We got on the train that arrives at Union Station at 9:40 AM and had them meet us at the station. We thought we would start the day by letting them experience the world famous Lou Mitchell's for breakfast.
Their foreign exchange student on the right and her friend on the left.
The original plan for the day was to get them out of the Loop and Mag Mile area and into some Chicago neighborhoods that are not touristy. That changed however when we found out that it was Chicago's big Saint Patrick's day parade. The first big event of a Chicago Saint Patrick's day celebration is the river is dyed a bright unnatural fluorescent green. So after breakfast we followed the Chicago river up to the Michigan Avenue bridge where the dye is added. I have never seen it in person and did not realize how bright green it actually gets.
The river dying started at 10:45 AM, and the parade was scheduled to start at noon. We knew that Jackie had a lunch break at noon and she said she was probably going to a Corner Bakery that was near the conference for lunch. We went to the Corner Bakery to see if we could intercept her and take her to the parade. We couldn't find her so walked down to Jackson and Columbus to watch the parade. I was disappointed I didn't get to see any bagpipes. We got there a little after it started so maybe they were at the front of the parade. I love the pipes and drums.
Except for the green beer that was all of the Saint Patrick's day festivities we knew of, so we thought we would take the Brown Line to the Belmont stop and walk around there for a bit. We thought the girls would like Hollywood Mirror and The Alley, but it was just too different for them. I bought an African shirt at The Alley that I almost bought the last time I was there. I will post a picture of me wearing it later.
On the way to the Belmont stop a group of drunk girls celebrating Saint Patrick's day got on the train. One of the girls, from head to toe, could have been a Playboy playmate, and Sheri and I made a face at each other with a look that said "A hot girl that could be a Playboy playmate has her butt about 4 inches from my face." Well lucky me, she took a liking to your humble narrator. She offered me some of her vodka. Put her green feather boa around my neck. Took our picture. Told me she only moved here 7 months ago from north west Indiana. This was only the second time she had taken the L. (This was the point where she earned the trixie label.)
It was also fun that they kept forgetting they were on a moving train and kept forgetting to hold on. They crashed into me multiple times which was much better than a first date if you know what I mean. After a while she sat in the seat in front of us next to Jake. Her other friend sat on her lap. Her friend put her hand on my knee to steady herself thinking it was her friend's knee. I didn't say anything. I was surprised she didn't look as good in the pictures as she did in person. Sheri agreed she was adorable though.
We hopped back on the L to make sure we were at the hotel when Jackie was scheduled to be done with her conference at 4:00 PM. We got there a little early so we got some drinks, relaxed, and watched the Ohio State game at the hotel bar.
When we met up with Jackie she was starving because she had almost nothing to eat all day. We decided to walk to the Near North and see what we could find. We ended up at Big Bowl. I had some spicy Szechuan eggplant. Very good.
It was going on 5:30 PM and they had a 5 hour drive ahead of them, so we said our goodbyes in front of the restaurant and we made our way back to Union Station. We walked the whole way back and I wish we would have taken the L because I had a blister on each foot and drank too much water with dinner and painfully needed a restroom.
We got the 6:30 PM train back home. There was an old crazy guy a couple seats in front of us that provided us with some entertainment. Too much stuff to write about everything but I will give a couple of highlights. He sat next to a guy that looked trapped. It was fun to watch the expression on the trapped guy's face. At one point the crazy guy was reading the fine print to the trapped guy from a couple of McDonald's coupons. When they unplug the train from the station power and switch over to the train generators they have to turn the lights off for a minute. When the did this the crazy guy belted out and scare everyone with "Turn on the lights! I'm trying to read!" He was wearing TWO pairs of prescription glasses. I don't know how he could see anything. He had a pair of Christmas-themed suspenders on. His pants where about half way to his armpits. He was proudly telling the trapped guy how he didn't need to wasted a plastic spoon to eat his McDonald's ice cream sundae. He just uses the lid. Then he proceeded to take a big ball of napkins that were rubber-banded together out of his pocket. He took of the rubber bands and revealed, what else, a McDonalds ice cream sundae. He then started to eat it with the lid and made a sticky mess of himself. He had a two-foot piece of paper towel from the men's room and used that as a bib. I should have taken a picture.
On the way home we stopped and got some fat-free no sugar added ice cream, a banana, pretzels, and some double-chocolate syrup so we could make sundaes.
We got home, took showers, changed into our PJ's, made sundaes, and crashed on the couch and watched TV. We both felt achy in certain spots from all the walking we did. I had blisters on both feet, my right calf was cramping, and, as expected, my back and neck were sore. Sheri's felt a little sore in her hips. We both fell hard asleep on the couch and then went upstairs around 1 AM.
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