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!

Hot damn that's a good hot dog!

So after only three days into the trip I've finally gotten to the good stuff.  Food!  Now as far I can tell Chicago is really known for two things: hot dogs and pizza.  Thankfully these are two all time favorites of mine so its going to be fun trying some newer better quality variations of a good thing.

After getting to the hostel last night, a massive 500 something bed place for $30 a bed, I showered and hit the town looking for my first authentic feast.  With the help of my yelp app and a little bit of walking I found myself at a kind of mall-esq upscale food court place with an article on the wall claiming to have Chicago's best hots.  So I ordered the Chicago style, a chili cheese dog just for comparison, and of course some fries.  You can see the two dogs in the pic, but if you can't tell what's on the Chicago style dog don't worry because neither could I at first.  It's an incredible beef dog buried under slices of tomato, pickle, pepper, relish, ketchup, mustard, and celery salt!  And for around $3 this has to be one of the most... Healthiest tasting dogs I had ever had, but it was great!  And just to be sure I wasn't being too health conscious I followed it up with the most delicious chili cheese dog I've ever had the pleasure of wolfing down.  Even under all those toppings the quality, taste, and texture of the meat burst through making it by far the best hot dogs I'd ever had hands down.  Although the place was packed with so many people forcing them to churn out the dogs as quickly as possible leaving very little love wrapped inside each package, the new flavors were well worth it, and for the amount of food I order and consumed for only ten dollars I was really almost ashamed of myself.  Almost...

Now about my digs here and just in case you've never heard me ranting let me reiterate: I am a huge fan of hostels and no that isn't my swipe function misspelling hotels.  I know most American's have never stayed in one and probably never will, but if you are one of those people on the fence please try one out sometime.  They're so much fun! I'm staying at the HI (Hostelling International) Chicago international hostel and it is massive.  More like an old hotel this place holds over 500 beds and the atmosphere reflects that.  While the other people staying here are super friendly lost is the get to know your neighbors charm of normal size ma and pa style hostels.  Either way its super clean, full of great amenities, and reasonably priced so after a good nights sleep and free breakfast in the morning I was happy.  It's a little funny though and a lesson I'll have to remember that although my hostel is only $30 a night parking is $25 for 24 hours bringing my total cost per night shooting up to $55 dollars.  Not to bad overall I guess but not too friendly on the budget either.  Good thing its at the beginning of the trip where I have a little more cushion!

Next up: i will be investigating the qualities of the Chicago deep dish and hopefully looking to find more love at a hot dog stand to really discover where the best cheap food in Chicago really is.  Spoiler: I get yelled at by an obnoxious woman at a pizzeria  and refuse to name the pizzeria in my blog because of it: Ha!

*Update the toe is doing much better!  I should be riding in relative comfort tomorrow and even found some things to hopefully read ease the burden on my backside.  Turns out its quite common and called monkey butt.  Who knew?