Odometer: 148292
Distance So Far: 2277
Days On the Road: 15
Final Stop: Anderson, IN

My kind of town, Chicago is. That is, as long as you avoid the Unseelie underbelly of the Lower Level.

While mom and dad don’t seem to have been roped into any Sidhe bargains, consumed any faerie foods, or even encountered any mundane midnight street racing, they narrowly escaped with their parking fare — and in Chicago, that’s a comparable feat. Instead, they spent their day Proud Mary style, likely listening to a tour boat captain recite surprisingly-engaging details about the difference between the Brutalism and Art Deco architecture lining the Windy City river.

They do not, however, seem to have encountered any Lou Malnati’s deep dish, a Rat Hole, a giant silver bean, or donuts, so some would argue they were never there.

From Dad

We left in plenty of time this morning to get to Chicago to go on our river cruise.  Or so we thought.  We found the river cruise location, but there was no parking there.  So it took us a few minutes to find a parking garage.  Coming out of the parking garage, we were on Chicago’s lower level of streets, and got SO lost.  We needed to be on the upper level.  Who knew?!!!  I guess Chicagoans do.  We barely made it to the cruise in time.

The lady at the cruise line said we could validate our parking with them after the cruise.  After the cruise, we found out they don’t validate for the garage we parked in.  Our parking fee was going to be like $65.00.  But the parking garage was associated with Nordstrom across the street, so we went over there and I asked the clerk how much we would have to spend to get validation.  She just smiled and said she would validate it for me.  Saved me $50.00.  Thank you, Nordstrom.

I had made an appointment to get the tires rotated at a Costco in Merrillville, IN.  We got there just in time for the appointment, though they were running a bit behind.  So we waited inside Costco for about an hour and a half until they finished.  We found a comfortable display couch to sit on.  We were hoping to do a hot dog and soda for lunch, but their kitchen was being remodeled.  Such a disappointment.  Then it was another 3 hour drive to Anderson where we are spending the night.