Since we were only there for one night, we arrived early enough to do at least a little sightseeing. I, for one, really wanted to see the Bean, located in Millennium Park just a short walk from our hotel. If you don't know, the Bean is a giant, metallic, gleaming sculpture in the shape of, what else, a bean, that has the most amazing reflective quality. It somehow manages to keep the reflection of the Chicago skyline fairly normal while subtly distorting the hundreds of people crowding around it for photos (us included). For the most part, the Bean is pretty much what you would expect based on that description, but what's really cool about it is the underside. Picture a bean with its arch up in the air, creating a space underneath between the two sides of the arch. Now imagine sticking a fork into the bottom of the arch of the bean, but not far enough to puncture through the top. When you remove the fork, you would have a sort of cavity in the underside of the bean. That's what the Bean is like inside, except it's practically impossible to tell by looking at it, since all of the reflection makes it look just like the regular underside of a bean (like without punching that hole in it with the aforemetioned fork). So how do I know this then, you might ask? Well I wouldn't, if it wasn't for the guy throwing his shoe up to the ceiling in the middle of the Bean trying to figure out just how tall it was. I do have to admit that it was a pretty surreal experience to see a shoe go flying up well past where you thought the ceiling should have been.
After the Bean, we explored a bit more, saw some more of the park and the Chicago River, as well as the Chicago Tribune building and Chicago's NBC studios. On our way back towards the hotel we passed by and were going to eat at a Pizzeria Uno (which famously originated in Chicago), but it seemed that lots of other people had the same idea, so we decided to go to Pizzeria Due across the street instead. And no, I am not kidding. Apparently, when Uno became so popular as the home of the deep dish pizza, the owner opened Due across the street to service the overflow, which it obviously continues to do to this day. Because how can you visit Chicago and not have deep dish pizza?
And that was it for Chicago. Short but sweet. We left there early this morning to head for Detroit, and one of Mike's much anticipated stops: the Henry Ford Museum. Our plan was to go on a factory tour of one of the assembly lines used in the actual production of Ford trucks (although it was not actually producing today), but due to a long drive and a failure on our part to account for the time difference when planning, we arrived at the museum about two minutes after the last tour left for the day. This would have been much worse if the factory had actually been productive today. But at least we got to see the museum. Now I'm not much of a car person, and this was much more a stop for Mike, but even I have to admit that it had some cool stuff. In addition to the standard old cars you would expect (Mike was very excited about the first Mustang ever made), they had the old presidential limos, including the one where JFK was shot, and some old trains and planes too. Plus, in the places where they displayed the old cars, they tried to create an era-appropriate atmosphere, with old billboards, diners and gas stations surrounding the cars. And the good news is, our pre-ordered tickets for the factory tour are good for a year, so maybe we'll get to come back and use them after all. Although who really wants to vacation in Detroit?
states driven through: 28
states visited: 19
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