Dear Rachel,
Perfect weather here in Chicago. I have done a lot of walking and running during my two days here. This morning I ran over to the old Meig's Field, called Northerly Island, or Maggie Daily Park. When I got near the Planetarium I could not locate the park and asked passing runners if they knew how to get there. Nobody had heard of it, one guy completely ignored me, another almost got hit by a bike after speaking with me. I walked around without any luck, asked another person who looked just as confused as the others, but when I mentioned it was the old Meig's Field, his face lit up, and said "Oh yeah, it is over that way, but I think it is just a large parking lot". I was not impressed when I heard it was still paved over, but I had gotten that far, so I decided to jog over to it, and found that the guy knew the location, but had obviously never visited. I found a large prairie field, with a single paved bike path looping the center. I saw 3 or 4 bikers on the path, and nobody on the dirt prairie trails. It was nice to have some solitude, and I saw two rabbits and a red winged black bird, which is unheard of in Chicago, haha. I then ran north and stopped at Belmont Harbor. I walked to our old apt and saw that it is going to be a bar called "Revoluzion". I walked into T.I. and bought a breakfast of raspberries, yogurt, Cliff Bar, chocolate milk, chia seed juice (!), banana, and a small bottle of kefir. I took the food back to the park at the harbor and sat in the shaded grass and had a little picnic. I walked to the bus stop in front of Temple Shalom, which is where I used to pick up the bus in the summer's to go to Morningstar. I jumped on a 145 Express and watched the lake go by, remembering the emotions of so many years ago. I got off at my usual stop next to Water Tower Place on Michigan Ave, stopped in the old church one block away and listened to organ music while reading a few proverbs, then I sauntered down the Magnificent Mile and then back to the hostel. I was planning to take a nap but I still had energy, and knowing I had to get up at 2:45am, decided it was best not to nap, so I took the Red Line subway back to Belmont, and walked around looking for an Indian Restaurant. Standard India is no more, and the two other Indian restaurants in the area are also gone. The day before I ate at Hema's Indian restaurant on Clark, which I found by chance, and it was excellent. I decided to walk to it and have lunch there again. By this time I had walked/ran almost 15 miles, so my appetite was getting large. I ordered 2 samosas, sag paneer, rice, naan, and a Coke. I finished everything except a 1/4 of the naan. I was planning to take the bus back to the hostel, since it was 3 miles away, but I still felt good, so started walking, and 90 minutes later made it to the hostel.
About the hostel - clean, fun and polite employees, and my 9 roomies did not make a peep last night. Right now I am in my room and two others are here, and they are asleep at 7:21 pm. I will also soon be sleeping. I was thinking the shared bathroom would be a drag because the entire floor uses the same one, but every time I have been in it, it is has been empty. So my first hostel experience has been a positive one.
Tomorrow I will be in Eugene for a new adventure.
Included are some pictures I made along the way yesterday....
Love, Jim
