We could've passed through the beautiful country

"We were careless and mistaken / To drive so far at night / There's so much we never could see past the headlights.
We could have passed through the beautiful country and never even known it."
-Girlyman

We have a tendency to push leaving wherever we are to the last possible moment. Which is, of course, both good and bad. Good because you can enjoy wherever you are as much as possible, see those last few sights, talk a little bit longer to the people you're with. Bad because you end up driving at night, missing a lot of sights, and having less time to talk to the people you're going to see.

I can't help it though - when I am someplace, I just want to know more about it, see more, do more. I'm never really satisfied because I've never done all there is to do. Which is, of course, an impossible feat, but one that nags me.

On top of that, I have this awful habit of falling in love with wherever we go. As mentioned in the previous entry, I'm always on the prowl for the next goal, the next fin de la route. When I do meet a place and inevitably fall in love, I start envisioning myself in that location - going to classes, having babies, long walks along the lake (or river - I will live by either, and will not live without them) when I'm 80.

That being said - I want to live in Chicago. While traveling from Minnesota back east to Binghamton, Cait and I stopped in Chicago. We stayed at the Hostel International Chicago location for a whopping $40 a night/person - granted, not that expensive in terms of hotels in the city, but which was still a big expenditure for our budget-minded adventure. However, when we went out to dinner and realized that we were right in downtown Chicago (I believe they call it "the Loop" - we weren't even there 24 hours so didn't have time to learn the lingo), the price began to make a little more sense.

I am by no means an architectural critic, but Chicago makes me want to take a class, or live in the library for an extended period of time. I felt like Jack Nicholson in "As Good As It Gets" - Chicago makes me want to be a better person.

I woke up the next morning at 7 and continued a trend that I had started in Saint Paul while staying with Cait's family - a morning "wog" consisting of part walking, part jogging. We were literally a block away from Grant Park, so I wogged on over. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a garden, and not just your average tomato basil affair, either. It was a lovely plotted, world enhancing, biodiverse beauty, right there in the middle of Chicago. Upon further inspection, it was created by the amazing Milwaukee-based organization Growing Power. It's called the Grant Park "Art on the Farm" Urban Agriculture Pottager and you can read about it here.

After spending twenty minutes gawking, I finally made it over to Lake Michigan, where I proceeded to wog almost smack dab into a bench because I couldn't stop staring at the lake long enough to keep my eyes on the very clear path that was laid out before me. After that little mishap, I made it through the rest of the wog unscathed - I followed the path around the lake, then went along the river into the heart of downtown. The streets and bridges were buzzing with activity by this time, but down on the path there the few other joggers and I could enjoy the solitude and serenity of the water.

Wouldn't you also fall in love with a city like that? So grand in scope, accompanied by such sordid history? I remember reading Devil in the White City (about the Chicago World's Fair) and not really being able to imagine such a bright yet dark place. This short visit, however, has intrigued me more than any other place so far. I look forward to my possible future exploring what it has to offer!

At this point in our journey, we've spent some time in Binghamton with Rachael and friends for her birthday, camping on a beautiful hill, playing music and roasting marshmallows; have stopped in upstate NY to see my great family and meet my (basically) Uncle's pigs, cows and goats; and are currently in New Haven with Piyali and Tariq, loving their new house (congrats!) and all the amenities that come with having close friends who have a beautiful home and delicious food in their fridge to share with hobos like us.

Looking forward to our last pit-stop in Philadelphia before heading to San Ysidro Farms in Fredericksburg, VA. T-4 days, yikes!