Grant Park & Millenium Park

We walked through parts of Grant Park and Millenium Park (you can find out more about both of them -- and many others -- at a website for the Chicago Park District) both going to and coming from The Field museum.

The Buckingham fountain is arguably the most famous part of Grant Park (remember Married with Children? It's the fountain you see in the opening sequence). I didn't get a picture of that because a) the first time we went through it was crawling with marathon runners and you could hardly see it and b) on the way back, it was crawling with workers dismantling tents and bleachers and thinks like that.

But I did get some pictures of these other fountains that I didn't even know were in Grant Park. They are a little overshadowed, I suppose, considering the size of the big fountain.

I thought these were quite pretty.

The park system in Chicago is actually really nice, especially this stretch along the waterfront. It was created in order to keep commercial interests from completely taking over the area and it was a great idea. The waterfront is pretty and accessible to everyone.

Millenium Park kind of runs into Grant Park. It's right off of Michigan Avenue and really takes center stage. There are gardens (including a rather strange tree garden area where the trees are all fenced in) and famous statues (like the Bean) and an amphitheater type area where concerts and various other things are held.
There are also the fountains -- officially the Crown Fountain. I'm not sure why it is called that; I always just think of it as the faces.

Also officially, here's the description of them:

The fountain consists of two 50-foot glass block towers at each end of a shallow reflecting pool. The towers project video images from a broad social spectrum of Chicago citizens, a reference to the traditional use of gargoyles in fountains, where faces of mythological beings were sculpted with open mouths to allow water, a symbol of life, to flow out.

Plensa adapted this practice by having faces of Chicago citizens projected on LED screens and having water flow through a water outlet in the screen to give the illusion of water spouting from their mouths. The collection of faces, Plensa's tribute to Chicagoans, was taken from a cross-section of 1,000 residents.

There are always, when the fountain is running, a ton of kids at the fountain splashing around and dodging the spray and generally having a great time. It's a good place for people watching. When the spout of water comes out, I dare you not to smile.

As an added bonus, if the weather is really hot, the water feels great on your feet. We walked around it a little.

There are some other things in the park as well and there's almost always something going on there (children's tents with activities, salsa dance classes, you name it). It's one of my favorite spots in the city.

As a bonus, it's within walking distance of the big shopping district (Magnificent Mile) and a bunch of restaurants AND Union Station.

On crazy runners and The Field Museum

So, Sunday we went into the city. We took the train and walked from Union Station down towards the waterfront to go to the Field Museum. It also happened to be the day of the Chicago Marathon, which we'd had no idea was going on.

Okay, so we can be a little oblivious sometimes.

While we were wading through the thousands of runners and their families around the Buckingham fountain, they actually announced that the race was canceled (though a fair amount of people had finished it already) due to the high temperature. One runner died and a large number of others fainted and/or passed out and/or required medical attention.

Yet another reason not to be a runner, as far as I'm concerned. More power to 'em, but it just ain't for me.

We did finally make it through the crowd of really sweaty people (not that I blame them; hey, they just ran a marathon) and got to the Field Museum.

We've actually been there before, but it's been years. The Field is HUGE. It is a ginormous museum, full of ancient dinosaur bones (including the famous Sue) and lots of stuffed endangered and extinct animals. There are plants too, and lots of special exhibits.

If you go, wear comfortable shoes. Trust me.

And don't expect to see everything, unless you plan on going more than one full day. It really is a monster big museum. It has an impressive amount of collections, though the big draw (especially for the younger set) are the dinosaur rooms and the exhibit with the man-eaters of Tsavo (remember that movie with Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas? The Ghost and the Darkness?). They've got the real deal at the Field -- the stuffed maneless man-eaters immortalized in that movie (and in the fear they gave to hundreds of railway workers). There's even another man-eating lion down in the lower level that's even bigger than the team from Tsavo.

The Field is also in a great location -- just off the waterfront. Here's a pick of Pam and Mike right outside the field, looking towards the city.

Lake Bluff Sunrise Beach

After the Apple Festival, we were hot and tired. We dropped off some stuff at the house and I voted for sticking our feet in the oh-so-cold and oh-so-huge Lake Michigan. What better way to cool off?
We went to the Lake Bluff Sunrise Beach and did some rock collecting and skipping (I truly suck at the skipping part...it's more like just chunking a rock in the water for me). Tony isn't too bad at it, though. And a bit of sticking our feet in the water. Man, is it cold. Here's my pregnant self getting cold feet. People actually swim in this stuff, which I find truly amazing. Haven't they ever been to a real beach? One where your lips don't turn blue once you get in the water?
Sunrise Beach is actually a really nice little park area. They even have a lifeguard on duty during certain times of the year (none of which actually have water warm enough for me to swim in). There's a few shelters, some playground stuff, and even a fireplace/pit. They even allow dogs to swim around (though I gather you have to sign some paperwork first, presumably attesting that your dog will place nice with everyone). It's a nice little spot.

The Long Grove Apple Festival

Pam's birthday was on Saturday and she wanted Tony to make her his (famous) standing rib roast. That meant that we had to be back at the house at a reasonable time for Tony to do the cooking (yeah, yeah, I didn't help much). So instead of going into the city on Saturday, which I'd kind of planned, we did some more local-ish stuff instead.

First we went to the Long Grove Apple Festival. I'm honestly starting to think that Long Grove will use any excuse to party. Not that that's a bad thing. I'm just sayin'. They've got a chocolate festival, an apple festival, a strawberry festival...Greek days...Irish days...the list goes on. My kind of people.

It was pretty packed and it was HOT. What the heck happened with the weather? It had to at least be in the low 90's (it at least felt like it). Isn't this October? Isn't this the far north? (well, it is as far as I'm concerned)

There were a bunch of food booths and a few other types and all the normal cute little shops and things in Long Grove were also open. We decided to go Polish for lunch, since that's a very Chicago thing. We had polish sausage, pierogies, and potato pancakes. There was even a young boy band playing Beatles tunes. They were pretty good, even if they did make me feel ancient. I mean, look at 'em. Can they even drive yet?

All-in-all, it was a pretty good stuff. Pam and Mike got a taste of local color and some off-season weather patterns. Oh, and I even got my giggle for the day: one of the stores had a (somewhat) obscure reference to an Arlo Guthrie song (Alice's Restaurant Massacre) that just cracked me up. Awesome song.

The Gage

The Gage

24 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL. (312) 372-4243

We went into the city this past weekend while Pam and Mike were visiting (Happy Birthday, sis). We met one of Mike's college friends for dinner near Millenium Park at a place called The Gage. They tout themselves as "refined rusticity" which has a nice alliterative ring to it.

It's a restaurant cum bar with a nice, slightly sophisticated feel to it. Nothing that absolutely "wows" you, but nice. Mood lighting, etc.

The menu was interesting, with a slight English pub feel (curry gravy for the fries...er, chips) and some not-too-standard items (like elk, which Tony tried and liked). I kind of wish I'd been even hungrier so I could have tried a few more things. I had the fish and chips with a side of buttery peas (and the aforementioned curry gravy, which has a good spice level to it). The fish was well battered in a Guinness batter (nice and crispy). It was all good. Pam had the ribeye, which was a little more done than she wanted, but she's just not used to ordering in the Mid-West. You have to order at least a grade below what you want. They like to *really* cook their beef here.

The waitress was very peppy, if a bit slow at times. Tony's second glass of wine almost didn't make it in time for the finish of his main course. And she forgot my lime, which she'd smilingly assured me would "be no problem at all." (honestly, most places do, so I don't really count that against them.

All in all, I'd say the Gage is a nice option when you're near Millenium Park and looking for a sit down dinner with some style.

The Full Slab

The Full Slab
34500 N Us Highway 45, 847-752- 2BBQ (2227)

Tony got back from Toronto last night and I held off on eating dinner so we could go out. We drove a little aimlessly and wound up going down 45 and decided to try The Full Slab. We'd seen it before when going to the grocery store right next to it (great place for Greek stuff; though you'd never guess that from the name...something like Sunrise or Sunset or something like that). The Full Slab looked packed the last time we'd driven by, so we figured it would be a fairly safe bet.

From their website you can see that they say that "BBQ" is their claim to fame and that's definitely the focus of the menu. Tony tried a half-rack of their St. Louis-style ribs (sides: slaw made with broccoli and loaded potato salad) and I had 3 barbecue sliders (1 pork, 2 chicken) and a loaded baked potato.

Tony said the ribs had a pretty good flavor and were overall pretty good. The one big issue with them is that they don't bother to remove the membrane, which makes the ribs stick to the bone and much harder to eat. It's a fairly easy step that a lot of restaurants don't take and it makes such a huge difference if you do (much less tough, meat falls from the bone, very tender). They also do a baby-back style rib, so maybe those are a little easier to eat. The potato salad was prety good though it (strangely enough) tasted a lot like the kind of macaroni salad you find at potlucks. His dinner also came with a side of cornbread that ought to have a warning on it -- it was good, but it was covered in cinnamon butter. If you aren't expecting that, it really takes you by surprise (and besides, it goes better as a "dessert" thing than as a side dish).

The sliders were pretty good, though they were a little bigger than I anticipated. I prefered the chicken over the pork. One nice touch is that the table had 5 or 6 bottles of different style barbecue sauces (Kansas City-style, Chicago-style, etc.) so you could try out different flavors. Though the sliders were already pretty soaked in sauce (not sure which one), so you wound up mixing flavors. The baked potato was a disappointment. It had a weird taste to it, though the topping stuff (sour cream, cheese, crumbled bacon) was good. I'm honestly not sure what they did to the baked potato to get it to taste that way.

Inside, the place has a definite bar feel and that seems to be their main focus. The restaurant is divided into smoking and non-smoking and the non section was off to the side and much smaller. They do blues on Friday nights, which is cool. We were alone in the non-smoking section with one other family (including a little boy who showed us his air guitar routine -- really funny -- he was like a little mini Beavis or Butthead...definitely a heavy metal air guitar).

The drink servings, in fact, were very "healthy" as far as size goes. I had a strawberry lemonade (*really* sweet) and it was served in a huge mug. Tony had a somewhat pricey mojito and it was served in a regular water-glass size.

The servers were friendly enough and very smiley. Overall, I'd say the place was okay, but not great. I'm picky about ribs, too, since Tony makes some really, really awesome ones. It's a hard thing to beat, especially out. They do have an all-you-can-eat rib night on Mondays, so if we've ever got some huge barbecue fans staying with us, maybe we'll stop on by.