Sweet Home Chicago

I moved to Chicago in August 2009 to go to law school. My dad and I filled up a U-Haul and we drove up from North Carolina.

My first apartment was in Wicker Park, and I lived for a year at Damen and Division. After that, I spent two years in Lakeview, at Sheffield and Diversey, then moved about as far north as you get get in Chicago, while remaining in the city, to Rogers Park. Fun fact: Tina Fey used to live by my train stop.

I've been in my current apartment for nearly five years, and I call it my castle because of the turreted shape to the living room, the round entrance door, and the decoration in the front hallway. In the summer, ivy lines the brick in the courtyard and pigeons living in the eves drive my cats nuts. Ben and I sit on the back stairs when it's warm out, having dinner and drinking beer. Occasionally we have plants that aren't dead. Once, we watched a summer thunder storm come through.

In my opinion, Rogers Park is one of the best neighborhoods in Chicago, despite the violence that comes with warm months, despite the long commute to downtown. It's a neighborhood full of artists - every June, the community comes together to paint over a concrete wall along Lake Michigan. there are dozens of murals lining the train tracks and reclaimed sculpture art along the street.

The Heartland Cafe, a block and a half north of the apartment was where Barack Obama kicked off his senate run and where B and I watched hockey. The Glenwood used to (it may still) host euchre nights on Tuesdays, Karaoke on Wednesdays, and Trivia on Thursdays. Rogers Park Social and Provisions are a bar and liquor / local goods shop with some of the friendliest employees you'll ever meet - the bar is always hopping and the store has alcohol tastings on Wednesdays. Morse Fresh Market is an incredibly cute Mexican grocery store that has more types of produce than I can imagine. In the summer on Sundays, the Glenwood Farmer's Market brings local farmers to the city. Los Portales has amazing Mexican food, although if you venture up and down Clark Street, you'll be hard pressed to find some that isn't good.

Rogers Park hosts two street festivals - Celebrate Clark Street, which is a world music festival, and Glenwood Arts Fest, also a music festival that brings in real artists to sell their wares.

The best thing about Rogers Park though, is its proximity to the beach along Lake Michigan. On hot summer days, B and I load up our bag, don our swim suits, and hit the water. Summer nights, we see the Navy Pier fireworks, with a sound delay, over the lake. Other times of the year, we just walk along it, out to the lighthouse. Once we saw lightening over the lake, although it was clear by us, and once B saw large fish in the water. One winter, ice caves formed along the pier.

Rogers Park is far north, and wasn't on my map when I moved to Chicago. I'm happy I found it and glad to make a home here.

Thanksgiving Travel

I've never been a huge fan of traveling, especially flying, for Thanksgiving - I haven't been home to my parents' for the holiday since 2008 and, other than a trip one year to visit my grandparents for the long weekend, I've been in Chicago every year since 2009, celebrating with friends. I don't want to be one of those people CNN interviews who are standing in line waiting to get home. Inevitably there will be some huge winter storm tearing apart the Midwest, which, combined with hoards of holiday travelers, ruins every one's weekend.

B's family lives in St. Louis, a fairly quick and painless trip from Chicago on the road. This past weekend we took the Greyhound bus for a visit, and I have to say that I'm definitely a fan! Everything from booking tickets to checking luggage to boarding the bus is painless, and you get more leg room than on airplanes. Plus, unlike airplanes, there are outlets to keep electronics charged, and free wifi (although the connection wasn't great). I'll write a longer post later about Greyhounding - I want to fully discus the bus system.

We also could have taken B's motorcycle, but given the uncertainty of weather at this time of year, it seemed risky (and really cold!) to take such a long trip on a bike.

As far as this Thanksgiving Day, we haven't set any plans yet - maybe we'll be making turkey and potatoes, maybe we'll participate in a local turkey trot, or maybe we'll go check out a local park if the weather behaves.

What are your travel plans for this week, and how do you make weather accommodations?

An Ode to Souvenirs

I love shopping. I love buying things and having new things, and I love (some of) my old things, especially when they remind me of where I purchased them and who I was at that time. I also love the act of shopping - walking into a store, examining its wares, feeling fabrics and jewelry. I especially love museum shops - it's so nice being able to TOUCH things after an hour or more of scrutiny from guards any time I breathe too heavily in the general direction of a Renoir.

I'm also somewhat of a pack rat. The last time I moved, an entire room of my apartment was filled with boxes of my things. There were several boxes of books and DVDs, art supplies, and enough kitchen items to fill a small restaurant. I also had a small(ish) box of trinkets, souvenirs from places I've been. I know they take up too much space, they're too fragile, an invitation for my cat to break something. I have the box of currency, train tickets, hotel cards, maps, postcards from various trips across several continents and time zones, things I can't bear to part with that I haven't taken the time to look at since I unpacked. Maybe I should get rid of these things, as I keep telling myself I will the next time I have a free afternoon.

Some of my souvenirs are larger - prints I purchased in China that I had framed now adorn my living room walls.

Sometimes I buy jewelry - a necklace from Barcelona, earrings from Florence, a five-yen coin I've worn nearly every day since I left Tokyo.


Some are practical - my favorite bag is an orange one with an elephant print I purchased in Nafpilon, Greece in 2007. My mother resews the seams every time I go home. About a month ago I switched to a bag with a zipper and pockets, but that bag is something I'll never get rid of.

I have a beautiful leather jacket from Athens and a long blue trench coat from Beijing. My favorite scarf (which matches the trench coat perfectly) was purchased on a whim from a street vendor in Budapest. I have shoes from Greece and a suitcase from China. I recently purchased a lightweight jacket from Devil's Lake that I might wear until it falls apart. Using these things (especially in winter, when it gets dark before 5) is a pleasant reminder of those trips.

I love my photographs. The best photos I make my computer background, which is set to switch pictures every minute. Some I print out and put in albums, although they don't get viewed that often. My absolute favorites I paint and draw. This painting I made in 2009 in my dining room is a scene from an island off the coast of Venice I captured in 2005.



This watercolor from 2011 is from my favorite Tokyo snapshot, taken in 2010.

This oil pastel of the Summer Palace I made one rainy day in 2013 was taken on my first sunny day in Beijing.

When I buy tshirts, I wear them until the underarms wear out, but I keep them anyways - I WILL make that t-shirt quilt!

For someone who hasn't gained another stamp in her passport since 2011, sometimes I worry that I live in the past. Maybe I should clean off my dresser and buy new jewelry instead of relying on the tired old pieces or trying to make them fit every outfit. There are SO many gorgeous scarves I could purchase - or make! - but I can't bear to part with my favorite.

My favorite part of  Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five" is his interpretation of time - the idea that I can revisit any moment of my life, past or future, at any time. The obvious trade-off is that there's no free will and no mystery about what's to come. My travel souvenirs are like that. When I'm bored to death waiting for the doctor, I can touch my yen-necklace and return to the night I watched world cup soccer in Roppongi. When taking out the trash, I can slip on a pair of polka-dot Vanns and suddenly I'm back in Athens. When things get down, I remember not only that I was there, but I will go back.

Also, I think my integration of travel purchases into my life saves me money in the long run. Despite any desire for a new scarf, I haven't bought one since 2007 because I love my Budapest scarf so much. I don't shop for jewelry on a whim - I have four or five pieces I wear with various outfits, and that's enough.

Other people have different approaches to souvenirs - purchasing one Christmas ornament per trip, or only taking photographs (a particularly useful one if you're traveling for an extended period of time).

In the comments, leave a note about (1) your favorite souvenir from trips past; (2) how you shop for souvenirs; and (3) how you integrate your travel things into your life.

Cheers!

Updates!

Good afternoon loyal followers! I wanted to share some exciting news: I'm writing for The Examiner, a user-generated news site. My specialty is, of course Chicago Travel. Check out my profile: http://www.examiner.com/travel-in-chicago/amelia-niemi.

My first project is the wonderful world of Chicago food trucks. So far I've reviewed two: The Roost and The Lunchbox.

I will, of course, continue to update you, my loyal readers, with my travels and events periodically. I have some great articles in the work about Madison, Wisconson, Devil's Lake, and Grayhound busses.

Finally, I have a twitter: https://twitter.com/HereAreMonsters. I have not twitted yet, but stay tuned!

Mirror Lake, Wisconsin

Although we spent the majority of our weekend at Devil's Lake, we couldn't book a campsite for that night. About twenty minutes away, there was another park - Mirror Lake - which had exactly two campsites available for the nights we'd be there. We took a "group campsite," which was more expensive, but we could have kept up to five tents on site. Saturday was the more crowded night. Our neighbors included boyscouts, a family reunion, and a group that spent the night playing beer pong. The second night, we were one of two groups in the area, which got a little creepy, but you'll be happy to know that we were not visited by any mass murderers or sasquatches. 

Somehow I managed to forget to take a picture of the actual lake, but I did get some great shots of the hiking trails there. On our last day, after packing up the car, we got to enjoy some of this great park.

I love the name! The trail was even better than the name!

One of the things I really loved about Mirror Lake was its dedication to accessibility for everyone - fortunately, neither of us fell into that category while we were there - but it was great to know places make that a priority.

Accessible bridge

You won't find this in Chicago

Echo Rock

After climbing on top of Echo Rock, we took the "Pioneer Trail" for a couple miles, looping back to the car and our bathing suits. 

The hill wasn't that steep, but I guess it was a warning for the skiers?

Then we saw a snake! We still haven't figured out what kind it was, but it was little and kind of flat.

Snake!

And of course I needed to take a picture of Smokey the Bear :) Good to know that the fire danger was only "moderate" during our stay.

Breakfast in Milwuakee

Neither Ben nor I had been to Wisconsin prior to our recent camping trip. One of the best things about picking Devil's Lake (other than the awesomeness of Devil's Lake itself) was that we got to check out two of Wisconsin's major cities on the trip.

Our first stop for breakfast, was The National, an adorable coffee / brunch place. Here are a couple shots of the exterior - I hate being that person who takes photos of meals, so you'll have to visit to get a taste of their delicious food.

The National's exterior - we ate in the booth on the right side of the photo.

I had their amazing French toast, and Ben had a vegan dish. There was exactly the right amount of syrup, and we were amazed at how nice the people in the restaurant were! A couple had a young toddler who decided to make friends, and upon hearing our destination, an older gentleman came over to tell us how much he LOVES Devil's Lake. He told us to spend time on the East Ridge - which we certainly did.

Side shot of this awesome brunch place

After breakfast, we took a drive along Milwaukee's portion of the Lake Michigan waterfront. While we didn't take the time to park and explore, this is definitely a city I want to check out more. In addition to the lake being INFINITELY clearer than Chicago's lakefront, it seemed like more of the city front was able to enjoy the lake - downtown Chicago might have the view, but it certainly doesn't have the accessibility to the water. There were also at least a hundred people out at that hour exercising.

We also saw wild turkeys, and went under the bridge to the Milwaukee Art Museum - we didn't take the time to stop, but it's definitely something I want to check out in the future.

And now, here are some awesome pictures I took from the car of Milwaukee's skyline:

Clearly my photography skillz need some serious work

How to camp when you have to rent *everything*

Last weekend, Ben and I went to Devil's Lake. We live in Chicago and don't own either a car or a tent, and only have a sleeping bag, but we both really wanted to go camping.

Camping is the perfect cheap vacation - no hotels, no meals out, and all your entertainment is found by visiting the local state parks - plus, it's a super head clearing way to really get away from it all. This was necessary given my lay-off in May and the 62-hours I worked the previous week at my temp job, which I was convinced was ending the day before we left.

So about a month before the trip, when I got that feeling of "I need to leave town before I go crazy," I did some research. One of the benefits of belonging to a gym attached to a university is that my gym just happens to rent outdoor equipment. For $34, we rented a two-person tent, two sleeping mats, a sleeping bag, and a lantern for up to four nights. Not having a car, I brought one of my giant wheeled suitcases - large enough to get me through ten weeks and then some on the other side of the world - and loaded everything in. It wasn't that difficult to get the suitcase onto the L at rush hour on a Friday. I had to transfer everything into the GIANT suitcase I've only used before for moving once I added the second sleeping bag and two pillows (yes, I brought pillows camping).

We had checked various travel options - taking a train or bus to Milwaukee or Madison before renting a car, for example - but the most time and cost-efficient way was to rent a car from O'Hare, even when factoring in the hour plus train-bus-train ride there. For three days, our Mazda 2 hatch-back (super fun to drive!) cost about $90, plus gas, and the car was the perfect size for everything. The GIANT suitcase fit nicely under the hatch, and everything else (a cooler and two backpacks) went on the back seat.

I didn't get a picture of our tuff in the car, but here it is on the train

One thing to remember: you probably have rental car insurance through your auto insurance or your credit card. Ben confirmed this by calling Visa Signature - the policy is even on the first page of website! This saved us $30 for the weekend - a third of the price of the car!

Ben negotiating with the rental car representative about car insurance

We purchased all our groceries up in Barraboo, WI (including a delicious case of Spotted Cow beer, not available outside of Wisconsin), and we had to purchase firewood within 25 miles of the state park we were staying in. Add in the $5/day vehicle permit to bring the car in and some tolls (note: way cheaper just to pay the tolls, even if they're more expensive, than to pay $7/day on the rental car's ipass. We didn't spend $7 a day on tolls), and there you have it!

The worst part of the train-bus-train-car, car-train-bus-train part was construction we faced Monday on I-90 that seemed to go on forever. It actually was about 25 miles, but in 90-degree weather in slightly pre-rush hour traffic, this kind of sucked, especially knowing that we had to drag all of the stuff back to the gym via the train in rush hour.

Review of the rental system: not a bad way to go. We spent approximately $400 between us, which was a little more than I'd hoped (damn you, gas prices!) but we also made stops in Milwaukee and Madison for breakfast Saturday and lunch Monday. I'm hoping that when we go camping next year, we'll have a tent (either one we buy or one used from family). As far as the car, I decided that I'll wait until I have a job that needs one before purchasing, so maybe next year we'll still be making that trek out to O'Hare.

Until next time, cheers!