Day 3: Cleveland, OH to Chicago, IL

Here is where the fun begins, folks. We got up at 3:30 to make sure we were on the road by 4. Before leaving the area, we had decided we wanted to see Jenna’s old house. This time, we were sure to follow the Google Maps directions to save ourselves from headache. Well, Google Maps was either wrong or hard to understand, because we found ourselves in a very nice area and completely lost. We mistakenly pull into a synagogue, and as these things typically go down, a cop magically appears behind us with lights flashing. We must have sat there for only 2 minutes, although it felt longer, while the spotlight shown on the car and he checked our plates. After he discovered that we were not criminals, he strolled up to Jenna’s (the driver) window and said “what’s going on?” We then both started into how we were terribly lost and had no idea how to find this house. He looked at our map and radioed to find out where we were supposed to be. Nobody had heard of Jenna’s old street, but they directed us to the correct neighborhood. For another 20-30 minutes, I gave Jenna the wrong directions (whoops) based on the tiny picture on Google Maps before we finally found the house.

Now it was time to find the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. With Jenna and my love of all things music, it was the obvious choice. We were lucky enough to find it pretty easily, although there were definitely some strange looking people hanging out in front of it while we were taking pictures from the car.

From there, we went straight to Chicago, so we got there at about 10:30 Chicago time (we gained an hour. Yipee!). The weather was hot, but perfect from an air conditioned car, so I insisted we drive north for the span of Lake Shore drive for picture purposes. We could hear Lollapalooza on our way up and quickly started second guessing our decision to pass on the $80 all day festival. To get to the hotel, we drove south through the city, so we saw everything from about Andersonville to the south Loop.

Parking in this city was a nightmare. The hotel had advertised that it had parking, but we had to turn over our keys and the signs said parking was open from 6am-11pm Mon-Fri. Of course, we wanted to leave at 4 am on a Saturday, so we promptly decided to find some other parking arrangements. We found another place that was open 24 hours but was sketchy, and as we walked away from the car I mentally prepared myself for all my worldly possessions to be stolen.

The hotel itself was ghetto compared to the Lancaster accommodations, but then again this was a Travelodge. As Tempe commented, this hotel had some weird Feng Shui- the 2 queen sized beds faced each other in a long room. We put down our stuff, showered, and headed out into the city.

We walked on Michigan Ave, making sure to stop by Millenium Park with the large bean and the face fountains. We stopped by the American Girl Place to see where Tempe works, and met up with her briefly before heading to Food Life for lunch (think Marche or Eatzi’s style place). From there, we walked all over the city before meeting up with Tempe and checking out her current accommodations. Jenna’s dad recommended the most AMAZING Italian restaurant in Little Italy (Tuscany, for anyone who has the pleasure of going to Chicago). Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel to crash.


And that was Friday, an update on today (Saturday)'s adventures tomorrow!