Despite how I’ve come to label it, this trip’s purpose initially had nothing to do with either Chicago or Lake Michigan. Three of the five remaining states I needed to visit were Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Clustered right there in a row, tackling them in a single trip seemed to make sense, especially when I had no specific reason to visit any one of on their own. I did consider dropping Minnesota as out of the way, but I opted to add a day to the trip to avoid having to make a dedicated Minnesota trip later. Chicago was the perfect launching point as I had never been there either (other than the airport which, of course, doesn’t count).
Last summer I learned of a film festival in Traverse City, Michigan when one of my favorite podcasts (“Doug Loves Movies”) did a show from there and said he planned to make it an annual thing. I timed my trip so that I’d go through Traverse City during the film festival and could try to catch the show.
I do quite a bit of detailed planning for my trips and my sleeping arrangements for each night are resolved before I leave home. Drive times are analyzed, rental car booked, etc. This trip I wanted to try something different to save money. When I went to the Pacific Northwest, I booked hotels for every night I wasn’t staying with friends or family. For this trip I opted to camp. I still had to book campground sites and buy a tent, but the cost was considerably less than hotels… more on that later.
So, with everything lined up about as good as I could figure it, I got on my flight and headed to Chicago on Friday, July 24.
On the train ride from the airport to downtown, I initially got a very MidWest vibe that set Chicago apart from places like Boston and San Francisco, but it definitely joined its metropolitan brethren once I made it amongst the skyscrapers.
I had to head directly to a running store to pick up my race packet for the 5K I was running Saturday morning. I had expected to be in and out in 90 seconds. Turns out this was the biggest race I had ever been a part of and everyone else had to pick up their packets as well. I was in no particular hurry, but I was supposed to meet my airbnb host to check in and this put me about 30 minutes behind schedule. Figuring I wouldn’t be camping in Chicago, I booked a place through airbnb for the first time. If you are unfamiliar, I suggest you check it out. Basically, people offer up their extra couches, rooms, apartments, etc. for rent and you can search through the listing for what you need. For $60 a night, I had a bedroom in an apartment and just had to share the bathroom with the military guy who had rented the other bedroom. The guy who owned the apartment was an elementary school teacher who lived downstairs in another apartment. This was just a 20 minute train ride from downtown Chicago. Much better than spending $150-250 a night at a hotel. I especially lucked out as after check-in, I never saw the other guest the entire time, so it was basically like I had the place to myself.
That first evening I made my to the Millennium Park area and encountered the famous Cloud Gate, or the mirrored-bean-thing as you may call it.
I woke up early Saturday to make sure I found my way to the race site in plenty of time. It was a great event that began just south of Soldier Field. The Big Ten Network hosted it as a way to bring the fourteen schools (yeah, I know) of the Big Ten together. Everyone sported shirts of their favorite school and all the mascots were out working up the crowd–the poor Maryland Terrapin had a hard time find much love. The main race was the 10K, but I opted for the 5K. I finished just seven seconds off my goal time of 18:45. Between starting too slow and fighting through the slower 10K runners at the finish, I am calling that a victory after just two months of training. Though if I had ran about two minutes faster, former NFL star Eddie George was handing out the awards!
Breakfast was, conveniently, food at the event, so that saved me some time and money as I prepared to move on. My initial plan was to head back to shower and start the tourist portion of my day, but the Field Museum was right there, so even though I was sweaty and gross and wearing a cutoff t-shirt, I paid my entry and spent two hours in the museum. I did feel better that at least a few other racers had the same plan.
For lunch I tracked down some Chicago deep dish pizza. I have to hand it to Gino’s–they forced me to get a to go box. I usually can finish any entree I order, but I was going to make myself sick if I had tried to shovel in that last 15% of pizza. It was very good and became my breakfast the next morning.
This was my first trip with a smartphone and I immediately had no idea how I had ever survived without it. Heck, I just went to New York in February without a smartphone and don’t remember how I managed. I’m a bit map obsessed, so having GPS on my phone in Chicago was amazing, but it also drained my battery like no other. After lunch, I finally went “home” to shower and charge my phone. After resting up a bit, I headed back to check out the lake shore. It hadn’t occurred to me before this trip that the city of Chicago had beaches. I just got my feet wet, but it was a nice break and something I don’t normally make a point to do. From there I went to the top of the John Hancock building. I know most people go to the top of the Sears Tower (now officially called the Willis Tower), but I heard Hancock has the better view and, of course, it allows you to see the Sears Tower. It was a great vantage point, but didn’t get a chance to compare the two.
That evening I met my high school friend Ben and his girlfriend for dinner. I hadn’t seen him in nearly ten years I’d guess, so it was great catching up. It’s something I believe everyone needs to do more often. It’s too easy to let one day turn into two and then into a month, a year, a decade. I’m as guilty as anyone of not taking the time to reach out to friends, but I have never regretted it when I do and both parties always appreciate it. It’s almost like there’s a stigma associated with it and this feeling of, “well, I don’t want to bother them.” But ask yourself how bothered you are to receive a random message or email from someone you used to be close to. It makes your day, right? Well, make someone else’s day! Drop ’em a line.
Sunday I left the apartment I was staying in and headed downtown with all my gear. This was the perfect time to check out the Art Institute of Chicago as you can check your bags for $1 each. So, even though I only spent about two hours at the museum, I left and came back after another three hours to get my bags on my way to pick up my rental car. Things never go as smoothly as planned, however. I got in my rental and went to plug in my Aunt’s address in Moline into my phone, but there’s no signal. I was in a car garage, shielded from all space signals. So I had to start driving in Chicago without knowing where I was going. Fortunately, before getting into heavy traffic, I was able to get a signal and get the GPS started at a stop sign. I got further frustrated when it was trying to take me on tollroads. I thought I could outsmart it and just take the exit without a toll even if it took me a few minutes out of my way. I hadn’t looked closely enough at the maps before I left and was relying too heavily on the GPS. The toll-free road would take me an hour out of my way. I had to pull off of the interstate and into a residential area to look at all this on my phone. I ended up backtracking to where the GPS had been trying to take me in the first place. It was just a frustrating drive as I had cost myself that time and then got gouged by the state of Illinois for $10 in tolls across a stretch of road that narrowed down to one lane for construction.
In the end, I did make it to my Aunt’s house without any issues and stayed with her that night and through the next morning for breakfast. In what I feel was a stroke of genius, I had my camping gear shipped to her house instead of hauling it with me on the plane and through Chicago.
Monday began three days of heavy driving. First stop was the Mall of America just outside of Minneapolis. This wasn’t my kind of thing (as I expected), but I was really just cheating to get Minnesota checked off my list and move on. This isn’t a knock against Minnesota, but rather just a consequence of its geography relative to my overall trip–a drive around Lake Michigan doesn’t not normally involve Minnesota. If my Aunt didn’t live in Moline, I probably would have opted to save it for another trip altogether.
As big as the Mall of America is, I actually was expecting something even grander. It’s a three-story rectangle with shops lining (roughly) the twelve resulting straightaways. Walking a loop around one level takes five to ten minutes. So, yes, it’s a big mall, but that’s all it is. I know there’s a roller roaster, etc. in the center, but the kind of rollercoaster that would fit on half a football field, inside a three-story building. I ate dinner at a restaurant there and moved on.
So that was my first night camping and it made me nervous for how the next few days would play out. I set up my tent in the dark while being attacked by mosquitoes. Luckily, I had unpacked the tent that morning in Moline to get a feel for how it would go. That all went surprisingly okay, actually. It was the heat that was the biggest issue. I was expecting evenings in the low 60s to keep things cool enough to sleep outside comfortably. I had a rough night and worried about the forecasted thunderstorms for the next morning.
I woke up early on Tuesday and double-checked the weather radar. It hadn’t rained yet, but it was coming! I packed up quickly at dawn and headed out. I drove across Wisconsin that day, enjoying how this part of the country looks very much like the transition from the MidWest to Canada that it is.
At a gas stop, I had a prime example of me being an idiot yet things still working out. As I finished cleaning the windshield, I noticed a truck waiting behind me. There were other pumps available, but I was at one of the few with a diesel pump. In my haste to clear the way for him I forgot one very important step. The gas pump nozzle was still in the car. This was the first time in my life I had ever done this. Like everyone else who hasn’t done it, I couldn’t imagine how anyone could possibly forget something like that. Well, turns out, if you’re hyperaware of other people and worried about what they’re thinking like I am, you can do it. I was more mad at myself for worrying so much about saving this guy 30 seconds than I was about forgetting to remove the nozzle. I completely lucked out. It had broke free as I moved to park in front of the store. I thought the nozzle broke from the hose as I think I’ve heard that is a design feature to prevent such idiocy from causing too much damage. I was even luckier than that. The nozzle simply came out of the car and fell to the ground with no damage to either. It was done pumping (probably part of the reason I wasn’t thinking about it), so no mess there either. Whew.
Here’s a quick travel tip–McDonald’s can be a great place to stop for a restroom and wifi. Obvious to most, I suppose, but I don’t eat at McDonald’s. I use them exclusively for these purposes. I have no qualms about it either, because they’re doing just fine. Of course, you could argue, “but if everyone did that, there wouldn’t be a McDonald’s for you to take advantage of.” My response is, “I’m totally okay with that.”
So after stopping at McDonald’s in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, I stopped and had lunch at the Bluefront Cafe (I used the McDonald’s break to research for places to eat). I had a meatloaf sandwich that was one of the best meals of the whole trip. I had scheduled nothing but relaxation time for Tuesday afternoon and evening, but I have a hard time just sitting still on vacation. I walked around Sturgeon Bay which has several quaint, old homes turned into quaint, trendy shops. Then I headed another 30 minutes down the road to Fish Creek, a much smaller town that my campground for that night was situated just outside of. This is in Door County, the little thumb of Wisconsin that juts into Lake Michigan.
I spent the evening taking pictures. I’ve slowly begun to realize that there’s a distinction to be drawn between taking “pictures” and taking “photographs.” If you want to capture what you see to remember later, take a picture. If your goal is to create an interesting image with some artistic value, you’re taking photographs. This is my own distinction and not reflective of the actual definitions of the words (not to my knowledge anyway). This helped me immensely on my trip. My new iPhone works great for taking picture and saves me the hassle of always hauling around my DSLR and various lenses. I’m still very much an amateur, but I did bring three lenses along. At the very least, I’ll opt to keep the kit lens at home in the future and leave it’s job up to my phone.
The night was much cooler for camping that night, but I decided that camping wasn’t worth the money saved. It’s just too inconvenient. What money I saved, I would have gladly spent in order to enjoy the trip more. The weather, the bugs, the extra time, and just feeling generally dirtier aren’t worth it. That said, it may make sense if driving from home for a shorter trip to a cooler climate. At the end of the day, I’m just too prissy.
Wednesday morning I drove to Green Bay. Most people know it’s the smallest city to be home to a professional franchise, but it’s still crazy once you’re there. Most stadiums I’ve seen are in a sea of skyscrapers. Lambeau Field is the tallest building in Green Bay from what I could tell. Getting there, it felt like I was driving through a residential area in Topeka, Kansas only to turn a corner and see this legendary complex. I’m a Broncos fan, but it was really neat to tour the facility. We even got to walk out the tunnel to simulated crowd noise. Very cool.
I’m not a fan of driving and try to minimize how often I do it in general. Though a few hours covering a large distance is way less stressful than half an hour navigating a new city. After Green Bay, I had a six and a half hour drive to Traverse City, Michigan. While I enjoy music, it doesn’t really help the time pass for me. Podcasts are where it’s at. I listen to them constantly even while at home doing chores. On the road, they are a must. This trip that was 90% working on an extensive backlog of Freakonomics. Interesting stuff, all kinds of topics. You should check it out.
What one quickly realizes in Michigan is that the two pieces are really two different states for all intents and purposes. The massive, five-mile-long Mackinac Bridge (with its $4.00 toll) connects the two. What I also realized was that Michigan lies mostly in the Eastern time zone. It never even occurred to me as a possibility. Since visiting Nashville and being surprised that it was still in the Central time zone, I’ve always used that as my bench mark. Well, the line bears west as you go north. This wouldn’t normally be that big of a deal, but I had tickets to Doug Benson’s podcast taping at 9:00pm and thought I might be a little rushed already. I just happened to notice during the drive that my phone (which I was using as a GPS) was out of sync with the clock in the car. My smartphone once again came to my rescue and instead of going from the campground to the ticket office to the venue, I went straight to the venue. That did save the time I needed and I arrived with about 20 minutes to spare.
I really enjoyed being in the audience for a podcast I’ve listened to for at least four years now. It was much funnier in person. One of the guests was Jeff Garlin and I even had a brief exchange with him as he debated selecting me to play for in their movie trivia games.
Another night in another campground. It was much cooler here, which helped a lot. I’m also very surprised how little sleeping on a hard surface bothered me. I kind of enjoyed it even. Not enough to sleep on the floor since I’ve been home, but I have thought about it.
Thursday was a day at the Traverse City Film Festival. I figured I was obligated to see a movie, so I went to the first venue on the festival bus route and bought a film for the next movie playing. The clerk tried to tell me there were plenty of other options, but I chose to stick with fate. I saw a Tunisian mockumentary called Challat of Tunis. It was good. Despite the mockumentary format, it was largely serious and a commentary on the treatment of women in the Muslim world. The director Skyped in from Paris afterward for a brief Q&A session.
After a little more wandering of Traverse City, I met up with my friend Torey and her boyfriend, Jeff. They were joining me for another show of Doug’s that evening and we went out to dinner and ice cream beforehand. Again, always great to catch up and get other people’s perspectives on things. Instead of a movie trivia podcast, Doug’s show Thursday was an “interruption” of Top Gun. He and two other comedians sat with microphones and made fun of the movie as we watched it. Good stuff.
My trip was winding down, but there was time for one last adventure that Torey had highly recommended. After breakfast with her and Jeff, I headed out to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. I had never heard of it until talking to Torey last Christmas. It blew my mind and was definitely a highlight of the whole trip. I spent three and a half hours marching three and a half miles (round trip) to the shore of Lake Michigan across steep, rolling sand dunes. I did it largely barefoot (something I don’t spend enough time doing). It reminded of a snowy hike in Glacier National Park last summer as I slipped back with each step and any progress was greatly impeded. The sand grew hot as the sun beat down, but the whole ordeal was worth it, both from the sense of accomplishment and the 30 minutes I spent entranced by the sounds of the waves of Lake Michigan as my toes played in the rocks and the sand. It was difficult to convince myself I wasn’t at the ocean.
On the drive south, I rewarded myself with ice cream at MOOmers, who proudly boasts that it was named “America’s Best Scoop” in 2008 by Good Morning America. I did enjoy that they used locally grown cherries which Michigan is known for–Traverse City is actually the self-proclaimed cherry capital of the world.
Eager to avoid another night of camping, I crashed at my friend Cody’s house in Big Rapids. It was a little unusual in that Cody was actually back home in Cheney for a wedding and I had never met his boyfriend. I made a point of hanging around Saturday morning until he woke up to introduce myself (he had returned home after I was asleep).
Another three and a half hour drive had me in Chicago with the same GPS problems once I found myself on streets underground. If it hadn’t have been for the initial two days familiarizing myself with Chicago, I would have been in trouble. I managed to get it checked in, and was extremely relieved to be back to just my two feet. I had enough time to walk around, have lunch, and take a couple pics of the outside of Wriggly Field before heading to airport and out of Chicago. We did have a two-hour delay, that included switching planes after we had already boarded, but after being home for a week now, that seems pretty inconsequential.
So, look out Delaware and Alaska, you’re the only two states left on my hit list. I’ll be coming for you soon.