Sweet Home Chicago

In celebration of the kids' impending January home-coming to us from their year-long stay in Pennsylvania, I'd changed my more serious Tracy Chapman songs on the blog to "We Are Family," "This is Home," and "Sweet Home Chicago."  (Presently we are without music due to some sort of Play list and/or Blogger technofart.  Or operator error.)  While my true hometown of 26,000ish people -- Freeport, in northwest Illinois -- is not, exactly Chicago, the culture of my stomping grounds is an interesting mix of "dairy farm" (migrated south from a VERY nearby Wisconsin) and "Windy City" (from Chi-towners traveling through Stephenson County to the unglaciated -- gorgeous -- section of the state found in historic (very quaint) Galena  .  .  .  My adult home in Central Illinois puts us about half-way between Wrigley and Busch stadiums (Cubs v. Cards is a BIG deal 'round here), but as a kid, all field trips led to the metropolis two+ hours due east -- the city on Lake Michigan.

(Brief digression -- my FIRST home ever, was actually Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania -- moved to IL around the age of 2.)

Anyway, Miss Anna was perplexed as we drove across the state line from Indiana into Illinois for the first time together on that fated winter's day -- Chicago was nowhere in sight.  She thought you "had to go through the city to get into the state."  As an avid fan of Disney's "Shake It Up, Chicago," (albeit filmed in LA), she was disappointed.  AND last summer when the smaller Cluver fam of just 4 went to St. Louis for an immigration appointment (and time at the zoo), I realized that Baylor had never been to a big city before then, and never yet to our country's 3rd largest.  And Hunter had been to a Cubs' game, but at the young age of 3, and only to the stadium and back out to the highway for rural home.

SOoooooo, a long weekend on Michigan Avenue was the obvious choice for this summer's family vacation.  An all-Illinois summer -- at home continuing to adjust, to see two of the grandparents' homes in Watseka (east) and in Freeport, and some busy time in the city!

We began the experience at Chez Violette Restaurant (Haitian!) in north Chicago right by Evanston.  (2311 W. Howard; 773.961.7275) Tres byen!  Impeccably clean and tidy, this eatery is family-run, and the warm welcome we received from Violetta (the head chef) as she came to tell us which dishes she had freshly made was matched by the congeniality of her husband who took our orders (and engaged us in lovely conversation about Haiti, the kids, Kreyol...)  A young man who I'm guessing to be their son (?) served to us our drinks, and alongside the refreshing citronade (limeade) I ordered, he provided a small, free sample of the corosol (white, creamy tropical fruit juice) about which I'd inquired with curiousity.  The chicken pates (for their personal recipe -- ground, seasoned chicken surrounded by a crisp, flaky pastry) were scrumptious, and I enjoyed trying the fried (salted, not sweet) plantains with their pickliz.  Anna and Jameson's favorite, surprisingly, was the white rice with black bean sauce.  I liked it.  It was a very simple dish that we'll be sure to replicate at home, now.  The Haitian Chicken, oh my, was absolutely to die for.  This was Chad's lunch.  We all tried bites.  The kids weren't too excited, but oh, my, goodness -- the meat fell off the bone and had some sort of perfect blend of seasonings -- marinated -- and cooked just magically.  Wow.  Already full, we ordered just two pain patate to sample for dessert.  It was sort of like a bread pudding, but denser, and loaded with ginger -- an intense dessert.

After a run by Exclusive Merchandise to pick up some Haitian goods, and driving in circles trying to figure out parking downtown, we took the Mercury Cruise Company's Urban Adventure Tour -- 90 minutes sitting in some sunshine and a nice breeze up and down the Chicago River and out on Lake Michigan.  A tour guide highlighted some of the famous buildings and quirky stories for the kids.  After we checked into the hotel (Essex Inn), we stopped in at a Chicago dog and Italian beef shop on our nice, loooonnnngggg walk to the Sears (Willis) Tower sky deck.  Seeing the city from the tallest building in Chicago (2nd highest in the world) was a beautiful thing.  The room was darkened, and the view, therefore, truly served as the focal point -- all the way around.  The entirely plexiglass "Ledge" messed with our minds; a part of the brain just can't accept that your foot is moving out onto a clear, solid surface and not realing stepping off the edge of the building.

Rise and shine bright and early Saturday a.m. in our teeny tiny suite to ready ourselves for the short, pretty walk to Shedd Aquarium.  Dolphin show, 3D Planet Earth film, a special exhibit of jelly fish, tanks and tanks and tanks of an endless collection of freshwater and marine creatures (large and small) from around the world.  I definitely recommend arriving at opening time -- the line was unbelievably long when we were leaving the place.  (And always check into teacher discounts if you are an IL educator!)  The lower level was my personal favorite, as that's where the wall-size portions of large-animal tanks could be viewed (sharks...) - not pictured (as you can see already, I was having difficulty getting good indoor pictures with my camera).  The images below show a small tank on the main floor  .  .  .

Saturday eve was for the boys and Anna to see the Chicago Fire soccer game with Dad (along with many, many folks from Midstate Soccer Club of Decatur), and the boys (the soccer players of the fam, presently) got pregame privileges to go out onto the field.  Bay and I dined at The Grand Lux restaurant about a mile north from the hotel (reminded me A LOT of "Cheesecake Factory") -- every bit of the foods we ordered was fresh and amazing, and dessert came in such generous portions that we had to take most of it with us  .  .  .  New Orleans beignets (with vanilla, chocolate, and raspberry dipping sauces) and duo creme brulees (classic and chocolate) served as snacks, and, for a few of us -- breakfast the next morn.  Pictured to the left is one of our stops on the stroll (long walk) back to the hotel after our meal.  We also checked out the many famous stones -- i.e. Taj Mahal, Berlin Wall, moon rock ETC... -- embedded into the exterior wall (or on window display) at the Tribune Tower.

Sunday was all about the Field Museum of Natural History -- that's A LOT o' stuff to see and read and try to explain to kids still relatively new to America.  On the same museum campus as Shedd, it, too, was just a 15 minute walk from The Essex.  Lovely park walk, but on this day, very, very, VERY hot!  I believe "Sue" -- the most complete T-Rex skeleton (greeting visitors in the main foyer) and complimented by an upstairs 3D film (VERY well done) was the biggest hit.  The Underground Adventure that makes it utterly believable that you've shrunk and are walking around underground with roots and bugs was awesome, too.  The kids could even pretend to be cicadas (yuck) emerging from old exoskeletons (double yuck!).  Ancient Egypt and mummies, Pacific island cultures, The Horse special exhibit, the famous Lions of Tsavo, and on, and on, and ON -- an utterly impressive collection!  Hunter's delight, at no surprise to anyone who's known him at any point the past five or so years -- the preserved kiwi (within the ginormous collection of many dead animals).  He and his friends, tickled by their discovery on-line of the strange kiwi bird, had created a kiwi club, own plush kiwis, and a variety of super-kiwi (flying and caped) images are penciled into the margins of most of his school papers.

With exhausted minds, bodies, and budget, we drove the 3 hours to home early Sunday evening, with a list of different hopeful adventures for future excursions to this wonderful city.