Russ & Erin's Roadtrip

Back in Chi-Town

Hog butcher for the world,
Tool maker, stacker of wheat,
Player with railroads and the nation's freight handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of big shoulders.

-Carl Sandburg, from "Chicago," 1916

Sailboats braving the choppy Lake Michigan waters on a cloudy day

I got to do one of the activities I miss the most in Chicago. No, it's not visiting Mama Pulaski's House of Brats & Ill Repute. It's riding my bike along the lakefront. For those not familiar with Chicago . . . well, first, it's on a lake. A very big, big lake. It's called Lake Michigan and it's the second largest of the five Great Lakes and the only one that is completely in the U.S. (the other four have partial Canadian shores). The word "Michigan" is believed to come from the Ojibwa word mishigami, meaning "great water" and the Great Lakes combined are the largest mass of fresh water on the planet, comprising a little less than a quarter of the earth's fresh water. Along Chicago's Lake Michigan shoreline is the 18-mile long Lakefront Trail, which runs from 71st Street on the Southside up to Hollywood on the Northside, through some of Chicago's best lakefront parks, beaches and attractions: Lincoln Park, Oak Street Beach, Navy Pier, the Chicago River and Grant Park (where Obama first spoke after being elected President). In my previous incarnation as Urban Russ, I used to love biking along this path on the weekends, often leaving my apartment early in the morning and not returning until late in the afternoon or evening, especially if I was meeting friends for brunch, volleyball or some other such shenanigans. Today, Steve and I only got in about 22 miles (11 miles from Montrose Harbor to Grant Park and then back) and it was mostly overcast, but I was in absolute heaven.

All smiles on Navy Pier

Me on Montrose pier . . .

. . . + my bro' . . .

= Good Times.

The (free!) Chicago Jazz Festival was going on in Grant Park, so Steve and I took in some great music. God, I miss the Chicago music scene. I went through several distinct phases of music preference: the Blues Phase in my teens and early twenties, the Jazz Phase in my twenties, the Reggae and African Phase in my thirties and into my early forties. Back in the day, I had a friend who worked at The Bulls jazz club on north Lincoln and I don't think I've ever enjoyed music as much as when that tiny basement joint was packed full and rocking out.