Yes, Bike the Drive was definitely worth getting up at 5:30 a.m.. The chance to ride a bike along Lake Shore Drive with nothing except other bikes, albeit thousands of them, was much-appreciated. The annual event was orderly and well-organized, with lots of helpful volunteers, very little red tape or lines, and plenty of free food (bananas, apples, cliff bars, even designer coffee.) I was riding a borrowed 6-speed Schwinn with a very comfortable wide seat. The only minor challenge was making it up several minor inclines. Otherwise the route was flat and very scenic. I spotted sights along “LSD” I’d never seen during decades of zipping along it in my car.
We got lucky with the weather. The sky was overcast and dark at times but it never rained beyond some drizzle. At points, the sun almost came out and the lake looked beautiful, as did the dramatic skyline. What a treat to see some of the dramatic high-rise architecture along the river leading to the lake from new vantage points. And for a moment you had a feel for what might be if we were all less dependent on our gas-guzzling cars. I did recall, at times, the thrill of riding on some bike-only bridge in Copenhagen and, of course, the temporary bike-only rural roads in Iowa during RAGBRAI.
I rode a few blocks from Emma and Rockets in Edgewater to the BRyn Mawr entrance onto the Drive and rode south 8 miles to Grant Park where I met up wi5 my sister Jill and two of her friends who took the El in from Oak Park. I wanted to keep riding south but we sort of ran out of time (there are some timing issues to keep track of – and I am glad I started at 6:30 am) so we rode back north. next time, I may being my bike and ride all the way down and back, the earlier the better.
This afternoon we went to the Sunday farmers market in Logan Square and to delicious Bang Bang Pie shop, which serves, yes, pie — sweet and savory. We had excellent chocolate caramel pie and key lime pie (they’d run out of strawberry rhubarb) and sampled the chicken pot pie. Also had great homemade lemonade with free refills. We also walked Millie around E & R’s lovely Edgewater neighborhood.
We somehow managed to drive from Des Moines to Chicago last night without directly encountering any of the storms that were popping up all around us. Outside Iowa City on I-80, we saw scary looking white clouds (which may or may not have produced the tornado we learned touched down about 25 minutes before we passed through) and in Illinois, lightning lit up the dark night just south of us and north of us off and on. Needless to say, we were very happy when we got to Chicago around midnight.
Today, the weather was much more pleasant than anticipated in Chicago, sunny and warm instead of rainy. We spent two hours at the scoula on the second floor of eataly, taking a very fun cheese and wine tasting class that emma and rocket got me for my birthday. Great gift idea and we sampled 6 cheeses, and 3 “natural” wines and learned everything we ever wanted to know about to cheese from the cheesemonger.
We ended up at the Chicago history museum yesterday- we were eager to beat the heat and opted against the Singer Sargent show at the Art Institute for fear it would be too crowded and close to the lollapalooza throngs. The museum had some cool things including a temporary exhibit on Chicago blues with fun interactive elements. We made our own record covers, sang karaoke on stage with Koko Taylor (who I saw live several times) and worked a sound engineer booth. I learned that Crate and Barrel started in Chicago and had an early partnership with Marimekko, the Finnish textile design company that I learned more about in Helsinki.
Dinner at Nonnina was enjoyed by all, which was a relief since ours can be a discerning crowd. Surprised by how packed it was at 6 pm on Saturday night. Excellent Italian. We walked along the new-ish river walk and were impressed by all the hubbub, people everywhere on and off the water, at cafes, restaurants and public spaces, hanging out on docked or moving boats. The city was all lit up at night and looked great. The one potential issue is all the private boat traffic. The river is pretty narrow and there seemed to be a lot of traffic from kayakers to boat tours and public water taxis to fancy cruisers and little dinghies. Very democratic but chaotic.
With subzero temps and icy snow on the ground, Christmas 2017 in Chicago was not conductive to outdoor activity, which is a big change from last Christmas when it was so pleasant we took our dog for a romp on the beach near my stepdaughter’s condo in Edgewater. But this year, we walked as much as we could tolerate, with help from two pairs of socks, down jackets, thick scarves covering our face from the nose downward.
We enjoyed well-deserved hot chocolate at The Wormhole, a bohemian coffee house in Wicker Park and made it about a block in the bitter cold to a little boutique for some post-Xmas sale shopping. At Night, we met my old friend Polly and her husband Jamie (who drove down and around from their home in Traverse City) for dinner at a favorite restaurant, Andy’s Thai Kitchen (the one in Edgewater, which is not only more convenient to where we stay but takes credit cards).
On Wednesday we talked ourselves into thinking it was slightly warmer (it wasn’t but the sky was brilliantly blue over the icy pale blue lake) and walked from my aunt’s apartment on Astor Street to Uniqlo on Michigan Avenue for some sale-priced winter gear and then to chaotic Eataly, the Italian food madhouse for some fresh prosciutto, mozzarella and fungi pizza, sitting at a high top table in the middle of a rush of shoppers. Our only other purchase was rustic bread with cranberries and apples, which made a delicious breakfast today. We kept walking, over the river to Revival Hall, a new food court/Hall in an old building. I’m told the poke place, the bbq place (smoke) and the Thai noodle place are good to try but we only had coffee and some too-sweet bakery goods. I was Intrigued by the”Detroit-style pizza” place, something this native Detroiter never heard of before. Dinner was with my dear aunt at one of her favorite places, Shaw’s for fresh fish, creamed spinach, hash browns and peppermint ice cream with hot fudge.
Today was cold and grey. We wandered a few blocks in Andersonville, shopping at Foursided and the bookstore, Women and Children First, and ending up eating at the nearby Middle East Bakery & Grocery after we learned that Edzo’s was closed (we drove all the way to Evanston, only to discover this). Now driving in the dark across Illinois. Fortunately it stopped snowing after the city of Peru. Our best meal was Emma’s fabulous homemade Korean brisket, roasted rosemary potatoes, collard greens and chocolate cake (with ground coffee but no flour)…not available to the public, sorry.
TakeBetsywithyou 