in the afternoon. Sounded like a simple plan, right? Hahahahahahaha...... (insert hysterical laughter here)
We had heard that taking the “L” was fun and cheap, so I figured that it would be a lot easier than driving into Chicago and trying to find a parking spot. The closest station to our “favorite” highway was in Chinatown, so that is where I chose to park.
The “L” train is situated above the ground in Chinatown, but as it nears downtown, it goes underground into a subway.
After the boys and I boarded the “L”, I noticed right away that we were the minority. Most (if not, all) of the others riding were black.
We bounced and swayed along in between stops until we reached the preferred destination for the Sears Tower. We got off and climbed the stairs back up into the sunlight. According to my map, I knew which direction we needed to go, so we just started walking. Of course, there were tall buildings all around us, so we couldn’t see the Sears Tower.
After awhile, I asked a friendly-looking woman where the tower was, but she couldn’t tell me. Hmmm… must have been another tourist, I thought to myself. So, I decided to ask someone who worked there. I found a young man with a uniform, who was a parking lot attendant. I asked him where the Sears Tower was.
Looking around, he answered, “Well… I’m not real sure. I was away for two years and I’ve only been back now for a year. I think you’re going in the right direction, though.”
WHAT?!? Sears Tower is the highest skyscraper and most recognizable building in Chicago… and no one knows where it’s at???
We kept walking. And, finally, there it was! Quite impressive!
After buying our tickets inside, we had to watch a video presentation of the history of the building before going up. It was an interesting story. After that, our group all squeezed into the elevator and got to watch a mini cartoon while we went up, up, up… to the 99th floor Skydeck. Usually, visitors get to go to the 103rd floor, but it is undergoing some changes right now. But, this level was great!
I was thankful it was all glassed in. I had been a little spooked out about the idea of being so far up, out in the open, with just a dinky fence between us and sudden death. This was soooo much better! Plus, we were able to walk all around the building, on all 4 sides. The view was spectacular! It was a little hazy off in the distance, but on a clear day, they claim that you can see up to 50 miles away… and 4 states!
Look at all the toy cars!
The Adler Planetarium that we went to yesterday is the farthest building out on the lake. The next building with a white roof, coming inland, is Shedd Aquarium.
Looking more north (in the picture below), the tall dark building with two antennas is the Hancock building. It is also open for visitors to go up to their observatory and claims to have the fastest elevator. That’s okay. The Sears elevator was enough to mess up Joshua’s head for the rest of the day, cartoon or no cartoon. :-P
Back down on solid ground once more, we spotted a McDonald’s on a corner and decided to take a lunch break. We chose a table by the window where we could watch the busy hub-bub pass by as we ate. And then, getting a little concerned that the 2-hour limit on our “L” tickets might be almost up, I hurried the boys back outside. Along the way, we spotted some pigeons of all different colors. And, being the tourists that we were, we took pictures of them. I think the passersby found us rather amusing. J
Okay, things started getting serious. I thought for sure I knew the route back to our hole underground, but as we kept walking, it just wasn’t appearing. Finally, I gave in and pulled out my map as we parked ourselves on a nearby bench. That’s when a nice black man stopped and asked us if we needed help. I told him where we needed to go and he pointed us in the right direction. After some more walking, sure enough, there was our entrance into the subway.
Just as I’d thought, our tickets had expired. This Iowa girl was a little corn-fused about how to add more time to our already existing tickets which needed to be inserted into a machine, buttons punched and more money fed into it, so I had a lady at the booth help me. I still think I paid too much money, but at this point, I didn’t care. Just take me to my car!
Actually, it was quite the experience down in the subway system. While we were waiting for our train to arrive, we got to enjoy the singing of an older black man. He was singing spiritual songs and hoping that people would drop some money into his bucket. He was a pretty good singer, too. Now, whenever I hear “Lean on Me”, I will think of him.
I wish I could’ve taken pictures of him and others around town, but I wasn’t sure what the privacy policy is on taking pictures of other people. I suppose I could have asked him, but I was already feeling a little uncomfortable down in the dimly-lit subway and I didn’t want to cause a ruckus. I had already smiled at a baby behind me who was making cute little sounds and the parents looked back stone-faced, so after that it was, “Okay, you mind your business and I’ll mind mine.” J
It was nice to get back to “our” car again. I thought we might still have time to fit in a museum, so I decided to drive on through Chinatown, keep on Cermak Road and head on over to the lake. Well, I kept driving… and driving… and driving… but the lake just wasn’t coming into view. I figured it must be because things always look closer on maps than they do in real life, so I kept going.
And then I came to Harlem. Uh-oh! That’s when I realized that I had been going in the opposite direction all that time! Somehow, I had gotten mixed up back in Chinatown.
That’s also when Joshua decided that he needed a restroom really bad. This wasn’t exactly the place I wanted to be for a bathroom stop, but I had no choice. And, it made me even more concerned about our safety when we walked into Popeye’s and the sign on the restroom door said “POLICE WILL BE CALLED IF ANYONE IS IN HERE FOR OVER 5 MINUTES”. Gulp!
An old, black “bag lady” who was all stooped over didn’t help calm my fears any either. She was standing at a pay phone right next to Samuel and me as we waited for Joshua to get done and was muttering (and sometimes swearing) under her breath about “somebody gonna call da police” when Joshua was taking so long. After awhile, though, I became a little amused, if not saddened, by her antics. I never did see her face, but she was constantly rummaging through her plastic shopping bags as if looking for something. But all I could see in her 5 or so bags was just more plastic bags and shopping ads… nothing of any substance.
When the boys and I were safely back in the car, without being murdered or escorted away by the police, we had a pow-wow and decided that we’d just get back on the highway and head for our hotel. I think we all were worn out by that time.
We relaxed and watched some tv back in our room for a little while before picking up Norman. This time we ate at Denny’s and then the guys had their normal routine of playing in the pool.
I noticed that some of us might run out of certain clothing items before the end of our stay, so I threw a load of laundry into the washer on the second floor. Since this was off-season, there weren’t very many people in this hotel and our room was located on the first floor.
However, tonight there was quite a commotion on the second floor. It seems that a group of young people had gotten rooms up there for a wild night of partying. They were in the hallway carrying on, so instead of taking the elevator, I walked clear down to the end of our hallway and took the flight of stairs up. That way, I could go right over to the laundry room and ignore the carousers as best as I could. It worked out okay until my guys were all in bed asleep and I had to go up late into the night… all by myself. Well, not quite by myself. I was praying the whole way. J
(Coming up… Day 4 and the robbery!) | 
