Welcome back to day six of our road trip!
So this post will skip a bit of time. To explain our trip layout, we used Illinois as our hub to rest between trips. After arriving from Missouri, we decided to take a day off before our next adventure. We spent the day exploring a nearby town called Springfield. We explored their Target and Walmart, browsing and restocking on basic necessities. We also did some food shopping; after doing the math it was more affordable to cook our meals while staying in Illinois than ordering out. With a trip this long it is very important to manage and stretch our money as much as we can. We also ended up getting a couple of card and board games to entertain us and our hosts during dinners.
The following day, day seven of the road trip, we went to Indiana. That post will be next. I will keep all the Illinois events together for this post instead of going back and forth across the timeline of the trip.
Day eight of the road trip we also took it as a rest day since the trip to Indiana was draining enough. We wanted to recharge before our trip to Chicago. This day was also filled with Walmart trips and home cooking with our friends. During the last three days, Ros and I had cooked dinner for the five of us every night so far. There was something special about sitting together and just passing the plate, laughing as we talked, and then played for hours until bed called for us.
Finally, on day nine, we waited until midday when my friend Adam ended his work shift. We made him a nice birthday lunch and we all ate before hitting the road. it would take us close to four hours to get to Chicago from Jacksonville due to some road construction we had along the way.
Entering Chicago almost felt like we were back home in NYC. The tall chrome buildings lining the horizon was familiar, but the fact that Chicago sat along Lake Michigan sent me back to the Malecon of Dominican Republic. What I did notice in Chicago was that the buildings were a different style, they felt more like the buildings I saw in Boston.
We parked by Millenium Park where Cloud Gate was located. We soon found the entrance and noticed that they were taking the COVID issue very seriously, refusing entry to those without masks. Because of this fact, we had to stop at a store real quick to buy Adam a mask so we could enter.
One silver lining about COVID was that crowds were way smaller at these normally overpopulated tourist sites. We were given a unique opportunity to see and take pictures with Cloud Gate. The pictures came out really good actually, and I felt so proud of my shots. Ros got some good footage for his vlog as well which you can watch on his YouTube account when it comes out.
Adam had not been to this part of Chicago either, despite being an Illinois native, so it was exciting sharing this part of our adventure with him. We explored part of the park together and saw some really nice architecture. It reminded me of Greek columns. There was an open field area that looked open for picnics, and there where some circles drawn out on the grass, marking 6 ft zones for people to sit within. After we reached the next gate area, we thought about what was left to do since our time frame was short but we didn't want to leave just yet.
Thanks to some advice from my uncle through text, he warned that we shouldn't leave Chicago without eating some authentic deep dish pizza. As a New Yorker, I'm aware of the never-ending feud between deep dish and new york style pizza. I wanted to make my own opinion and see what all the fuss was about. I looked up what was nearby, and Adam immediately pointed out one place from the list. He said it was THE place to go, and that it was famous for their deep dish. Lucky for us, it was just up the block!
We got there and decided to sit and eat outside in their open-air area, to truly enjoy the whole experience. The waitress that we got was amazing and added to the whole evening. She warned us that it would take about 45 minutes for the pizza because they are all freshly made. We then decided to add some appetizers to kill time while we talked about our adventures thus far with Adam.
We got some really amazing mozzarella triangles and they were super stringy. Everything tasted amazing. When the pizza finally came, we were served by our waitress and it was magical. It looked like a cake! That's how thick the pizza looked. It had the consistency of a Sicilian slice from back home, but it didn't feel bready, on the contrary, it was really cheesy and soft.
We were all eating in silence, only moans of pleasure as we consumed this meal escaped us. I wish we had more time because we could all agree that we would have ordered another one. With our bellies full, we left Chicago very happy. It was easy to say that Adam had a good birthday and that we had a good adventure. The sunset on the drive back to Jacksonville was also breathtaking. What a shame that the next day was going to mark our way back towards home. For more, join us at RossAdvenures on YouTube!
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