derek.knorr August 8-11
Thursday: We shot for leaving at 7:00 AM and made it out the door by 7:20 AM. We stopped for a picnic lunch in Iowa City at the Devonian Fossil Gorge. It’s an exposed river bed littered with embedded marine fossils from the Devonian era. The kids found a few loose rocks with small fossils. While we ate we watched an old man net fish and pull out fish each time he cast his net. Iowa City is about the half way point and this was a nice place to stretch our legs and break up the trip. Derek came across some old CDs and introduced the family to Jerry Clower’s greatest hits. Not surprisingly, they were the greatest hit with Henry and Daddy and the greatest flop with the rest of us.
We arrived in Chicago at 5:00 rush hour and made it to our hotel by 6:15 PM or so. It reminded us of why we don’t miss I-66 in DC/Virginia. As we drove around the block finding our parking garage we noticed a large group of folks dressed all in white gathered on the corner outside the Siena Tavern. We ran into a couple of ladies dressed all in white in the parking garage and Derek asked what it was all about. There is a Le Diner en Blanc pop up restaurant and people show up all in white at a designated meeting point and are shuttled to an unknown public landmark with their own chairs, table, decor and gourmet picnic food for an evening of dining and dancing. Sounded cool. Our room on the 21st floor of the Marriott Residence Inn Downtown/River North offered a great view. Trevor thought Harry Caray’s bar and restaurant looked like a gingerbread house. The kids were so disappointed when we told them we didn’t think there was a pool at the hotel. “Why would we even stay at a hotel without a pool?” Henry wondered. We freshened up and headed to Giordano’s Pizzeria near Millennium Park. They have a nice outdoor eating area but won’t seat parties greater than 4 so we put our name on a 50 minute wait list for indoor seating, ordered our pizza right away (since it takes 45 minutes to bake) and wandered through Millennium Park while we waited. We were impressed and dizzied by the Cloud Gate (aka the giant bean). Henry was so in awe he walked right into it and banged his head. The reflection of the sky and the city skyline is pretty cool. The two little boys enjoyed running around and getting their feet wet at the face fountain. A little weird, in my opinion, but kind of cool.
The pizza was worth the wait. It’s Chicago-style stuffed deep dish and one slice filled me up.
We headed back to the hotel, roaming the river walk, a lively, outdoor happy hour type atmosphere. As we walked, the boys were in awe at how Henry’s orange shirt color changed to yellow (in their incorrect opinions) under different lighting conditions and concluded it must be the moonlight. In downtown Chicago. With a million artificial lights shining down. We grabbed a jug of water at Walgreens, went up to our room and collapsed.
Friday: We rose at a decent time, ate free breakfast at the hotel and hit the streets. We headed straight away to Navy Pier. We were there by 9:20 AM and enjoyed a quiet, uncrowded stroll. We got early tickets for the big Centennial ferris wheel and were first in line (or technically, second). Charity was a little nervous, as was I, but the views were great and it was a smooth, enjoyable ride.
Our pass got us an additional ride on one of the other attractions so we all took a carousel ride as well. Before hand the kids had scoped out the carousel options and were set on their choices: Trevor on a blue-green dragon, Henry on a knight’s horse, and the other two wherever they ended up.
We then walked to the end of the pier, enjoyed the views and walked back. The restaurants were just beginning to open so we grabbed a drink at Margaritaville, Gabriel ordering a Dr. Pepsi. Henry got some great photos of his feet and made sure to capture a few of a finch that was hopping around, as inspiration for a new Pokémon. As we discussed what to do next, Gabriel crawled up in my lap and whispered in my ear, “Can we rob a bank today?”
Gabriel didn’t get his way as we marched over to Maggie Daley Park for an epic marathon of bathroom breaks, broken up by lunch at a hotdog stand (which was in turn broken up by a bathroom break), play on their inventive playgrounds, and a stroll along the mirrored walkway. We popped into Lurie garden, but weren’t incredibly impressed so went on a mad hunt for an ice cream shop. The kids enjoyed their first ride on a metro train but were disappointed it was so short. We got off at Merchandise Mart, were disappointed it was just a mall without an ice cream shop and continued the search. As Derek kept a cheery disposition and positive outlook on life, Jennifer spiraled downward into a hangry slump in the dumps. Finally, just as all was nearly lost, we stumbled upon a tiny, hidden gem of a shop, La Bodega, and were greatly rewarded for our troubles. The kids enjoyed ice cream sundaes while Derek and I shared a churro and cappuccino. It was time to head back to the hotel and prepare for our evening in the ‘burbs.
Lurie Garden
First metro train ride 
We headed into Riverside, once again at rush hour, and landed at the Breit residence in charming suburban neighborhood. Brian must have spent all day in the kitchen preparing the most delicious meal: homemade fire-roasted salsas, guacamole, refried beans. And, oh, the tacos: steak with pickled onions and radish; pulled pork with sweet mexi-slaw; and shrimp, avocado and mango with cotija cheese. We even had refreshing gin and tonics with his own handmade gin. Sujit and KP joined us with their family and the nine kids had a fun time outside playing soccer, goofing off in the hammock, and sky gazing at the moon and Saturn with Noah’s high-tech digital telescope. They topped off the perfect evening with a blazing fire pit and s’mores. We heard about both families’ amazing Iceland trips, got a hankering for rotten shark, and just had a lovely evening together.
Saturday: We rose early and met Michael Derbin and his wife Linna at Dock B of Burnham Harbor at 8:00 AM to board the Chi-Dragon (shy-dragon) for the most beautiful morning of sailing on Lake Michigan. They left their 1-year old Milly at home with the nanny but brought a lovely feast of a lunch. Michael gave Derek and the kids a brief lesson in sailing and we set out on a very still and smooth, mostly empty lake. The unobstructed views of the city from the water are fabulous and on the 40-foot sailboat you hardly notice the movement of the water. Linna made sandwiches and one of their friends had smoked a salmon, quite possibly the best I’ve ever had.
They taught us a few things about Chicago:
- The term “windy city” was originally in reference to the politicians’ successful and verbose attempts to get the 1893 World’s Fair to Chicago, not the city’s weather. Burnham Harbor, from which we embarked, is named after the architect of the World’s Fair.
- Linna explained to us that the artist behind the Cloud Gate is not well-liked in the artistic community because he patented a shade of “true black” that is unable to be used by anyone else. And he hates that Cloud Gate has been nicknamed “the bean.” Our perspective is that if he didn’t want it to be called a bean, he shouldn’t have made it look like one.
- The building that the kids think was shaved off by a giant with a butter knife was used in Adventures in Babysitting.
After arriving back on land we said our thank yous for a most memorable outing and our goodbyes and Ubered back to our hotel for a dip in the pool. Derek and I had noticed that in every elevator was a placard that said “Pool, floor 27.” The kids had never read it so were hugely surprised and excited to find out there was a pool, and a little baffled they had missed the sign once we pointed it out the next time we were on an elevator.
After our dip we walked over to the Magnificent Mile where Jennifer found a pair of sunglasses. At Linna’s suggestion we headed to the Hancock building and had a drink at the Signature Lounge on the 96th floor. We didn’t get a seat right at the window but were pleasantly surprised that there was no wait for a table. The drinks are overpriced but it was still cheaper than paying for tickets that take you to an observation level a few floors down, so totally worth it. On our walk over the kids became enchanted by a sidewalk magician. At one point Henry was asked to choose which half of the deck a card was drawn from and Trevor got to choose which card would be magically transformed from one card to another. At the end Trevor pulled out his wallet and placed a dollar of his own money into the magician’s hat. The magician passed out business playing cards, of which each kid received one. So at the top deck of the Hancock building, pun intended, as the kids enjoyed their Sprites and Pepsis, they treated us to magic tricks of their own, essentially shaking hands as they discreetly switched cards and awed us into believing they had performed magic to transform one card into another.
Oddly, the kids were starving and begging for food, so we went on another food hunt. We had rolled the dice by not making a reservation anywhere and just hoped we could find something with patio seating. We struck out at our first two stops but, on passing a third, Osteria via Stato, noticed there were two outside tables next to each other. When the hostess said there was a 45-minute wait Derek mentioned the tables. She said there was a single lady there waiting for the rest of her party but Derek pursued the matter, saying that was a different table and a gentleman employee passing by said, I’ll go check, and then dropped our wait from 45 down to 5 minutes. Go Daddy!
And I’m glad he did because the food and ambiance were excellent. Jennifer ordered the squid ink risotto and had the kids all try a bite of her “black rice” before telling them what it was. They didn’t care for the simply delicious risotto but the super picky eaters all fought over who got to eat the tentacles. You got me.
The kids were just shelled so we headed back to the hotel and put them to bed with the intent to put Trevor in charge of the sleeping babes and head out for a drink just the two of us. Trevor began telling a lively story to the kids, who sat up in bed, listening attentively. Unfortunately Derek and I both fell asleep in the middle of the story, before the kids, and our night on the town ended before it began, about 8:45 PM. Lame.
Sunday: We all slept in a little in spite of the early respite the previous night. We hit the road for home shortly after 9am, and had a relatively uneventful drive with a few noteworthy events:
- Listening to Gabriel softly sing self written songs, including our favorite about the chapter numbers of the book he was reading.
- Stopping for lunch at Iowa’s Best Burger Cafe – the food really was quite good, so it makes a rather successful attempt at living up to its name, even with the ambience of a rundown gas station.
