07.18.02 - 5:55 p.m.

Right into it: we stopped in South Bend Monday night rather than driving directly to Chicago and paying for another night in El Expensive Hotel. I finally saw Dan's beloved campus and Touchdown Jesus and the Rod of Jesse, and a building that apparently has the nicest public toilets ever or something. (I have pictures. I'll post them. It's clean enough, but nothing special.)

We stayed at Kregg (Kreig? Kregghhhh?) and Julie's house, two nice people who happen to have a baby (age indeterminate; I'm no good at these things) and the largest golden retriever I've ever seen. Seriously. If this dog were an athlete, he'd be Mo Vaughn. Or the Willie Stargell statue. His name was Berghoff. I had to hold Jack the Baby; he pulled at my lip and I let him in an attempt to connect with a wee child for once in my life. It was moderately successful, and though I don't think I supported his neck properly, I think he was old enough that I didn't really need to worry about those sorts of things.

We ate and slept and went on to Chicago without incident. It was more or less as I left it and didn't seem to be hurting too much over my loss, but I forgave it quickly. It's a big city, after all, and can't spend too much time grieving for me when it has to do things like host large eating festivals. The Art Institute was free, so we popped over for a little culture, and I was dismayed to find (Bassie, you may have to sit down) that MISS EXPANDING UNIVERSE WAS MISSING! Where is she? She wasn't in her normal place by the big Georgia O'Keefe clouds, the whole second half of the modern art seemed to be displaced by the Gerhard Richter exhibit which I didn't mind so much, but where is Miss Expanding Universe?? I miss her! Come back!

We ate some Flat Sammies and looked at the baseball fan photos in the water tower City Gallery, then took a leisurely touristy stroll down Michigan so I could outfit my main man in some flipflops and get him a new travel shower kit. He says he doesn't like the openness of flippies, to which of course I heartily disagree, but maybe he'll come around. He looks so cute and sportif in them!

Dinner was had at Rudi Fazuli's, where the Jack (L.) of waiters attended our table, all overenthusiastic and long-winded when a simple sentence would do, but it was still a meal warranting the official sign of "Tasty Indeed!" We cabbed it over to Southport Lanes, through my old hood, and I wanted to shed a tear. Golden Apple Diner! Big church with green steeple! The upstairs bathroom in SL that looks like a home! But I recovered with a tasty Summit or two and eventually Erin and Molly met us around midnight.

I don't want to talk about what happened the next day, because it's embarrassing on my part and I don't know how I did it, but to make a long story short, I took us in the wrong direction for a few blocks. It wasn't until I reached North Ave. that I realized what I'd done, but I had to suck it up and admit it or we'd never get lunch. We hoofed it back down to Rush, where I thought we'd been heading for some Gino's pizza, only to find that location was in fact CLOSED FOR RENOVATION. We ended up eating at the Johnny Rockets across the street. I have to say, that is one of my favorite chain restaurants EVAH. They are just incapable of messing up a grilled cheese, and this was my first time for a turkey burger, and that was quite good too.

After partaking of the yummy but Not Really Official Chicago Food, we went to the MCA for the Andreas Gursky exhibit. I love the MCA. It has to be one of my favorite museums of all time, because it's small enough that you can see everything, and the exhibits are always interesting enough that you WANT to see most of them. The entrance hall was filled with a T-Rex sized cat skeleton (no, not a REAL one) titled Felix, which I found amusing to no end and which caused Dan and I to think of our tubby kitties. Oh! Oreo won the weigh-off! He was at a strapping 14 pounds, while TC weighed in at a mere 12. Twelve! He was at least 20 the last time I saw him! He really is slim! But still squeaky and weird and adorable.

We took the free trolleys, my first time ever, took a brief stroll on Navy Pier and then went to take pictures of Buckingham Fountain. Dan's one photographical (is that a word?) goal was to get the fountain at night when it was doing the Epcot light show thing, so we went back after our dinner at Ba-Ba-Reeba. Unfortunately, the sign LIED when it said the show went till 11, because everything turned off right as we got the equipment set up at 10:45. BASTARDS! We'll get you next time, Gadget! Next time! Mrrrreoowwww!

So, defeated, we went back to the Swanky Hotel with the Broken Minibar. And the Heavy Bathroom Door which nearly locked me in Every Time. But I'm not complaining, cause it was free.

Coming tomorrow: more problems with restaurants.