Nashville country nights, Detroit rock city lights
Arizona, California
Texas desert, Green Bay blizzard
Indiana, Louisiana
I’ve rolled a lot of miles just to feel your smile
Girl I wanna touch you while I kiss your lipstick
‘Round the bend, down the road
I’m in, out of the cold
Itching to get my fix and kiss your lipstick
Carolina north and south, Alabama to Chi town
Dakota, Badlands, the heart of the heartlands
Way up above Dixie, Boston, Jersey, New York city
Spokane to Denver across the plains
Hills of Virginia, Coast of Maine
– Kip Moore
Thursday 30 August
Sensational day!
Started my morning out with a 6km run that took me down to Lake Michigan for some fantastic views of Chicago’s iconic skyline.
We checked out of our Airbnb apartment and went downtown, parking at Millennium Park, and did a quick tour of the parks there, heading over to the Buckingham Fountain. Then it was back to Michigan Avenue, where we met Will for lunch. One of my favourite eating experiences in Chicago is Portillo’s, a restaurant chain that specialises in Italian beef and sausages. I’ve been going there since a very cold Black Friday, way back in 2010. It’s always on my to-do list in Chicago.
Had a great lunch with Will. He’s an easy guy to talk to, and we have a lot of the same thoughts on things going on both in America and globally. It’s very interesting getting an American’s perspective on current events in Washington, D.C. and the food was almost as good as the company.
Could’ve talked for hours, but Will had to go to back to work. Nathan and I decided to do the touristy thing and head up the John Hancock Tower to the 360 Chicago observation deck, 94 storeys above Michigan Avenue (where, on a good day, you can see into something like four different states, thanks to the insane flatness of the Midwest), because the weather was so good. The views up there were postcard-perfect. It never ceases to amaze me how big Lake Michigan is, and you get a very good illustration of that from the top of the Hancock building.
We headed out to the suburbs in the early afternoon, getting out of downtown ahead of the worst of the traffic, and met Frank, Ivana, Brian, Debbie, Mike, Jane and Bri at Giordano’s Pizza in Glen Ellyn. Chicago is famous for it’s deep dish pizza and Giordano’s is one of the many places that do it very well. Enjoyed some pizza and a few beers and, like lunch, good company and conversation. Been a huge day for eating – definitely going to need another jog tomorrow, I think!
Great to be amongst friends again. It’s always nice to be welcomed back and to hang out with people who, increasingly, feel more like family than just friends, and it’s such a beautiful place here, the sort of American suburbia that you might see in a Hollywood film…just real.
Going to be a busy week or so here with lots of fun things to come, especially over the coming Labor Day weekend.
kitchtrips 