The Windy City

Two weeks ago, Drew, Naomi, and I boldly went where we, as Barnes, party of three, had never gone before - on an airplane. My fellowship at school covers (a portion of) the expenses for attending a conference each year, so, as the academic year neared its end, I decided to use those funds instead of lose them. My dissertation will draw from a number of theories and perspectives from the field of geography, so I chose to attend the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting in Chicago. After discovering that the flight was a short two hours; that Naomi could ride on my lap in the shuttle (so we wouldn't have to pack her carseat); that the conference had childcare (which we didn't use, but it certainly communicated a family-friendly vibe); that we could reasonably stay in the hotel in which the conference was being held; that the hotel had cribs; and that it was right in the heart of everything we would want to see and do in the city, we decided that Naomi and Drew would come, too! Our flight to Chicago was well-timed; Drew's papa took us to the airport with just enough time to get checked-in and through security and then acquire some breakfast before boarding. Once we were in the air, Naomi played, squirmed, and snacked for about an hour, then fell asleep and stayed that way for the rest of the flight. In Chicago, we collected our bags and quickly found our shuttle; we were last on and first off of the bus, which dropped us right at the door of our hotel.

Our 26th-floor room had a nice view of both the Chicago River and Lake Michigan, and even a glimpse of Navy Pier jutting out into the Chicago Harbor. After letting Naomi bask in the freedom of running around in a safe space for a few minutes, we headed out for a short walk across the Michigan Avenue Bridge and back. The NFL draft was being held in Chicago the week after we were there; one of the courtyards across from our hotel had oversized helmets for every team. We played around the NFL installation for a while, found Trump Tower and the Wrigley Building, then headed back to the Illinois Center, which was adjacent to our hotel, for some lunch.

After a conference session for me and a nap for Drew and Naomi, the three of us walked just a few blocks to the 24.5-acre Millennium Park, home to both the Jay Pritzker Pavilion and the Cloud Gate sculpture. At that time of day, the park was bustling with people - families, joggers, students on field trips, international tourists; since we didn't have great access to Chicago's signature artwork, we moved along to Pizano's for an early dinner of Chicago's signature deep dish pizza.

Later in the afternoon, while I attended another conference session, Drew and Naomi bundled up and walked to Navy Pier; aren't they cute?

Naomi slept soundly through our first night in Chicago (a rare treat), but she missed the memo about the time change. She was up by 5:30am, bright-eyed and ready for her second day in the big city. We took advantage of the fact that rest of the world was still sleeping to visit Millennium Park again and experience the Cloud Gate up close and personal; this time we only had to share the sculpture with a few photographers and pigeons.

In the afternoon, after another few rounds of meetings (and some napping and exploring for Drew and Naomi), we found our way to the Chicago Cultural Center, a landmark building completed in 1897 and originally designed as a public library. We wandered around the Grand Army of the Republic Hall (much to Naomi's delight), admired the stained-glass domes (to her mild amusement), and attempted to enjoy an exhibit of the artwork of Archibald Motley (to her supreme annoyance and dismay; art exhibits are far too quiet and refined for her taste).

The weather was rather atrocious - cold, cold and drizzling wet. Naomi's white fluffy hat went MIA some time between our early morning trip to the bean and our afternoon excursion (the reigning hypothesis is that housekeeping confused it for a wash cloth) so we dropped in an Old Navy and replaced with a fleecy number with ear-flaps and hearts; not nearly as warm or stationary as her trapper hat, but it did the trick. From there we carried on to the historic Macy's on State Street, a rather glamorous 9-story flagship store with vintage water fountains and sparkly chandeliers, but again, a rather boring destination for the likes of Naomi Catherine who just wanted down. Leaving Macy's, we happened upon the Chicago Theatre, and some kind passerby, pitying our selfie skills, offered to take our family photo in front of it.

See that Walgreen's behind us? After leaving this corner, we had dinner at Qdoba, then walked almost all the way back to our hotel, where we stopped in a CVS to buy a breast pump (a long, painful clogged duct story). The small store didn't carry such things, but, the clerk informed us, that two-story Walgreen's on State Street does... So back we trekked, in the wet and cold, to purchase their one, lone, rather dusty manual pump that was ultimately unnecessary; Naomi's pinto bean dinner plagued her belly that night, which was inconvenient as far as sleep was concerned, but a long night of nursing fixed my duct problem like no pump could. Before bed, and after an evening in the cold, Naomi enjoyed a luxuriously deep and warm bath in the hotel tub.

The next day was Saturday; we had another early breakfast, again in the Illinois Center, and then I headed off to some final conference sessions. Peter and Jill made the three-hour drive from Davenport to Chicago and joined us around lunchtime; it was really quite the sacrifice given the nature of driving and parking in the city, combined with the fact that Peter was coming off a night shift and going on 24 hours of being awake. We located more deep dish pizza for lunch, this time at Giordano's, then Naomi and I headed back to the hotel for a nap while Drew went with Peter and Jill to see the Cloud Gate, Macy's, and the Chicago Theatre.

Owing to that pinto-bean-induced sleepless night, Naomi and I were both still asleep when everyone else got back to the room, so they crashed, too. When Naomi woke up, she, Drew, Jill, and I headed out for a walk down the Magnificent Mile to Navy Pier. We passed Tribune Tower, home to the Chicago Tribune; the building has fragments of other important sites, including the Parthenon, the Taj Mahal, and the Berlin Wall, built into its walls. We found a piece of Ft. Marion in St. Augustine, which was kind of fun because we've been to the real deal. We also wandered in and out of a big candy store before making our cold, wet way to Navy Pier.

Although Navy Pier is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Chicago, we all found it to be rather underwhelming. It's mostly an indoor collection of souvenir shops and restaurants; there is a children's museum inside, but it was closing by the time we arrived, so we didn't get to check out that part. The ducks we met outside by the picnic tables might have been one of the most interesting things we saw. After grabbing some hot chocolates, we decided to ride the ferris wheel, in spite of the weather; after all, it's not every day that you're on Navy Pier in Chicago, even if it is misting and barely 40 degrees. After buying three tickets, we discovered that Jill is actually really afraid of heights and riding a ferris wheel was pretty far from her idea of fun; in the end, she was a great sport and didn't let her ticket go to waste. The ride was a short two rotations, but that was plenty to see the skyline of the city (what we could see through the clouds, anyway) and to get sufficiently frozen through. We warmed up inside for a little while (and bought a Chicago ornament for our Christmas tree) before making the trip back to our hotel.

Once we made it back, Drew and Peter walked to Noodles and Company for some take-out dinner, while Naomi, Jill, and I hung out in the room. After eating, we got Naomi bathed and in bed and the rest of us chatted for a while before following suit. In the morning, we had breakfast at Wildberry Pancakes and Cafe; the wait was long, and the close-quarters seating was tough with a squirmy baby, but the food was good. Drew's wildberry pancakes were by far the best thing we ordered. After eating, Naomi and I headed back to the hotel for some packing (for me) and a nap (for her). Drew, Peter, and Jill used their last couple of hours in the city to walk around the Magnificent Mile and go up to the 360 Chicago Observatory at the top of the John Hancock Center.

When they got back, we had just a little while to get packed up and out the door to our airport shuttle. Again, transportation was unbelievably smooth - our shuttle picked us up right at the hotel door, and we were almost the last ones on. We sat tight (or not, in Naomi's case) for the short ride to the airport, pretty easily made our way through security to our gate, and grabbed some lunch before boarding. Filled with spaghetti and fruit, Naomi quickly knocked out on the plane and slept for almost the entire flight. We came away from Chicago with sore shoulders (from carrying Naomi everywhere), dirty shoes (the lack of green and abundance of people makes the city feel pretty grimy), and a deep appreciation for eating at home (in terms of cost and quality); but we also collected some wonderful new experiences and traveling know-how. Hopefully, now that we're seasoned toddler-in-tow travelers, Chicago was the first of many long-distance places we'll go together.