The Adventures of Annie and Mitch: The Many Places and Faces of Chicago

Before we officially left Wisconsin, we had one last stop to make- The Norske Nook. Excellent Scandinavian food and the BEST pie ever. I used to go there on days off when I worked at camp, and oh the pie, the amazing pie. We got curds as well- because Wisconsin. And Strawberry Sour Cream Pie- to go.

But then we crossed into Illinois and the Chicagoland. There is a lot to that. All the suburbs are interesting- they’re small towns that were swallowed by the mass that is Chicago, so most of them have their own downtowns, city councils, etc. We stayed in Elmhurst. It was adorable. And home to my cousin Stephan, his wife, Leslie, and their three super adorable kids- Kendall (6), James (3 1/2), and Adelynn (1).

Within mere moments of arriving, James eagerly grabbed Mitch by the hand and led him to the basement to play. The basement is kid heaven- legos, barbies, trucks, cards, you name it. Mitch agreed and got to see the pillow fort and assist in Lego castle building. The next day the kids showed us around the Museum of Science and Industry.

MSI is amazing! First off, that place is huge. We were there for about 5 hours and saw less than a quarter of it. We explored the coal mine, stumbled through the mirror maze (I got separated and lost and Mitch tried to go in after me, but I made it out without seeing him. Mirrors are tricky), ventured underwater in a German U-Boat from World War II (ok, it wasn’t actually underwater, but it was underground, and the water table is high that close to the lake, so practically underwater), and Lego exhibit. We also looked at all the farm stuff, drove a tractor and combine, and saw real life baby chickens! Chicks! Clearly the best part. They have an incubator, so we got to see a few chicks pipping and working on hatching and a few more who just hatched as well as lots that were a couple of days old. The Schlesinger crew are pros and have made more than a few visits, so we were lucky to have such knowledgeable and eager guides to hold our hands and show us around.

We topped off the day with a visit to Mitch’s great-uncle and cousin, popcorn from Garrett’s, and a walk along the Michigan avenue to admire the stores we will never shop in. But we had popcorn, so who needs fancy bags?

The rest of our weekend continued to be jam packed with people, places, and things. We saw an old friend of Mitch’s, Sonia, and her fiancé, Jeff, and ate at Portillos. Midwesterners pronounce it Port- Til- Oh’s. I don’t understand it either. It clearly should be pronounced Por- Tea-yo’s. But they had delicious chocolate cake, so I’ll let it slide.

We started one of our days with adventures in public transportation. I’m pretty good at navigating public transit, but commuter train, to subway, to park, involved a lot more walking than I anticipated. We managed, found our trains, and walked, a lot, to get to the destination. But we finally made it and saw an old rowing buddy of Mitch’s, Tara, and watched some sprint races in the park. Then we wandered to the free Lincoln Park Zoo. The best exhibit, by far, was the macaques. They have a new habitat that incorporates interactive technology allowing them to request things and communicate with their trainers. They also had two tiny babies and a 1 year old baby. Baby monkeys are the best! They run, they jump, they climb on top of their mamas. They melt all hearts. We also saw the harbor seals doing their daily wellness activities with their trainers, and a variety of other creatures.

Then it was off to meet and spend time with his cousins, Debbie and Stephanie, and Stephanie’s husband Brian, and more of their friends. We checked out the SquareRoots festival, took in some live music, drank out of a pineapple, and got a great dinner and margaritas. We are good at this “visit people and hang in the city” thing. Mitch’s cousins were fantastic and so friendly. It was easy to spend the entire afternoon and evening with them.

We ate the classics: Chicago style pizza, more than one ice cream stop, popcorn, and hotdogs. We got some much needed sleep (in a super fun bunkbed! Thanks James). And loved all the time spent with friends and family. Chicago did us well. And I got pictures with about half of the people we saw... improvement?

Museum of Science and Industry