Chicago, March 2006

The high school marching band that I work with was invited to participate in the 11th Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in Chicago, Illinois. I was given the opportunity to travel with the band, and since Phil and I have been talking about moving to Chicago, I jumped at this opportunity. It was an exhausting, yet very enjoyable trip.

Thursday: After a long day of school (the last week of FCAT combined with the impending Spring Break antics), we all loaded onto three charter buses to embark on the 24-hour drive to Chicago, Illinois.

Friday: After approximately three meal stops, a few bathroom breaks, two or three restless naps, 29 chatty kids (on my bus) that refused to sleep, and three dvds, we finally pulled into Chicago at 2:30 pm central time. We unloaded the buses and headed to our hotel rooms. Tracey and I roomed together, so we decided to take a quick tour of the hotel and then rested for a little while. That evening, we set out for our first group excursion: dinner at Ed Debevic's (www.eddebevics.com) and Wicked (http://www.wickedthemusical.com/Chicago/). Ed Debevic's was very interesting: the servers insulted you, yelled for various reasons, and then jumped onto the tables to perform a poorly choregraphed lip-sync to a cheesy pop song. If I wasn't still in grad school, I'd quit teaching and work at this place--I'd fit right in. Wicked was awesome! It's my favorite musical, so I could watch it over and over; the best part was watching the kids enjoy it. They loved it! Many of them had read the book and/or listened to the soundtrack, so for them to see it all come to life was an amazing experience.

Saturday: We woke up early to prepare for the parade, got dressed, and marched over to the parade site. We stood around for a few hours just waiting for the parade to begin. It was quite amusing watching all the drunk people look at the marching band. At one point, a group of drunk college students came over to the band to take pictures. I am not sure who was more fascinated, the drunk college students or the band members taking all this in. It was a chilly morning but by step-off time, noonish, it was in the 60s. Apparently this was a pretty abnormal day, weather-wise. One of the camera guys told us that it is normally in the 20s on parade day. The parade commentators told the crowd that the band from Florida brought the weather with us and even talked about us on the news--the kids got a kick out of that. Once the parade was over, we walked over to see the toxic green river. I guess it is a city tradition to dye the river green right before the parade begins each year. The kids didn't really care, but I was entertained. I think the kids were more excited by the skyscrapers than the green river. We headed back to the hotel to get ready for our next group excursion: dinner and dancing on Lake Michigan, off the coast of the Navy Pier (http://www.navypier.com), and then a perfomance of the Chicago Symphony (http://www.cso.org/). Dinner was good, but watching the kids dance while the boat rocked back and forth was better. Dramamine was the most requested item of the night. Once we stepped back onto dry land, we headed over to the symphony hall. Tracey and I were given the option to enjoy the city while the kids watched the symphony, something to do with limited tickets. Since Phil and I are planning on returning to Chicago in the summer, I figured I could see the symphony them when I was a little less sleep-deprived. It was not the evening on the town that you'd imagine. We ended up walking around the city just to find out that everything closes at 7 or 8 pm. So we headed over to the Sears Tower, which closes at 8 pm (we got there at 8:05). Then it started raining! Now I can say that I leaned against the Sears Tower and ate at a hole-in-the-wall restuarant.

Sunday: We got to sleep in, but then had to pack. After checking out and loading the buses, we headed to the Museum of Science and Industry (http://www.msichicago.org/). I love museums but because of our tight schedule, we only had enough time to visit one exhibit, eat lunch, and shop in the gift shop. Then we headed over to a six-story indoor mall. We didn't have much time so we shopped for touristy Chicago items. We then loaded up the buses and headed to the Briar Street Theater to watch a Blue Man Group (http://www.blueman.com/) performance. I was entertained by the Blue Man Group, but I am not sure if I'd ever go see it again. I really enjoyed watching the kids enjoy themselves with this quirky, percussion-based show. After taking pictures and getting autographs, we headed to Gino's East (www.ginoseast.com) for Chicago-style pizza, which gave me heartburn to endure on the trip home. After dinner, we headed to the Hancock Observatory to finally see the Chicago skyline at night, but because of the weather, the directors decided to head toward home. I was a little disappointed but I'm sure Phil and I will have the chance to visit this when we return in July.

Monday: It took us 25 hours to get home!! As much as I enjoyed the trip, I was excited to be back. The kids were great, and the city was awesome, making this a pretty enjoyable trip. I have decided that whether Phil goes to Northestern or not, I am moving to Chicago. I am a new fan of Chi-town.

Check out the rest of my photos: http://picturesfromthemindofaprincess.shutterfly.com/action/?a=8EYs2ThqycMOm