Day Three: It’s Miller Time!

I can’t help myself with these puns…oh well, live with it. We left Michigan at around 10am to start our traffic-filled driving time in Chicago! After what seems like a year’s worth of driving (thanks to you, Jeff) we make it to downtown Chicago and park right by Lake Michigan. We walk towards downtown for a bit, at which point tom breaks his camera somehow, and of course, in true Tom fashion, gets impatient with it and smashes it against his hand and truly breaks it. It may be been fixable beforehand, but now it is beyond repair. So, after lunch at a little no-name pizza restaurant that is filled with mafia and undercover agents (and is freezing as well, but no connection to the mob I think), we make our way through the Chicago Stock Exchange and on towards the Sears Tower. After a long, unneeded wait in line for a fairly lame movie intro, it was on to the elevator to go up 103 floors. Well, you can see a lot from 1000 feet off the deck…but nothing really worth seeing in my opinion. That is the last tall building I pay to go to the top of. After taking several pictures, we make our way back to the car via an alternate route to see more of Chicago, which seems like it could be an interesting city to live in, but not if you have to commute.

I cannot stress this enough: traffic in Chicago blows. It sucks. It sucks and blows. Never, ever, drive to Chicago. I don’t know how else you are going to get there (besides by lake, which is not a bad idea), but do not drive to get to Chicago. Ok, I think I have made my point.

So, we wasted a few hours to take pictures of Jeff in front of his childhood home and park, I mean we wasted around 4 hours to take around 6 pictures. It was his hometown, ok, I get it. REALLY, I do. We will be driving MINUTES from my hometown, but why go there? I lived there 12 years ago, I know what it looked like then, Google EarthTM can show me what it looks like today…I don’t understand it. But, with 4 hours wasted and a timeline quickly approaching, we made our way to North Chicago, got dinner and beer and made it to Stephanie’s (Rebecca’s friend) house just in time to make it to the train downtown.

Ok, now let’s rant together on bad directions. Or, may I say, poorly designed cities. It should not take more than 10 turns off an interstate to make it to one’s house. Ok, 15 at most, but that is pushing it. It took 16 turns to make it to Stephanie’s house, and from there to the train took at least 15 more. Screw the sprawl! Thus endeth this rant.

So, the train’s destination you ask? Well, to Steve Miller Band of course! (and for those of you diligent readers out there, the title of this post has made itself evident to you, without the benefit of this little reminder) The venue was like nothing I have ever seen in NC, not to say it does not exist. We packed a cooler with two cases of beer, salsa, and brought some chips. We walk in and there are several thousand people sitting around in a huge flat lawn, all with coolers and blankets and chairs. Everyone is partying. Does not matter the age, everyone is having a good time, and as the night progresses, the good times only continued at a higher level. We could not actually see the band, because they played in an amphitheater pit that was below the lawn level, but due to a huge system of outdoor speakers, we could all enjoy the band from our lawn party. Near the end of the night, the classic Dance Party broke out, and the 10 or so of us (including Steph’s friends that we met there) danced to “Dance, Dance, Dance” and then we get a ride to a house party that was held by one of the guys there. Decent party, we walked home, I pass out immediately. If you want to know the rest, ask them.