Yesterday was an idyllic summer day in Chicago straight out of an early scene in The Music Man (which is appropriate because the musical is set somewhere in the Midwest and Gary, Indiana is a suburb of Chicago).
It was one of those days where Chicago shines in its own unique way. I'm on vacation this week, so I was able to take full advantage of the day.
My wife and I started out hanging out on our local beach. Where we live, the beach typically consists of a grassy park that butts up against concrete blocks that lead down into Lake Michigan.
If you're looking for motion and sand, this isn't the spot to be, but I'm always amazed at how such a large body of water can be so calm. I live less than half a mile from the lake, and barring some winter spill over onto Sheridan Road, homes that aren't immediately on the beach are at minimal risk for flooding. If I lived half a mile from the ocean, especially in hurricane territory, I'd need to evacuate for every tropical storm warning.
After hanging out at the lake, we ate at a local diner famous for its seafood. Chicago isn't known for its fresh seafood, but, given its size as a big city and its culinary reputation, the seafood available in the city is still competitive. I won't compare the lobster roll I ate to the New England version (at least until I visit New England again later this year), but it's not too controversial for me to say it was delicious (I also liked the Chicago tweak of putting the lobster on a French roll rather than a hot dog bun).
We finished the day in Andersonville, a neighborhood in Chicago that could double for one of the sets of The Music Man. Somehow, nestled between two major north-south thoroughfares, it's able to retain the cinematic quality of a stereotypical small town. We even stopped by the local ice cream shop to cap the day. The staff didn't wear soda jerk attire, but the scoops are hand-dipped and never disappointing.
Andersonville is the type of neighborhood where you'd expect to see bunting draped from every household, and, in a way that's true. Andersonville has its own Chicago twist that's not typically associated with small towns across the US - it's an extremely LGBTQ friendly neighborhood, and, this being pride month, the bunting consists of rainbow-colored decorations saturating the area. Even when pride month is over, many homes continue to display Hate has no home here signs (translated in many languages) on their front lawns.
And, to me, that's the beauty of Chicago - it somehow merges Midwest sensibility and big city cosmopolitan ideals in a seamless mix.
No comments:
Post a Comment