Detroit to Chicago Trip – Sky's Blog

Day 4 – Assassination Pier

Ian — Fri, 21 Aug 2015 15:45:34 +0000

Each day we had been getting into the city around 1:30 pm. So each day we would get hungry for lunch. We were smart to pack lunches before hand to picnic along our way to wherever we were going. Today we picniced along the Chicago river, across from Trump Tower. The day before we had picniced in Millennium Park.

We were heading toward Navy Pier. It was crowded with tourists and fast food chains. We did ride the ferris wheel. We saw out into Lake Michigan and right into the tall buildings right in front of the city.

Left to right: Audrey, Rinn, Sam, Lucas

After our ride on the ferris wheel, we stopped in Haagen Dazs for ice cream. We had done a lot of walking today and we were ready to take a rest. When we had regained our energy, we explored the Navy Pier Mall to find a Build a Bear Workshop where we decided to stop. Lucas and Rinn built a toothless dragon from the movie How to Train Your Dragon and Sam built a bunny who she named Oliver.

After we hung around Navy Pier, we headed towards our 7:30 showing of Assassination Theatre show that my Aunt Brenda had hooked us up with tickets to see. It was about JFK’s assassination and the conspiracy around it. It used real sources to prove that Lee Harvey Oswald was not the only shooter and how it was all staged.

We all enjoyed it. Myself, being the technical theatre geek I am was extremely happy with the lighting and sound. Tomorrow we are going to the Field Museum then likely going shopping afterwards.

Day 3 – Hard Rock Arms

Ian — Thu, 20 Aug 2015 14:09:10 +0000

Each day, I’ve been waking up around 7:30 am when everyone else sleeps until anywhere from 9 to 10:30 am. This morning I chose to make pancakes with the ingredients we bought from the supermarket. I cooked, we ate, and we packed.

Today we went to the Art Institute of Chicago where Audrey’s Grandmother works. Before we left for the train into the city, we packed ourselves lunches for a picnic before we met up to go into the Art Institute. We ate in the gardens outside of the building where statues of a variety of things were placed.

We were in for a treat when Audrey’s Grandma took us into where she work in the storage area for the Arms and Armory. We got to see people working to take pictures of some of the pieces. She took us into the storage area where the collection of armor, guns, spears, swords, and miniature cannons were stored.

The group looks at the armor and swords

After we got to see the storage area, we were free to look at the rest of the museum. We all enjoyed it from Vincent Van Gogh to miniature rooms. After we had gone through the museum and through the gift shop we set out to find our way to the Hard Rock Cafe to meet up with my Aunt Brenda.

After the 1.6 mile walk, we had finally arrived with empty stomachs. The restaurant was covered all about with guitars and jackets from many musiciens. Service was fantastic, food was good, music was ok, but those fries. Those french fries were amazing. We took them back to the house with us and will probably have them for breakfast tomorrow (maybe not breakfast, but probably for lunch).

From left to right: Audrey, Sam, Lucas, Rinn, Ian, and Brenda

My Aunt Brenda recommended we go see the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Millennium Park so she gave us a ride over there. The park was packed all the way back to the gardens. We enjoyed a good portion of the performance till we started to feel a couple of light rain drops. We decided to head towards Union Station for the 8:35 train.

The train ride back to Deerfield has a story all of its own. I will be writing it shortly and will put it at the bottom of this post. It will not be featured in the blog.

Day 2 – The Fish!

Ian — Wed, 19 Aug 2015 15:54:23 +0000

We took a while to get up and moving this morning as we were all tired from the long drive. Our stomachs were empty and we craved doughnuts. We headed into Deerfield and found ourselves at the Deerfield Bakery, an Italian family owned bakery, and make our picks. Long johns, custard filled pastries, cinnamon rolls, and cheese croissant. The five of us stepped outside to eat our treats.

It was time to hit the city. As we prepared back at the house, we got information about which train stop to go to and when the train would come. We played games as we waited on the platform. When the train arrived at Union Station, we headed out toward Shedd Aquarium, where we looked at turtles and touched stingrays.

Lucas touches a stingray

From the aquarium, we went on the hunt for food. We stumbled upon Fontano’s Subs. Audrey had a meatball sub while the rest of us had slices of pizza. After our meal, we went into Millennium Park to look at the fountains and The Bean. We had officially become touristy tourists with our pictures at The Bean.

Tomorrow, we plan on going to the Art Institute of Chicago for more touristy tourist adventures.

Day 1 – The Drive

Ian — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 13:49:57 +0000

The drive along US12 was very pleasing. I found that I very much enjoyed driving along US12 than the interstate because I was not worried about traffic that I would have to deal with on the interstate. The one laned road was much more easier to travel because you will find your spot and stick to it.

I’m so glad that I chose to take this trip with my friends. We were very much ahead of schedule, even with the late start. Often we would spend a good hour or so in each of the few towns we stopped in. We went to a thrift shop, ice cream store, KMart, and the beach.

Left to Right: Ian, Sam, Lucas, Rinn, Audrey

Out of the two beaches we stopped at, one in Coldwater and the other in New Buffalo, we found the New Buffalo beach was much more enjoyable.We didn’t go swimming, but a couple of us expanded our rock collections.

We decided to head our way onto the interstate into chicago from Chesterton, IN. We hit a bit of traffic, but nothing terrible. A thunderstorm rolled over us as we drove. The semi-trucks kept spraying up water from their ties onto my windshield as I passed them. At one point, a car from the southbound freeway hit a puddle and the water landed a direct hit onto the windshield.

We made it safely into Deerfield, IL. Our first morning we plan on sleeping in as we are all moderately tired from the long drive. More to come soon, so keep an eye out.

The Trip Begins

Ian — Sun, 16 Aug 2015 22:24:32 +0000

Possible Change of Plans

Ian — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 12:08:25 +0000

My original idea about this trip was that I was going to do it with friends, but I didn’t look very far. I only looked toward my very few guy friends who would both be out of town when I left for my trip. That’s when I decided that I was going to do this trip solo. Recently, my other friends got talking about road trips and I opened the opportunity of joining me and a couple may be joining me. This may change a few things, especially about accommodations. When I was planning on doing this trip solo, I had a place to stay all lined up. Do we book a hotel? Which hotel? How can we save money?
My family used Airbnb, a service available online where you can rent a place to stay such as a home or apartment for the short period of time. This may be a viable option for us to save money, and experience the city like a local. More details to come soon. Let’s just say, I am very excited to see what the trip is going to turn out to be like!

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Ian — Sat, 30 May 2015 11:13:40 +0000

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Ian — Thu, 28 May 2015 13:14:48 +0000

Dates Set for Trip!

Ian — Tue, 26 May 2015 03:27:04 +0000

The dates have been set! I have set off seven days for the trip. the first two days will be travel to Chicago. It may take more, and that’s fine. Along they way, I plan to stop at small town for a while to get some rest, get a feel for the area, maybe enjoy one of the town attractions, and get a taste for the town too. You can’t drive on an empty stomach! By the time I arrive in Chicago, I hope to meet with some family from the area. I plan on staying with them for the next couple of days. I plan do so some of the following while in the city:

See a theatrical
Go to a museum (Art/History/Etc.)
Use the metro system
Take tons of pictures
Video Log each day

That takes me to my next bit of info. I will be taking my video camera with me everywhere I go. I plan to take tons of pictures and upload them online for everyone to see at the end of each day. At some points throughout the day, I will record video logs (vlogs) talking about the plans for each day, what I’ve done so far, and go into detail about what I’ve enjoyed. I will try my best to upload those when I get the chance but may have to save all of those for a cumulative documentary after coming back home.

In terms of planning for the trip, here’s my plan of attack:

This week, figure out (roughly) how much it’s going to cost and how much spending money I would like to use
Within the next month, map out which towns I want to stop in and what to do at each stop.
Raise money for the trip

This is the first of many updates to the planning phase of this trip. If you have any questions or suggestions, I am happily accepting them at ian@iansweb.me