The final day in Chicago was another of those long days where the beginning was hard to see from the end!We finally got up and going Monday morning around 11:00. We thought we'd try Petro's Restaurant and Bakery across Randolph from the hotel. It was nothing special, but a fun way to start the day. Old-fashioned downtown restaurant. Scrambled eggs, hashed browns, bacon—something solid and predictable. After breakfast we took a swing through 7-11 to stock up on snacks for the trip home, then back to the hotel to finish packing.
We decided to spend our final hours at the Museum of Science and Industry. I had great memories from childhood summers in Chicago of visiting the museum and walking through the enormous heart. Well, they don't have the enormous heart any more, but they have so much fun stuff to see. We walked around and enjoyed for over two hours, then learned we could take the #10 bus right back to the hotel. $4.50 to get back to the hotel, versus $20 for the cab ride from the hotel to the museum. Hmmm. I should have done more exploring about the CTA at the beginning of the trip. Look how much we would have saved on cab fare!
We spent the final hour-and-a-half sitting in the lovely lobby of the Hotel Allegro. This place is amazing. In the lobby, there's a coffee and tea bar setup in the morning, lemonade and iced tea in the afternoon, and wine and cheese at 5:00. All free for guests. And free wi-fi. There are several secluded lobbies off the main lobby, so we found two comfortable chairs by an electrical outlet and sat, sipping our Arnold Palmers while we juiced up our phones. I even got half-an-hour of work done while waiting for the moment when we needed to leave for Union Station. We enjoyed this hotel so much!
Once we got to Union Station and figured out what gate and track we needed, we learned there was a problem with the train and we were going to have to sit for a while. "A while" turned into two-and-a-half hours! Our train, that was to depart Chicago at 6:50, didn't leave until 9:30. Our train, that was to arrive in Alliance, Ohio, at 3:05 a.m., didn't arrive in Alliance until 5:30 a.m. The Jazzman needed to be to work at his normal 6:30, and had to get me home and change before going to work. Let's just say—he was late. And tired. I laid down when I got home and finally forced myself up at 11:00.
And now I'm 60.
We dozed off and on during the trip. One time when we woke up, Jas asked me what time it was. I pulled out my phone and said, "1:05." He stood up, reached into his bag, and pulled out a hilarious birthday card—something about being an old fart. Then he leaned over and sang "Happy Birthday" quietly into my ear.
This is One Sweet Man. I am One Lucky [Old] Girl.
It's gonna be a good year!
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