July 02, 2019
This past weekend I visited the Windy City, also known as Chicago, along with some surrounding areas. I hadn't been to Illinois in a few years, so upon receiving an invitation to the graduation party of one of our relatives I was excited to return.
I finished packing most of my bag on Wednesday night, so I spent Thursday morning tying up some loose ends, practicing the violin for a little bit, and packing the last few items into my suitcase.
Around noon I drove with Mom to The Strand at Huebner Oaks to pick up some sandwiches from Potbelly's (for dinner) and books from Half-Price Books. Recently I have been very interested in the law and legal novels, so I wanted to purchase a few books to pass the time during transportation (sitting in the airport, plane, and car). I ended up buying eleven books - seven by John Grisham, three by Tom Clancy (two words - Jack Ryan), and one by Michael Connelly (The Lincoln Lawyer, which had been recommended to me by a few people).
We arrived at the airport around 4 PM. The check-in line was relatively short; as was the security checkpoint. Once we arrived at our gate, however, we were notified of a fast-moving storm in the Chicago area. Our flight was delayed about an hour, during which I began reading a Grisham novel and ate my sandwich. The flight was uneventful and we landed at O'Hare (IATA: ORD because of its original name of Orchard Field Airport) close to 10 PM. We took our rental car and arrived at 11 PM in Aurora, where my uncle and his family live.
My uncle decided to take Friday off so he could give us a tour of downtown Chicago. We parked the car at the Water Tower Place Parking and walked across the street to the Hancock Tower. After a short exhibit on the history of Chicago, we took an elevator up to the 94th floor, where we had a stunning aerial view of the area from all directions. We were able to spot the Trump International Hotel and Tower. We also were able to experience the TILT, an amusement-park-like contraption where we were rotated 30 degrees out over Chicago. The ride wasn't anything amazing or spectacular, but the experience was quite unique and I am still glad I did it.
Next, we walked around, stopping around at a few key attractions. We stopped at Naf Naf, a local Mediterranean chain, where we ate mixed bowls of hummus, falafel, baba ghanoush, and various other sauces. At the restaurant, we met up with my cousin, who works in Chicago at KPMG. She joined us and we walked around more, stopping at Millenium Park, the Bean, and walking along the Riverwalk. In the early evening, we drove past Evanston and Northwestern University to Wilmette, where we visited the Baha'i Temple. I visited the Baha'i Temple in Delhi when I was younger, but I was unfamiliar with most of Baha'i philosophy, so it was interesting to visit both the inner sanctuary and the exhibit in the visitor center. One thing that struck me was how pristine the temple was, especially the outside landscaping and how clean the floors were.
In the evening, we went back to Aurora and spent time with my cousins. I played some ping-pong and we shared information on different classes to take and some academic interests we had in common. I went to bed shortly after (but only after I had a chance to read more Grisham).
On Saturday, Baba and I went for a short run on the local high school's track. I ran four laps around the track in 5:58, which is slower than my all-time fastest mile but a sign that I'm very close to getting much faster. We then watched Afghanistan vs Pakistan in the ICC (Cricket) World Cup, where we witnessed Afghanistan collapse after being close to upsetting Pakistan. After eating lunch, we said goodbye and hit the road for Gurnee-Waukegan, where our hotel was. We quickly changed our clothes and headed to a local golf clubhouse for my relative's graduation party. I got to visit my extended family for the first time in a couple of years, and I was also introduced to some other family members and family friends who I personally had not met before. We listened to a few speeches, and then I sat with my uncle in his car as he drove around, trying to keep his toddler asleep (or something along those lines). He works for the Illinois Attorney-General's Office, so he had some interesting perspectives to share on law school and law careers, something I have been contemplating as a potential career path. After returning to the clubhouse, I ate dinner and then, as usual, I sat on the sidelines during the dancing, much to the chagrin of my relatives.
Sunday morning we ate brunch with the graduate and his family. We hadn't seen them in a few years, so it was nice to be able to catch up with them after so long. After brunch, we headed back to the hotel, packed our bags, and drove back into downtown Chicago. We stopped in at my uncle's house, played on his guitars for a few minutes, drove to my cousin's condo, toured around for a couple minutes, and finally visited the apartment of my uncle's parents (my mom's aunt and uncle). There, we met up with another of my mom's aunts and her daughter, my aunt, with whom we walked around Chicago. We stopped at the Magnolia Bakery, where I had a muffin.
For dinner, we met back up with my cousin at Quartino's, a lively and authentic Italian restaurant with a black-and-white classic Italian movie playing on the TV. We shared various dishes, including pizza, bruschetta, and olives, and I also ate most of a potato gnocchi with pesto sauce. The waiters and waitresses were mostly wearing Serie A jerseys, which I found amusing.
Our flight was scheduled for mid-day, so we decided to go to Sunny Side Up, a local brunch spot. Seva and I split an order of Lemon French Toast (french toast garnished with a sweet lemon and ricotta sauce) and of Cinnamon Waffles. The food was very tasty. Upon returning to the hotel, we quickly packed our bags again and headed for the airport. We grabbed some chips, salsa, and guacamole from a restaurant and ate a de-facto lunch at the gate. This time, the flight was not delayed, and we arrived back in San Antonio around 5 PM. We headed home, and I was instrumental in preparing a dinner of khichdi, kadhi, and tomato saar.
This was the first time I had ever been to downtown Chicago, and I really enjoyed walking around and viewing the various attractions. As compared to my one or two trips to New York City, Chicago seemed much more calm, less dirty, and certainly much less densely packed. I had expected the traffic to be impossible like NYC, but it was indeed possible for us to drive the streets at a reasonable speed. In addition, having Lyft available helped us out a few times.