A Wasted Weekend

Because Alex had a gig, we drove to Chicago. 30 hours spent there isn't long enough to justify the trip to me, but Alex and his other friends seemed to have a good time. But I was the one who did all the driving, while they slept, so I spent most of the 30 hours either trying to catch up on sleep, or addled from lack of sleep. Admittedly, I haven't driven all the way across Kansas or Iowa, but I'm still going to say driving north/south through Illinois is the worst goddamn thing. Interminable. That was probably my biggest issue, just not enough time in town for the amount of driving spent getting there and coming back.

Plus, we didn't do much that I would have done if left to my own devices. Sitting around watching other people drink and chat when I could be out seeing the sights doesn't appeal. But I didn't know where in Chicago we were going until we got there, so I didn't have a chance to scout online for places to wander off and go see by myself.

It's times like that I think about getting a smartphone. Then I watch Alex spend the entire weekend struggling to get his to work because after slightly over a year, it might be starting to break down, and I realize I don't want to deal with that shit.

I did spend some time Sunday morning roaming the neighborhood while everyone else was trying to sleep off their drinking. (They were not entirely successful, thus each of them getting two $9 Bloody Marys a piece at lunch. Which resulted in a damn big lunch bill. Thanks guys.) I found a few stores I would have been interested in, but most bookstores are not open at 8:30 on Sunday mornings. Still, it was a nice stroll. I wish I had the chance to visit the Nature Museum, but no dice.

My brief impression was there's a lot of stuff to do and see, but I'm not cut out for Chicago. Too many people, too much traffic (every person in the city drives like a complete asshole), too expensive for my cheapass nature. Driving underneath the elevated train lines was fun, made me want to reenact The Blues Brothers. Maybe that explains the drivers, they're all trying to emulate movies set in Chicago. Food was good. Weather was pleasant. It seemed to suit Alex; he's talking about making the trip again in summer, maybe staying a week. I'm going to take a hard pass on that.

Moral of the story is to not let people you know are terrible at planning things rope you into a trip they planned.