So another day is done, and I'm on another train to another town. I leave Chicago behind a bit disappointed because the few things I managed to get accomplished were mostly a let down. A fair amount of blame falls on me though; mostly due to poor time management. I didn't realize how little time I had for sightseeing today until I got ready to head out, which was only about 4 hours (not including the hour I allowed for getting back to the train station. Although there wasn't much chance of me doing things otherwise considering how tired I was, I do regret not taking advantage of my time yesterday. I'll actually have more time during my layover in Chicago on the way back, so I may be able to redeem myself. As it is, I only made it to two places before having to head out. As you should be able to figure out by now, breakfast was my first priority. After dropping off my bags at the train station, this time there lockers so I wasn't forced to deal with cranky baggage ladies, I hit the subway to the north end of Milwaukee Ave, one of the many ridiculously long streets in Chicago, and made it to the Bongo Room. The Bongo Room is a popular brunch shop that knows what it does well and then shuts their doors - closing early at 2pm. If anything was the saving grace of my Chicago leg of the trip it was this place. The menu had an enticing mix of omelettes, pancakes, sandwiches, and salads. I ended up ordering a hefty, fluffy stack of pumpkin spice and chocolate chunk cheesecake flapjacks with some kind of white almond sauce on top. The first bite made me sigh just a little because it was so freaking good. My only complaint is that I couldn't finish the plate despite my best efforts. It ranks up as one of the best breakfasts I've ever had. Possibly second only to the breakfasts served by an amazing pastry chef who ran a bed and breakfast with his wife in Quebec. Unfortunately that was the only meal I had in Chicago today, completely missing out on any Chi Town signatures like deep-dish pizza or a local hotdog known as a Red Hot. I'm hoping to correct at least one of these mistakes on my way back through.
I did randomly find a cool store after leaving the Bongo Room that I was quite proud that I left empty handed. It was a Gorin Bros. hat shop, who happen to be my all-time favorite hat makers. They take a good mix of traditional hat stylings and mix it with lots of great patterns and details, and even have an artist collaboration with the 1333 Minna collective from California. While I did leave without buying a thing, I did jot down the names of a few hats that I will have pick up online later on.
The only other stop I made was to what I was hoping was going to be a treasure trove of fun and random knickknacks at American Science and Surplus. Looking at the kinds of items they had on their website and the odd sense of humor presented in their descriptions I expected this place to be a small warehouse full of haphazardly stacked boxes of beakers and odd bits of scientific ephemeral, random boxes of overstock items from places near and far, and the odd toy or gadget that might have slipped in. I expected to be able to wander aisles of poorly labeled, and nonsensicly grouped boxes and shelves of useless junk and wonderful finds at the bottom of old, dusty bins. What I actually found was a shop in a strip mall that was part old school hardware store, part toy store, part army surplus store. Everything was organized and categorized logically, the staff knew where everything was, and it was a total letdown. My dreams of digging up some miraculous device out from under some pile of motors and wires, which they did have, was promptly shattered the moment I walked in the door. Regardless I did walk up and down the aisles in search of some cool gizmo or whizbanger to justify my trip, but I didn't think traveling cross country with a Swiss army gas mask was terribly wise or practical so I wound up leaving empty handed.
Leaving the surplus store I realized I had used up all my free time and had an hour to get back to Union Station. It took me 58 minutes to get to the platform for my train. I had traveled out nearly to O'hare airport to check out the surplus store, which meant it took a while to get to the metro station nearist Union Station, which it seems odd to me that no subway lines run directly out of, and then book it the half mile to the station. Then there was the entirely optional, though to me not at all optional, delay of helping a frustrated and slightly frantic Asian lady who spoke very little English figure out how to use the automated system to get her luggage out of the locker. In the end, the train pulled out of the station less than 5 minutes after I boarded, saving me from having to figure out where I was going to go. For now it's a 16 hour ride to Devil's Lake, North Dakota where I have no idea what I'm going to do when I get there.
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