A Photo of Chicago

So I have struggled on what I should say here.  I dont really feel like just listing out all the things I did this past weekend.  It was just very random and filled with lots of different things.  So instead of boring anyone reading this with words I will just simply post some pictures and you can make your own conclusions.

A biker along the North Pond

Cool flower behind the Nature Museum

Can't think of a better way to spend my half day Fridays

View from the lake trail

Buchingham Fountain

Buckingham Fountain water and light show

Art Institute

Tourist viewing the fountains

The Bean in Millennium Park

The Bean at Millinnium Park

Jay Pritzker Pavilion

8am Yoga in the Park

View of the city from Taste of Randolph

View of Chicago from Lake St

My neighborhood from 29 stories up

Chicago Skyline from Addison and Lakeshore Dr

Maybe next time I will elaborate on this in words.  I had lots of ideas of things to talk about this week but when ever I started writing I just couldn't get my point across so I said forget it and just went with this instead.  I hope you enjoy the pictures.

My Wish List

So there are  plenty of things I want to do and I am getting better at actually doing them but I still have a long ways to go.  I have done quite a bit up to this point with living life and gaining new experiences but why stop there.  Just like what we were told as children growing up, "you learn something new everyday".  Well I want to take that and run with it.  I am not the outdoors adventurous type but I'm also not not that type.  People like my sister could probably just go pitch a tent just about anywhere and be just fine.  I however can not do that though I would like to.  Unlike my sister though I can survive in a big city and make the city work for me where she would not fair as well.  My parents did an excellent job raising me and my sister and providing us with so many wonderful opportunities to explore what the Earth had to offer.

Me and my sister after hiking up a mountain to ski it!

Growing up my family would go camping and while we had a pop up camper (still do actually) we went camping to get away.  Michigan offers an impressive State Park System with so many options.  We generally would take the campsites that were wooded but either on or near a lake or river.  The sites would have power but the only thing our pop up used power for was the few little lamps inside the camper.  I have still never to this day been tent camping but I figure if you sleep in a pop up when it rains and its cold its not too far off (yes I know I'm not on the ground but still).  I have fond memories or camping at Hoffmaster State Park and in Muskegon and up north on Mullet Lake at Aloha State Park.  I want to go camping again soon but I am getting to that.

I do not think there was ever a spring break that my family did not go someplace.  Some years were bigger then others but I have done everything from Disney World in Florida to Disneyland in California to Mammoth Caves in Kentucky to Beach's along the Atlantic.  We also went skiing and visited Washington DC and family in New England.  During the summer the vacations got a bit bigger even.  When I was in 8th grade we took a 2 week road trip from Michigan out west.  I visited Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, Teton, Mt Rushmore, and the Badlands.  When I was very little I remember traveling to visit my aunt and uncle in Idaho and we drove out west in the US but returned east through Canada.

During College I expanded my traveling further and did a short study abroad in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada and later in college went on a real study abroad to Lund, Sweden.  After the study abroad in Lund I traveled on my own and went to Norway where I did Norway in a Nutshell which takes you along the Flåm Railway.  I also took a ship from Bergen up to Ålesund which provided some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen in my life of the Norwegian Fjords.  On that same trip I spent a few days in Copenhagen and then made my way to London, England.  In England I traveled outside of the city on a tour out to Salisbury Cathedral, Stonehenge, and Bath.  I was able to see so much of the world on that trip yet really I only saw a tiny portion.

Château Frontenac

Nyhavn, Copenhagen

About 2am along the Fjords of Norway

Library at the University of Lund

Stonehenge

After College I traveled the US some visiting friends that had moved around the country to places like Atlanta and Charlotte, NC.  I also went to visit my sister who lives in the Teton Mountain Valley Area (at the time in Driggs, ID but now in Jackson, WY) to go and do some sight seeing as well as some skiing at Grand Targhee where she works.  I also took another trip over the big pond to travel to the United Kingdom once more.  In 2009 I took a week or so and traveled to Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland because I had been sitting still for too long.

Skiing Grand Targhee in the Teton Mountains

Giants Causeway, Northern Ireland

View of Edinburgh from the Sir Walter Scott Monument

In the past year I have been very active which is what prompted this blog.  I went to the Kentucky Derby, skiing at my sisters (Grand Targhee), countless festivals and local sports events, Atlanta, Michigan, Kicks for a Cure, Wildman Ranch, stepped foot in all 5 Great Lakes in 4 days, went to Toronto, went skydiving, went to Mexico, my first road football game (Penn State), Washington DC and so much more.  I know it is all great but is it enough?  I only have so long to live, and I plan on living for a long time, there is so much of this country, continent, and planet has to see.

My family and the Paulson's white water rafting at Wildman Ranch

No captain needed!

The whole group of us at Churchill Downs before the Derby

After the Blue Jays Indians game in Toronto

Me and Mandy at the MSU Notre Dame game

Me, Jeff, Patricia at the swim up bar in Mexico for Allie's wedding

The whole group of us at Allie's wedding enjoying muy mas cervezas 

Erin, Danielle, and I at College Game Day at Wrigley

Meghan, Mandy and I at Penn State after watching MSU clinch the BigTen Title

I have both a small general wish list as well as a much more elaborate wish list.  So here is just the small easy wish list:

• Go Camping
• Take some friends on a Pure Michigan tour to Sleeping Bear, Mackinaw Island, and the cottage
• I want to run the Chicago Marathon I am currently training for
• Win the Redeye weekly photo challenge
• Go explore Jackson Park and learn more about the White City
• I want to go hiking
• I want to go back to Québec City
• Do a Tower Climb

Carriage on Mackinaw Island

I also have an entire Chicago Wish list but that's for another time.

For my main wish list here we go:

• Travel to Fiji and some other less traveled tropical islands
• Visit Denver (luckily I have some friends here so that shouldn't be that hard)
• I want to see Hawaii as well as Alaska
• I also want to visit the remaining few states I have never been to
• Want to experience Australia both the cities and culture but also the outback.
• Travel and explore the Pacific Coast
• I want to visit more of Europe including Spain, Italy, France etc
• By the time I am 35 years old I would love to say that I have been to the 8 countries I have heritage in (Italy, France, Ireland, Scotland, England, Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands) So currently I have been to Ireland, Scotland and England so only 5 to go!
• I want to go explore China, Japan, Korea, and the smaller nations in that region
• I have been to the rest of Scandinavia but I want to also visit Finland
• I want to travel to Iceland and Greenland
• I have heard amazing things about South America so I want to go there as well
• I want to visit all the continents
• I want to go the Vancouver
• I want to go to the Olympics one day and I would love to be a part of them as in work for them or at least volunteer for something.
• I want to one day go to the National Park that is within Michigan, Isle Royale
• I want to live in another Country
• I want to visit Grand Canyon, Acadia, Sequoia, Zion, Olympic, Kenai Fjords, Denali National Parks
• Drive across the Golden Gate Bridge, Hoover Dam and US 101
• Visit a rain forest
• Take the train to the west coast and then take the Canadian Railway back east
• Pretty much I want to do everything on this website. 
• And so many more things that I have yet to think of.

So who wants to join me along my way to see all that there is to see on this beautiful planet?  Here is a video from an artist I found who makes me want to get out and travel more and this particular video just makes me want to go back to Norway.


The Arctic Light from TSO Photography on Vimeo.

Festivals!

Festivals are known around the country in many different forms and formats and different frequencies throught the year.  Some places just have a state fair, others have art festivals, some have festivals in honor of fruits, the solstace or other various things.  Growing up DeWitt we had one festival a year  called the Ox Roast.  Since moving to Chicago I have learned that festivals here take on a whole new meaning.  We have festivals for just about everything.  This weekend I only made it to 3 festivals, yes, 3 festivals just in one weekend.  I only had time for the three festivals because I was busy doing a few other things as well but I really wanted to make it atleast one of the art festivals too.

I started out my weekend when I left work at noon on Friday.  I went downtown to meet up with my old roomie Erin and we went to Adler Planetarium.  I have lived in Chicago for 2.5 years and have never been to the planetarium before and considering it is the oldest in the country I felt it was time to change this.  They were running a special for free admission last week so it was a perfect oppertunity to go.  We took the bus down and it was funny it was 4 locals on the bus and we all had to ask if the bus went out as far as the planetarium.  The bus driver laughed when I pulled the stop cord when we got there because he knew it was our destination.  The planetarium it self was nice.  I had a few mixed reviews depending on exhibits.  The colar system exhibit was very out of date but some of the other ones were very cool and I learned some interesting facts.  I really enjoyed the live astronomer talk which was very imformative and fun.  The history of space discovery and exploration was also very interesting.  They have some really old telescopes on display.

After the planetarium we took the bus back to the loop and parted ways.  I met up with my friend Dani who was in town for the week and weekend and she came to stay at my house.  She had really been wanting good pizza so where else but Pequod's.  After we waited for over an hour to sit (thats pretty standard) we enjoyed lots of great pizza!  We all had lots of desires to go out that night and enjoy the town but exhausttion won out.  I finally watched the Hangover (the original) and went to bed.  Needed to get my rest for the real weekend.

Saturday I woke up and went to boxing and then an abs class before really starting out the day.  Got a group together and headed up to festival 1 of 3 for the weekend.  We started the day out at Midsommarfest in Andersonville.  I really enjoyed this festival and wish I could have stayed longer.  There was some great street vendors and lots of live music.  They had 5 stages.  The only part that I was slightly bummed about was the food.  I really wanted some traditional Swedish food but I could not find it with out leaving the festival and going into a restaurant.  I wish we would have spent longer there before we headed out and went down to Ribfest.

The Puppet Bike in action at Midsommar

Ribfest is very similiar to Taste of Chicago except its only ribs.  Ribfest is a festival as you guessed it, all about ribs.  There were many vendors cooking ribs and while most of them were super good some were not as great.  The price was a bit high as well.  They not only ask for a donation at the gate but then also charge for everything.  It works out to be $2 per rib which is very high.  There were some good freebies though which made things better.  I had the most amazing buffalo chicken wrapped in bacon!  It was a sponser Wright Brand that cooked up this dish and it was free and come off of a truck that looked like a train.  I also had some free wine courtesy of Gnarly Head.  The wines were ok, I don't know if I would buy them myself but it was enjoyable none the less.  I would have to say in my opinion the best ribs there came from The Piggery.  Between Ribfest and Midsommar I had a gyro, gellato, ribs (7), lemonade, beer, deep fried Oreos, and bacon wrapped chicken wings (it was so worth it though).

Wright Brand's giant tailgate semi smoker!!!

Enjoying some free samples!

After Ribfest (the second time, we went back after a drink across the street) we all left with Tyler and went to a bar called Christina's Place which was way far west over on Kedzie at Grace.  It was a fun place but the distance made it less desirable.  I stayed there for a while and listened to some karekoe before a few of us hopped in a cab and went home.  While we were waiting for a cab we witnessed 2 tow trucks go drag racing down Addison.

Sunday started out much more low key than Saturday.  This was Dani's last day in town so we just went and grabbed grilled cheeses' over at Cheesie's Pub.  Dani packed up and headed off to the airport and I went for a run.  After the amount of unhealthy food I eat at Ribfest and Midsommar I needed a good run and the weather was perfect.  I wish I would have gone further than just 6 miles.  After the run I came home and got ready for festival #3.  I met up with some friends and headed over to Party as St. Mike's which is a large block party.  A band called 7th Heaven was playing.  In Chicago there are lots of really good cover bands and these are one of them.  They have a segment called 30 songs in 30 minutes and they are all good sing along songs.  It was really a perfect way to end my Sunday except we didnt quite end there.  None of us had had dinner yet so we walked over to Corcoran's Grill in Old Town for some dinner.  It was nice to just sit down and enjoy spending some time with friends.  The festivals were all fun and all but I didn't get to sit at all.

I wish I could have made it too Well's Street Art Fair, Old Town Art Festival, or Blue's Fest but there just was not time this year.  Perhaps next year!  With festivals just about every weekend in Chicago there is never nothing to do.  Next weekend I am sure will bring more festivals along with it.

Welcome Back Summer!

Chicago in the summer

While last weekend was Memorial Day which is traditionally the unofficial start to summer but this year I feel like it was only the beginning of a 12 day festival which wound up yesterday.  So after the whirlwind that was last week I started out my weekend a bit early on Thursday night with some kickball.  Friday was a great day with great weather!  Went to Cheesie's for lunch with a friend and turns out she knows the owner.  Also turns out the owner recognized me from the previous week.  Cheesie's is a new grilled cheese pub that opened up just blocks from my house!  I may or may not have gone back a second time Friday night too.... Whoops!.  So far I have had the Caprese, The Frenchie, and my favorite thus far The Melt.  I also tried bites of The Mac and the Jalapeno Popper.  This place is dangerously close to my house. 

View of the Tigers vs Sox game at US Cellular
 (sorry for the quality taken on my cell phone)

After lunch I hung out and waited for everyone to gather so we could head down to the Tigers vs the White Sox game at US Cellular.  I must say I still do not like this stadium but more I go there the more it is growing on me.  I will say they have good food and drink options!  It was a perfect night for a game.  It was in the 80's with a nice clear sky and a cool breeze coming in out over the lake.  The Tigers however managed to lose this game 6-4 but on the plus side there were 4 home runs and fireworks after the game.  It was a really good evening regardless so a handful of us went to Cheesie's and got dinner and then went back to my place where we sat on the front porch and had a few drinks and watched YouTube videos.  I think my new favorite YouTube video is Captain Jack Sparrow (ft Michael Bolton) - The Lonely Island.

I woke up Saturday and had missed boxing which I was kind of bummed about but oh well every now and then its ok to miss something.  I started out my day of Saturday by just running some errands before going to meet up with some friends at Maifest up in Lincoln Square.  It was a good afternoon and a great festival but I was slightly bummed I missed out on Do-Division.  I met lots of new people and also ran into a few people I just have not seen in a while.  I had one more stein then I needed but it was just in the moment of celebrating Maifest.  My friends told me to get in a cab so I did and we ended up at Big Star. I used to really enjoy this bar until it became pompous and over crowded.  This particular trip will most likely mark my last trip there ever.  The door guy not only pushed me but also called me a 7 year old because I answered "Sure Whatever" when he yelled at us for standing along the drink rail in the back of the bar.  This really just proves this place has become to pompous even for their own good.  Its really too bad.

Rachel and I at Maifest

By this point in the evening after my 2 steins of German beer and 2 margaritas I am sufficiently drunk but I still make an appearance at my friend Brandon's rooftop party.  Clearly I never learned anything in college because I drank a couple glasses of jungle juice which pushed me over the drunk edge and into the realm of wasted.  I left my bike at my friend Rachel's place before we went to Maifest so I took a cab back to her place to pick up my bike and in my awesome state of mind I decided it would be a good idea to bike home.  I did get honked at by the 151 bus and I think run off the road but other than that it was an easy trip home "I think".

Sunday morning came way to early.  I had a 6:30am wake up call to go and run the United Run for The Zoo 10k which benefits the Lincoln Park Zoo to keep it open for free to the public.  This is one of my favorite races I have run.  The course circles through the zoo and you run right past the lions, the polar bear, the rhino, and the zebras among many other animals.  The rest of the course takes you out along the lake and through Lincoln Park and Lakeview.  For being as hungover as I was I said forget that and somehow pushed through to run a time of 46:15!  That was over 9 minutes faster than my time last year when I was just getting back into running.

I had a bet with Newman on who could finish the race fastest.  Me running the 10k or him walking the 5k.  We talked after I finished and I was dumb enough and gave him my time and so he decided to run the remainder of his 5k to get a better time.  I think since he ran I win and I will be collecting my reward of 1 Hot Doug's sausage.

After the race Nicki, Newman and myself wandered through the zoo and looked at some of the other animals that are not on the course and then went out to lunch.  The rest of the day I was super lazy till it came time for a BBQ at Rachel's.  This is my first proper BBQ in Chicago ever though at the time I didn't let anyone know that.  It was a great success.  I brought some asparagus to grill out along with a recipe I got from my neighbors at the cottage called Texas Caviar.  Both where a big hit!

If you think the weekend just ended on Sunday you would be wrong. Yes I went to work on Monday but as soon as I got out of work I made my way downtown for New Music Mondays.  This week Iron and Wine played to kick off the free summer concert series in Millennium Park!  I think we ended up with a total of 14 people in our group to picnic in the park.  We could not get with in the gated pavilion where wine is openly allowed so the security lady came over and announced to the whole in the area that she knew we all had alcohol and that she didn't care but we need to get creative because she can not see it.  That was the best thing I think any one in an authoritative position has ever said before.  The night was perfect.  The temperature was in the 90s and there was a nice breeze coming in across the water to cool things down a bit.  Overall it was a perfect night with friends, music, wine, food, and outdoors under the city skyline!

Mass amounts of people in the park for Iron & Wine

Rachel, Nicki, Erin enjoying Iron & Wine

Summer has officially started in my mind!  There is so much to look forward to I started a separate calendar just for things to do in the city this summer.  This is my summer of doing.... not just talking about doing.  So if you know anything good to do or new things to check out let me know chances are I'm in!

Gonna kick off my shoes and run in bare feet.......

......Where the grass and the dirt and the gravel all meet.  That is just one of the many songs I put onto the mixed CD's I made for my Memorial Day Weekend trip up to the cottage.  I think the last mixed CD I made might have been in college but those were never any good.  I am really impressed with my country mix as well as the CD I titled Good and Random.

Country Mix

1 - Alright - Darius Rucker

2 - Whatever It Is - Zac Brown Band

3 - Where The Blacktop Ends - Keith Urban

4 - Chicken Fried - Zac Brown Band

5- Play Something Country - Brooks and Dunn

6 - Toes - Zac Brown Band

7 - Redneck Yatch Club - Craig Morgan

8 - Knee Deep (ft Jimmy Buffet) - Zac Brown Band

9 - What Was I Thinkin - Dierks Bentley

10 - Come Back Song - Darius Rucker

11 - Free - Zac Brown Band

12 - Chattahoochee - Alan Jackson

13 - If You're Going Through Hell - Rodney Atkins

14 - Honky Tonk Badonkadonk - Trace Adkins

15 - I Don't Have to be Me Till Monday - Steve Azar

16 - Where The Boat Leaves From - Zac Brown Band

17 - Down on The Farm - Tim McGraw

Good & Random

1 - Black Betty - Ram Jam

2 - Pumped Up Kicks - Foster The People

3 - Kids - MGMT

4 - Nothing to Worry About - Peter Bjorn and John

5 - Toto - Africa

6 - Little Lion Man - Mumford & Sons

7 - Rolling In The Deep - Adele

8 - Home - Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros

9 - My Body - Young The Giant

10 - The Cave - Mumford & Sons

11 - (If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To - Weezer

12 - Young Blood - The Naked and Famous

13 - Call And Return - Hellogoodbye

14 - Psycho Killer - The Talking Heads

15 - The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song - The Flaming Lips

16 - Ready For The Floor - Hot Chip

17 - Bamboo - The Hard Lessons

This kept me jamming out on my five and half hours of driving.  Now I didn't drive straight through the whole way.  I made a stop in Grand Rapids to hang out with my friend Kristin who was in town for the weekend.  We hung out and caught up and went to dinner at Beltline Bar.  They have really good food but the best part of that place might be their website http://4gr8food.com/.  After dinner we went out to Beaners (Yes I still call it Beaner's and always will) http://www.beaners.com/ will still take you to the correct website so really there is no reason to change.  I had a delicious Iced Mocha Caramel before making a trip down to Meijer to stock up on a few things for the weekend.

I finally made it to the cottage around 1am after all my detours (which were so worth it).  Saturday was kind of  a work day.  There wasnt much to do but the weather was over cast and a little chilly so it worked.  Put the 3 boat lifts in the water and went to the Houghton Lake Art Fair.  I am not one for art fairs but I did spend a good chunck of change there.  I bought a really cool quarter with the Great Lakes cut out.

I also bought a Kubb set.  It is a great game that I am sure we will play a lot of at the cottage.  Yard games are big in my family.  We have Cornhole (which I finished building this weekend), Bocce Ball, and now Kubb.

Saturday night I continued my tradition of seeing every Pirates of the Caribbean at The Pines Theatre.  This is one of the coolest places ever to see a movie.  Click on the link and take a look at the pictures under the tour icon.  It looks just like an old hunting lodge except you watch movies there.  They have 1 screen and during peak tourist season they have 2 showings a night otherwise its just 1.

The rest of the weekend was spent on the lake just hanging out with the neighbors and doing little tasks to finish opening up the cottage and getting ready for summer!  The best part of the weekends are the bonfires with smores! 

I used to hate burnt marshmellows when I was kid and then through high school and college I would only eat them burnt.  I have gone full circle "almost".  I prefer non burnt marshmellows now but I will still eat them if they are burnt. 

Being able to go up north to the cottage has been a great way to stay relaxed through out life.  It is a perfect escape from city life our to an area where there is very little light polution so you can see the stars.  You can hear the sounds of the water rolling up over the shore and you can watch sunsets and sunrises over the water.  Yes, a boat might be required to see the sunsets from where our cottage is but there is nothing like a booze cruise on the pontoon with some wine that says the living is easy!  I can not wait till I get to go back next.  The only problem living in Chicago is that its 5.5 hours away and there are so many things to do in Chicago over the summer, but I think I make a perfect balance of doing all of it.

Prepping my Hobie for the season!