All weekends need to be three days long, because when weekends are three days long you are able to have houseguests AND go out of town for a wedding in the same weekend and still feel okay and almost well rested when you go back to work on Monday. Almost.
One of John’s best friends was in town with some other folks for the weekend. (Brief detour in this story: um, hi guys! if you’re reading this! Because you referred to me as “pseudo” all weekend, which makes me think that you might be reading, in which case the next time I make a typo or do something else embarrassing and you’re tempted to laugh, remember who it was who gave you beer and homemade turkey burgers and ice cream and very explicit directions on how to get back to your hotel on the el so you didn’t get lost.)
I love having people in town. Chicago is, I think, a totally underappreciated city, especially among people who live on the West coast. Our California friends come in town and are so surprised that there are, like, tall buildings and paved roads and stuff here, because isn’t the midwest just the region you fly over on your way to New York?
But because I love this town so much I feel all this PRESSURE to show people the BEST TIME IN CHICAGO EVER. When I have picked all the restaurants and bars and attractions that we go to, I feel completely responsible for whether my friends like the food, or are enjoying the activity. I find myself apologizing for things that are just a part of life- surly waiter, long wait for an el train, mysterious inability to hail a cab in an area that is normally cab central. I worry any little hiccup will sour their experience with my city, and they will go home to San Francisco and tell all their friends in their designer jeans and thrift store t-shirts that they were right all along, Chicago is just some hick backwater.
Which is, of course, ridiculous. After all, Chicago has its own entire neighborhoods populated by hipsters in designer jeans and thrift store t-shirts. Plus (yesterday at least) we have weather that breaks 75 degrees.* Take that, San Francisco.
* (I woke up this morning and it was 45 degrees. We’re not talking about it.)
May 27, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Chicago is amazing. AMAZING AND I LOVE IT. If it only it weren’t so damn cold. Yes I’m biased by the snowstorm we encountered when we were there. But still.
May 27, 2008 at 8:53 pm
I love Chicago so much. I’ve only been there twice, but I want to go back.
It was 43 degrees this morning. We planted flowers yesterday. KILL.
May 27, 2008 at 9:37 pm
i was totally surprised by how much i loved chicago when i went there for new year’s eve last year. i’m with jess… if only it weren’t so COLD so OFTEN, i’d actually consider moving there..
May 28, 2008 at 12:16 am
Violet Hour = best cocktail bar I’ve ever been to.
May 28, 2008 at 1:55 am
I’ve never been to Chicago, but I’ve seen Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, does that count? Even though I don’t drink, could I have fun in Chicago?
May 28, 2008 at 7:08 pm
PSEUDO!!! Thanks for the hospitality. Don’t forget, you guys also have one of the baddest museums on the continent.
Those turkey burgers changed my life. I’m going healthy, starting in 2009.
May 30, 2008 at 8:59 pm
dude, whatever. your san francisco friend thinks chicago is, if anything, TOO urban. although, if you could get the hipsters to outnumber the big frat guys reliving their college days, that might help…