It’s well known to most folks that I consider Kansas City (Missouri) “Home.” I lived there for twenty years. People who don’t know me that well tend to ask why I left Kansas. I didn’t, because I never lived in Kansas. I was, however, born in Illinois, and lived there until I was eight. I’ve been in Indiana for eleven years. So, eight years in the Land o’ Lincoln, twenty in the Show Me State to the West, and eleven in the armpit state to the East (yep, that’s 39 years) might lead you to think that I had traveled, at least once, to the largest city in any of the three states that I’ve resided in. Oddly enough, until I turned 39, I had never been to Chicago. Sure I’ve been to O’Hare and Midway airports, and even went to Carol Stream for some convention, but I had never actually seen the streets of the Windy City.
Along came that last birthday before “making the turn” or going “over the hill” – 39. Whatever. I look and feel good for 30, let alone 39. Hence the blog title, folks. It does surface on occasion. Anyway – in honor of my special day, NF asked what I wanted to do. I had been contemplating a day trip to a nearby city so I could catch my Kansas City Royals in action for a second time this year. As luck would have it, they were playing the Chicago White Sox on the weekend following my birthday. NF let me pick the seats, and she picked up the tickets for us. Happy Birthday, Chad! What I had originally hoped would be a sweet day-long trip to Chicago to see the Royals had just turned into a weekend trip to chill out and check out the city.
Living 2-3 hours away from Chicago for over a decade, one might expect that I had traveled far enough in that direction that I wouldn’t see such a spectacular sight along the way. Little did I know, even after seeing parts of these on trucks heading up the highway in the past, that so many enormous energy-providing windmills are right up the road from me.
Obviously, Indiana is great for these, because it’s so gosh-darned flat here.
Lots of folks in Indy are Bears fans. I am not particularly, but I am a fan of Jay Cutler since he was with the Denver Broncos. It was cool to see Soldier Field as we drove past it.
I wasn’t singing the Superbowl Shuffle, but I did have to say “Da Bears” in my head fifteen times.
I was also unaware, that the fine looking fountain from the intro to Married With Children would be visible along the way.
NF was keeping as much as she could a surprise, making the entire weekend more fun by the minute. She had booked the hotel room and wasn’t going to tell me where until she absolutely had to say. She didn’t know that our friend BK had spilled the beans the day before, but he would not have been able to describe the view. It was incredible!
After checking in, it was time to go see some stuff. All I had in mind was to wander the streets to see what I could see. We headed to the Magnificent Mile, even though it was a little late to shop. Along that mile is a store that I know my daughter would have loved a couple of years ago. Hopefully now she’s outgrown the desire to continue this pricy collection.
Making the choice to check out the shops while they were closed was an excellent idea. There are a few places that I could spend days and a few months salary. I’ll plan a longer trip once the kids are done with college. Walking for a couple of hours had really built up the appetite, and it was beginning to rain. NF and I decided we’d stop in at Jake Melnik’s. The menu is full of tantalizing subjects, the first of which caught my eye was the Hickory Smoked Half Chicken:
That’s right! Kansas City Style! But wait. I am hungry enough to eat half a chicken. Am I sure I just want chicken? Probably not, so how about the burger selection? Just then, I spotted Jake’s Smokin’ Que Burger. It’s wrapped in BBQ spiced bacon & slow-smoked, topped with BBQ pulled pork, crispy beer battered onions, cheddar cheese & BBQ sauce. You read correctly. A burger topped with pulled pork!
Of course it wouldn’t have been a full experience without seeing people displaying their big-city personas. While we were waiting for the rain to stop and finishing dinner, we had the very distinct pleasure of witnessing something I know I’ve never seen before. Without a hint of discretion, across the street from our window seats, was a lady (term used way too loosely) who simply stopped at the corner of the sidewalk in the rain. She leaned forward a bit so her hair blocked sight of her nethers, dropped what she was wearing below her waist to her ankles, squatted for a few seconds, then pulled ‘em right back up and walked away. “There’s nothing to see here. Keep moving, folks.” Seriously, we couldn’t get a camera out quickly enough, so there’s none of that to see here. Still, unbelievable.
We had reached the end of the night on the town, and decided to head back to the hotel.
The walk back was pleasant. Across from our room, there seemed to be apartments, whose residents are not particularly fond of window coverings. We must have spent an hour just spinning stories of what was going on a block away. There were art thieves, an internet porn mogul, and several other interesting souls (in our heads anyway).
Aside from seeing my Royals, what could happen on day 2 to top this?
