Hello and good bye!

June 11
Chicago, Illinois

In the short amount of time I've been here it's become clear that Chicago is full of two types of people.  Those who have taken opportunities that have come their way and thrived, and those who have totally missed the boat.  This fact becomes blatantly obvious when walking around downtown bumping shoulders with both people in expensive looking suits, and others begging for spare change.  In fact I don't think you can walk two blocks without running into one of these poor souls asking kindly for anything you can spare seemingly in all areas of the city.

For me I think I missed my shot at the second day of good food.  Early this morning I walked by a small hot dog stand touting some of the best Chicago style hots in town, but because I had recently eaten breakfast I missed that one only to later find out that it was in fact rated one of the best places to get a good cheap Chicago hot.  Oops. 

To add insult to injury I found a small pizza place later with mixed reviews for lunch and walked in to both satisfy my hunger/curiosity, and to use their facilities.  But after ordering from a nice older woman behind the counter, I ended up getting yelled at by another female employee for trying to get ice when the machine was out!  Wow was she nasty, and the not so subtle look of either crack or steroids in her eyes told me to leave it alone.  So due to the unfortunate circumstances pertaining to their awful customer service I will skip their review.  And its really too bad because it was an amazing slice of pizza even forcing me to question my loyalty to the new York style pizza.  But oh well.  (Censored)'s pizzeria should learn to play nice, and read their own reviews!

So tonight for dinner I was determined to find another Chicago style by the slice budget pizza place, but by then my chances were gone.  After getting lost, finding out two places had closed for good, and numerous others closed after lunch I finally wondered in to another place with mixed reviews but it was the best I could do after walking for so long.  Turns out the reviews were right: a pizzeria in Chicago that sold frozen pizza by the slice!  Yuck!  Ditching that horrid place, and its too bad again because it was a nice but quiet joint (quiet meaning empty probably due to their frozen entrays).  So back to the rough and tumble streets I went to find better.  Another hour later I'm sad and mortified to say: I gave up! Zilch nothing Nada except a $16 personal pan pizza that I skipped out on due to my third edict.  On top of all that I don't even dare say where I landed for dinner but I will tell you that sadly it starts with a "W" but still was in fact better then the frozen tombstone like pizza place.  Sheesh!

Like I said in the beginning Chicago seems like a wonderful place for many, and a place of missed opportunities for others.  While the first day I certainly hit my stride, today was largely both hit and miss.  I saw some amazing sites, and had some rather unfortunate dining experiences.  Overall I should probably quit while I'm ahead and unless it's storming as bad as 50% of the weather reports I've read.  If its manageable I'll be pointing my bike towards Bad Lands South Dakota.  But before I retire for the night I do believe some jazz is calling.  Its just down the street, I don't have to walk far, probably won't get lost, so it should be fun.  Fingers crossed though as Chicago thus far had been nothing but surprises.

Lots of pics though so enjoy!