Stan’s Obligatory Blog

It wasn’t all just stair-climbing agony. We made our long weekend in Chicago into a little adventure.

We flew out on Friday. In what was going to turn out to be a harbinger of things to come, our flight was delayed two hours. Something about the airplane having to be fixed in Portland, so they had to find another plane to take us to Chicago. But once we got going, it was a pleasant enough trip. When we got there, we got our subway pass and took the train to our hotel, which was pretty near O’Hare. Then my old friend Deirdre and her husband Marc came and took us to dinner at Morton’s Steak House. We thought the mid-America ambiance was just the thing. It was a fun evening.

On Saturday, we headed downtown and I registered for the climb Sunday morning. Then we went and did a bit of sightseeing. That was our second big delay. At one point, we’d ridden the train up north a bit, and when it was time to come back, we had to take a detour, since they were rebuilding the track on the southbound side. But I like trains, so it was all right. When we got back downtown, we met the stair climbing group at the Elephant and Castle for dinner.

Sunday morning was the stair climb. Ow. After that, we went back to the hotel, and I got cleaned up and changed. Then we went back downtown. We had pizza for lunch at Giordano’s, which was right around the corner from the tower. Then we got on the Metra train for the ride up to Libertyville to visit Kathleen’s aunt and uncle. We spent the night there and had a nice time visiting.

On the Metra train, I noticed that the cars all had plaques saying that they were designed and built in Chicago. I thought that this was rather refreshing, since there’s not much that’s made in the U.S. any more these days. But then I noticed the bottom of the plaque that said they were built by Nippon Sharyo. Sheesh.

On Monday, we went back to O’Hare for the trip home. Once again, the airplane needed fixing. Everyone was grousing about the delay, but looking out the window, I could see the mechanics opening up the engine to work on it. So I figured that it’s better for them to take their time on that, so we didn’t complain. And they finally got it fixed and we got on to go home. As always, when I put on my seat belt, I found myself wishing airline tickets were sold by the pound. I’d save a lot that way.

The trip home was pleasant, and we only got in about 1/2 hour late, since they pad the schedule for flights out of O’Hare.

Overall, it was a most excellent little adventure.