Sometimes you throw a bag or two in the minivan and head out of town for no reason other than you have time to do that and you have someone to see on the other end.
It’s been a long semester but that finally came to an end last week, as did the giant conference that all of the graduate students in Oliver’s program were conscripted into running. Our summer activities haven’t quite had time to get rolling. We had no particular plans for Memorial Day – a holiday that has been bleached of all meaning anyway. And we hadn’t seen Oliver in person since January. So Kim found us a nice little suite on the second floor of an old house not all that far away from his apartment and we left on Saturday.
It’s a pretty straightforward journey if you don’t mind the fact that you’re driving around Chicago, and we got into town right around check-in time, though we stopped in to see Oliver first so we could deliver a few things that he’d asked for from home – notably a normal window air conditioner to replace the portable floor unit that we’d brought last summer, since this would a) free up a couple square feet of floor space (always a concern in a small apartment) and b) probably use less power (also a concern in a vintage space like that).
In the process we sort of vaguely met Oliver’s new cat, a rescue kitty that he has named Georgia and who is ever-so-slowly getting comfortable enough to let people pet her while she remains deep in her cat cave. Progress!
From there we drove over to our spot to drop off our stuff and plan the rest of the evening, which took some doing, because the roads in that town were laid out by spiders. Nothing goes in a straight line, nothing intersects at right angles, and most of the roads are one-way with no discernable system to them. Also, a good chunk of that town is on a thirty-degree incline. Oliver says this is fun in the winter.
That said it is a nice town, with a pile of good restaurants, some pretty parks, and the air of a place that is working to rebuild from harder times, and you have to appreciate that spirit. I’ve enjoyed visiting whenever I’ve been there.
Every time we’re there we end up at the ramen place downtown, so we decided to check that box early because it is really a great little place and there is no reason to delay good food. Along the way we ran into the Prom.
There is a park right in the downtown, about one city block in size, which you have to pass through if you’re going to do pretty much anything downtown. There is always something going on in this park, and on this night that something involved hordes of Sharply Dressed Teenagers milling about the place getting their pictures taken and hanging out with friends and family. Seriously – kids today have so much more fashion sense than when I was in high school, even after you adjust for the fact that I didn’t have any then and still don’t now. It was fun to walk through the park and just take it all in.
And the ramen place was top notch, as always.
It’s been a long semester but that finally came to an end last week, as did the giant conference that all of the graduate students in Oliver’s program were conscripted into running. Our summer activities haven’t quite had time to get rolling. We had no particular plans for Memorial Day – a holiday that has been bleached of all meaning anyway. And we hadn’t seen Oliver in person since January. So Kim found us a nice little suite on the second floor of an old house not all that far away from his apartment and we left on Saturday.
It’s a pretty straightforward journey if you don’t mind the fact that you’re driving around Chicago, and we got into town right around check-in time, though we stopped in to see Oliver first so we could deliver a few things that he’d asked for from home – notably a normal window air conditioner to replace the portable floor unit that we’d brought last summer, since this would a) free up a couple square feet of floor space (always a concern in a small apartment) and b) probably use less power (also a concern in a vintage space like that).
In the process we sort of vaguely met Oliver’s new cat, a rescue kitty that he has named Georgia and who is ever-so-slowly getting comfortable enough to let people pet her while she remains deep in her cat cave. Progress!
From there we drove over to our spot to drop off our stuff and plan the rest of the evening, which took some doing, because the roads in that town were laid out by spiders. Nothing goes in a straight line, nothing intersects at right angles, and most of the roads are one-way with no discernable system to them. Also, a good chunk of that town is on a thirty-degree incline. Oliver says this is fun in the winter.
That said it is a nice town, with a pile of good restaurants, some pretty parks, and the air of a place that is working to rebuild from harder times, and you have to appreciate that spirit. I’ve enjoyed visiting whenever I’ve been there.
Every time we’re there we end up at the ramen place downtown, so we decided to check that box early because it is really a great little place and there is no reason to delay good food. Along the way we ran into the Prom.
There is a park right in the downtown, about one city block in size, which you have to pass through if you’re going to do pretty much anything downtown. There is always something going on in this park, and on this night that something involved hordes of Sharply Dressed Teenagers milling about the place getting their pictures taken and hanging out with friends and family. Seriously – kids today have so much more fashion sense than when I was in high school, even after you adjust for the fact that I didn’t have any then and still don’t now. It was fun to walk through the park and just take it all in.
And the ramen place was top notch, as always.
Later we ended up hanging out back at the house where we were staying, talking about whatever came to mind, and if there is a better way to spend time together I don’t know what it is.
Kim and I had Sunday morning pretty much to ourselves, since Oliver’s summer class has already started and like most summer classes it is a “drink from the firehose” experience when it comes to material and he needed to do homework. We found a bakery downtown that sold fresh-baked pastries, hot tea, and coffee, and that’s a marvelous way to start the day. They also make bread of several varieties and we stopped this morning on the way out to get some for home. It’s really good bread, as you would imagine.
The rest of our Sunday was divided into four pieces:
First, we found lunch at an “Eccentric Pub” downtown, and it was very good. We are food-motivated people, what can I say?
Second, there was a Costco run because (see point one, above) one of the privileges of being a parent is stocking your child up with food, plus we really just enjoy Costco runs.
Third, after dropping off the spoils of the Costco run and getting the cold stuff put away we went over to the local art museum, which has a surprisingly nice collection. They had an exhibit dedicated to the history of footwear (mostly sneakers), which largely escaped me since my interest in shoes starts and stops with “comfortable,” but Kim and Oliver had a good time.
The museum also has a wide assortment of paintings and sculptures, my favorite being this one. Not sure why.
Fourth, after an abortive attempt at a campus visit, was dinner was at a pizza place called Bilbo’s, which really commits to the whole Tolkien bit in ways that are a bit strange but surprisingly entertaining.
We didn’t do much Monday morning – mostly slept in while Oliver worked on his homework and fed his friend’s cat while she was away – but eventually we picked him up, found a tasty lunch at a taco place, and then spent most of the afternoon reading our various books at a park just outside of town while a boisterous crowd kicked balls around and splashed about in the lake. It was a nice day to do that. Afterward Oliver showed us around campus a bit, giving us a tour of the various buildings that he as a graduate student calls home. Sometimes low-key is all you need.
We went back to his apartment and, after a fair amount of fiddling with the ratchet strap, managed to get the portable floor air conditioner down the stairs and into the minivan without damaging any component of this escapade.
We let this morning and now we are back home, one visit richer. It was a good way to spend a holiday weekend.
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