Chicago

Published 8:52 am Friday, October 21, 2022

Lorie Ann Simpson

Chicago, the Windy City. We were fortunate to visit that incredible city last week on our vacation. I am afraid Chicago has a stereotype surrounding it. Hey, I am a member of the Chicago Wednesday night club. I especially love watching Chicago PD. So, I know there is crime there. Before our trip, I would ask for prayers for our safety especially traveling. And I would add, “please pray I don’t get murdered in Chicago.” But now, I am pleased to admit that I was wrong about being so scared of Chicago.

Once we arrived at our hotel, we could leave our bags at the front desk because our room wasn’t ready yet. We parked the car in a parking garage which was a first for me, and we went exploring on foot. The buildings were so tall and majestic. We visited the Bean. My stepson’s teacher told him about it. It was very cool to see. I got my first Chicago dog, hold the Chicago. In other words, a plain hot dog. But it was still very good.

My husband found a comic books store. It was so neat to see him exploring a new store with all of his favorite characters coming to life in those books. After a quick lunch, we walked back to our hotel. The room was on the seventh floor, and it was very nice. Our view from our room of the city was spectacular. It was fun to look out the window and see all the traffic below and the office building windows across the road. We enjoyed a famous deep-dish Chicago stuffed pizza for dinner that night. Words cannot describe how amazing that pizza was.

The next day, we got up early and had breakfast at the hotel. Our view was of the bustling city while we ate. We went exploring again and souvenir shopping. Next was our walking tour of the city. It was called the Ghost and Gangsters tour, but it was much more. It was an hour and forty-five-minute walking tour, and we saw many more parts of the city than we ever could on our own. Plus, we learned things that were not widely popular. After our tour, we retired to our hotel room and reflected on our adventure.

All in all, it was a wonderful time in the Windy City. My takeaway from it all – I owe Chicago an apology. It wasn’t nearly as scary as I thought it would be. The vendors and shop owners were much nicer than I thought they would be. The sights and sounds and foods were marvelous. All the walking did me good. Some things were sad such as the people begging on the street corners. But we have that here as well. The driving was insane, and I wasn’t even the one driving. And horn blowing, everyone blows their horn at you if you are not fast enough to move. But it was a marvelous trip, and I can’t wait to return for another visit.