Chillin' in Chicago

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My recent jubilation at the advent of spring may have been somewhat premature as I’ll describe shortly.

We managed to get our packing finished on Sat with Sharon’s checked bag 33 lbs and mine at 44 (just under the limit) so that was good. However, the carryons are another story since they were both close to 25 well over the supposed 11 lb limit. We’ll move some stuff into Sharon’s checked bag before our first internal flight and some of mine into a backback. From what Sharon has read we should be ok.

Sharon had warned me a couple of days ago that incredibly snow was being forecast for Chicago on Monday (today), the very day that we planned to drive to Chicago. This morning we awoke in southern Ohio, to heavy intermittent downpours. Sharon even reported witnessing some hail while I was at the gym for my final pre-trip early morning racquetball game. We were on the road by 9:30am, and we had a steady rain until Indianapolis. We stopped for lunch at a Steak-and-Shake. Sharon would have preferred Cracker Barrel or Burger King but I wanted chicken. Sharon of course had a burger… plain… bun and meat only. She was anticipating a nice symbolic “Last Supper” later in the afternoon; which, she imagined would include a baked potato and a filet (and not much else). I ordered the Spicy Baja Jalapeño Chicken sandwich; although, I don’t know why I bothered. When I order this back in Ohio, I inevitably wind up with the Spicy Baja Jalapeño Steak-burger sandwich. And when our sandwiches did arrive I noticed, that it was a steak-burger and not the chicken which I clearly enunciated, pointed to in the menu and confirmed when our waitress read back the order. I would normally just eat what they brought, because I like the steak-burger version of the sandwich as well, but what they brought me was not even that. I tried to flag down the waitress, but instead got the hostess or manager. I pointed out that I had not gotten the Spicy Chicken Sandwich I’d order, and from her response I discerned that this must happen a lot because she said they sometimes get that mixed up with the Spicy Steak-burger sandwich, but I showed her it was just a Cheeseburger. They made it right, but I took some extra time.

The rain had stopped by the time we hit the many wind-powered generators in Indiana heading to Chicago on I-65. And once in Illinois we began the experience traffic, getting heavier the closer that we got to O’Hare. And then I thought I spotted a snow-flake. Before long, there was no doubt. Snow was coming down (not staying around with an outside temperature of about 37-degree). But it was snow, nonetheless. Especially as we waited 20 mins for a train crossing not far from the hotel.

We checked in to the Country Inns & Suites near O’Hare. Being tired, we decided to check the Internet for some nice nearby restaurant using MapQuest. Sharon had to expand the area search three times before several potential eateries showed up that weren’t clearly ethnic choices (e.g. like Chinese). We found a Bar-BQ place just a couple blocks away that looked promising. When we got there, it didn’t look open. Sharon noted that the hours of operation went from 6 to 2 on Mondays. Upon second glance we realized that that was 6am to 2pm, so this wasn’t going to work, even if we waited until 6pm. We settled at another restaurant across the street called Mr. Beef and Pizza. Sharon settled for a burger… plain of course; while, I ordered the gyro platter. Sharon said her burger was tasteless. The fries were good, as was the gyro. Since we’re staying at the same hotel the night we get back from China we’re going to have to come up with a better idea for dinner.

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