Bittersweet Chicago

For 2 nights we stayed at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago, close to the "Mag Mile," as all the maps now say. Magnificent is too long to spell and just so not hip. We were both really excited to live it up in a sleek and shiny city as our kickoff to a summer spent in a van and camping. The first day we left our hotel, we were headed toward the Shedd Aquarium and found ourselves moving further away from city streets and more toward the park and greenways. After about 20 minutes of wandering, we both noticed that instead of gawking at all the buildings and the bustling sidewalks like we were "supposed" to be doing in the big ol' city, we had sought out the calm, green areas as soon as possible. More realizations like this happened over the 2 days, and we left Chicago realizing that while we had previously both thought that living in a huge metropolitan city would be a great thing, that we're no longer those people. We reflected on how much we enjoyed Grand Rapids' midsized nature...and agreed that we could go back to GR if we didn't want to live elsewhere and feel great about that decision.

We're in a bit of a rush because we want to go to the Pirate Festival that's happening here in Grafton, Wisconsin, the small town that Tim's brother Stevie is living in with some buddies for the summer. We'll post some pics from Chicago that we hope you find amusing and will hopefully find some time for a bit more substance on sleepy Sunday. But if not -- that's the nature of the road. Mwahahaha!