Bye Chicago, Hi Grand Rapids
Trip Start
Sep 20, 2008
1
19
37
Trip End
Ongoing
Grand Rapids,
Michigan,
United States
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
The things that are different are the people and the buildings. The further east we go, the older the centers of the towns are, which I really like, it gives it more character. People are great everywhere you go with a small percentage of bad apples, like everywhere else. But further east they are a bit more direct, common sense is being used a bit more, a bit more down to earth and not as jaded as it can be in Cali. We took an architectural boat trip over the river down town Chicago, which was interesting (preventing Johannah from walking too much, she's been having a bit of an issue with her right rear leg/hip , I think the arthritis is progressing a bit more on that side. We took a stroll thru Grand Park, very cute and drove up and down the city.
Downtown is impressive, about 10 times bigger than down town SF. That also means 10x more traffic. And really, after driving around for 1 whole day, the boat trip, driving back to the motel in Elk Grove, I decided to leave the next day. 1 thing I knew to focus on real good was food where Chicago is famous for: Pizza and hot dogs. So I had all the local's favorites that everybody is having an opinion on. Lou Malnari's (really good! Deep pan pizza, the sauce and crust are great, I added pepperoni. Home Run Inn, nah, not so much my favorite, kind of skimpy on the pepperoni and not as flavorful. Gino's East, pepperoni deep pan, crust was so-so but the sauce was great. Their cheese slice was the greatest cheese slice I've ever had.
The overall favorite was when I left this morning, it took a while to get there but I went to Gino's and Nicks on Pulaski street and hung out there for a bit. It's the quintessential cheesy restaurant that has been there forever.
The old local guys at the bar (having beer and pizza for lunch, my kind of guys). Cops in a booth further in the back of the restaurant, a down to earth bartender, it was her birthday. She was checking out my blackberry and when I told her about what I was doing, she told everybody in the place, introduced me to everybody too, Joe and Jim were sitting on one side next to me, Jim (a packers fan, we exchanged our experience that we both had, parking the car in a lawn of the locals that live around Lambeau Field and how nice they are). Joe told me that he was born and raised in the neighborhood; he was a man of few words and then a couple of smart asses on the other side of the bar (which I don't have a problem with,LOL) I decided to take the pizza with me so I could snack on it on our way out of town.
When I left, they told me that they were so in awe, that I have a lot of courage and to please be safe and careful, they said that about 3 times, very nice. When we drove off, it took forever to get out of town, so much traffic; the streets are soooooo long, I was glad to head out to a smaller city again. We drove thru Indiana, into Michigan. And when I started to pick at the pizza, I couldn't believe it, it was THE best thin crust pizza with sausage and pepperoni. Jeez, that was good, crispy, with a brick oven flavor from the bottom. Oh, I also went by Superdawg for a hot dog, was all right and I also had to try White castle cheese burger (mini's that you can only get frozen in Cali) and had to see if they were a lot different and they weren't so no big deal there..
No shortage of food in Chicago, it's a beautiful town, I can imagine all the movies and series that have been filmed there but it's a just a bit too big for me to stick around in. I have the feeling that the other big cities that are on my route will get the same short-visit treatment. The character is more in the smaller cities and towns. So we're in Grand Rapids now and we'll camp out here for 2 or 3 nights. I feel a lazy day coming up with no driving and just hanging out...
Johannah has been checking for me now for a while so time to give her some attention......
Later....
