Arriving in Chicago! (part one)

I'm exhausted after nearly 5 entire days of moving nonstop with the exception of sleep, but I'm going to try to at least give an overview of my journey to and first few days in Chicago.

Friday

Dad and I left Baltimore on Friday around noon to start the 11 hour drive to Chicago. From the start we had no intention on driving the entire distance in one day, so it was a fairly relaxed drive. We went out on 70 right past Frederick and then got on the Pennsylvania turnpike. I was sad to learn that we weren't going as far as Sidling Hill (see pic) before entering PA, but I got to see it from a distance. We wouldn't have stopped either way, but it would have been cool to see it again.

From the PA turnpike we hopped on the Ohio turnpike where we stopped at the first rest station. It was there I literally saw a woman get out of her car and then put her wig on in the parking lot. So classy, Ohio, so classy. Other than that and three buses full of high schoolers, Ohio was fairly uneventful. Dad and I made it almost completely through but decided to stay in Maumee (just outside of Toledo) for the night. We grabbed dinner at Cracker Barrel (where I bought some Silly Bandz for Cam and Coop-- they requested them before I left MD) then pretty much called it a night.

Saturday
The hotel in Maumee was pretty nice and I was able to get some good sleep, surprisingly, and waking up on Saturday was hard. Stupid comfortable beds. When I finally got up (mind you this was at 9am, not super late) I went downstairs and fought through hoards of North Dakota State University athletes for some breakfast. Dad had already ate, so when I finished we packed up the car and left Maumee and in no time we ended up in Indiana.

Indiana wasn't bad. It was I think my first time in the state and I was surprised that it only took a short time to travel through it. I was tempted to stop in South Bend and check out Notre Dame, but I was anxious to get to Chicago. For the most part Saturday's drive was as uneventful as Friday's. My only problem with Indiana was in Gary... one word: SMOG. Ugh, it was gross, but being in Gary meant we were almost in Chicago! Less than an hour later i saw the skyline for the first time... GORGEOUS. Traffic was insane through the city, but around noon EST, 11am local time, we arrived at Dominican University.

Dominican is beautiful! Stone buildings covered with ivy are located on the perfectly manicured grounds of the campus, all while nestled in a community of equally beautiful multi-million dollar homes. No kidding, I looked it up, the houses for sale around campus are selling for $1.5-$2 million. Crazy. I wasn't able to get into my room at Dominican until Sunday, but Dad and I still walked around and walked through some of the buildings. The inside of one of the halls reminded me of Chilton from the Gilmore girls. It's the same old cathedralish feel.

After our "tour" Dad and I went to his hotel, explored a local outdoor shopping mall, and then drove around the suburbs between the hotel and the campus. That evening we also hung around the hotel and planned out our next three days.

Sunday
Sunday was my move in day! But before leaving Dad's hotel, I had something to take care of... buying a Glee Live! ticket! I'm so excited!! I get to go see the show next Wednesday (the 26th) at the Rosemont Theater. Can't wait :-)


At around 10am I got my keys and saw my room for the first time. I met three of the students who will be around all summer and they all knew who I was ahead of time, which was nice. On my door I had a welcome sign and in my room Norah, my supervisor for the summer, left me a bag full of Dominican goodies and even some passes for the "L" trains. It was very sweet and between that and the students knowing who I was, I felt welcomed immediately.

After moving in, we made our first Target run then grabbed a Chicago specialty for lunch: stuffed pizza. Three inches thick, the pizza had tons of cheese and the sauce came on top of the cheese. Dad and I split the 10 inch small but only ate half. One piece knocked me out, he made it through two. Here's what was left when we were done with it:

It may not look appetizing, but it was pretty good! The leftovers are in my mini fridge, so it remains to be seen how good they will be. 

After lunch and a little more shopping, we debated for a bit whether or not to attempt heading into the city or not. It was getting late and while we hadn't originally planned on going into town, we had time to go to at least the Sears/Willis tower Skydeck if we really wanted. Dad figured out that if we did go, we would make it in time for sunset, so we decided to go. We ended up driving due to a sketchy train parking lot, but it turned out really to be for the best. Traffic was nearly non-existent and parking ended up being cheaper than train tickets. So it was worth it in that way, and up to the Skydeck we went!

So what is the Skydeck you may ask. Well, the Skydeck is the observation floor of the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower in Chicago, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. The Skydeck is the 103 floor of the tower which is 1,352 feet above ground and offers views of the city and up to 40-50 miles of visibility. Oh, and did I mention that the Skydeck is also home to the Skydeck Ledge, glass boxes that extend 4 feet out from the building, allowing you to walk out and see the city around and UNDER you. As someone who is afraid of heights/edges, this was FREAKY. But guess what! I walked out on it... TWICE. So proud of myself. I get my fears from my dad, so he didn't go, but I did. Look! I have proof: 

First time (see the glass floor? I didn't look down once, and I backed into the box, lol)

Second time

It was really beautiful up in the Skydeck, but I was a little pre-occupied with all the people in the ledge boxes. At any given point, there were between 5 and 10 people in each (minus the picture taking one). Little kids were jumping up and down, and some of the people walking out were by no means light. It also didn't help that one of the boxes was roped off and the floor was covered with carpet squares. Why, you may wonder, well let me tell you... because the floor was CRACKED! Dad and I watched one of the staff members examine it and remove some of the squares and the whole thing was cracked. It's shatterproof glass and the guy was still standing on it, but STILL. Yeah, that didn't give me confidence. But anyway the sunset was pretty and the city is stunning at night. Here are some of the other pictures I took: 

<--- so you can see how crazy the boxes are

Obviously after the Skydeck it was dinner then sleep. Monday was the big exploring day, but I will have to come back to that in a later post. For now I'm going to go to bed-- first day of internship tomorrow! Wish me luck! :-) Goodnight all!!