Chicago

Yesterday, I finally got to take the car to the autobody shop, I got a quote for the damage to the back door (it's all going to need to be replaced; I noticed yesterday also that the bike rack did also break, but only a tiny bit). They said with going through insurance it will take about a week and a half. Since the insurance company is in Canada I have no idea how long it will actually take for this to go through. So now I'm going to wait until I get to MN and my brother said I should get a few quotes. We'll see what my options are when I'm in rural Minnesota! Then the AT OIL TEMP light has been staying on longer than usual when I startup the car so I wanted to get that checked out but neither of the local mechanic shops had time for me til Tuesday.

So, with car stuff out of the way for the day it was time for the inaugural bike ride on Minty Fresh! Borrowing the Frank Lloyd Wright architecture map from my cousin I headed North to the Frank Lloyd Wright district. I saw some neat buildings and stopped in the FLW home and studio to refill my water bottle (I'd already done that tour when I was here for a day a year ago).

Wright awesomeness, so lucky to be staying in Oak Park, surrounded by Wright buildings!

This one is not a Wright but I love love love this kind of shingle detailing! It's like the bottom of the ocean.

After my excursion bike ride, I came back to the house to chill for a bit then I met my childhood friend Marissa and her Husband at Wrigley Field for a Cubs game! Prior to this game I'd been to one baseball game (the Mets, high up over left field) and never really cared for baseball. Wrigley totally changed that! I'm not like a super fan or anything now but it was fun! I attribute a lot of my enjoyment to my company and the manual scoreboard that I thought (and still think!) is awesome! I think it also helped that in our seats we could see the whole field well and the field is smaller than Citifield, it felt more intimate.

Eric's finger, Marissa and me...It's not a ballgame til you have a beer in your hand!
Awesome old-school scoreboard

The cubs won, 0:1 which was sweet because apparently they hadn't won in like 11 games. I had just posted to facebook that I wish they'd hurry up and score so I could go home... 4 minutes later, they did! You're welcome :P The guy, Darwin Barney, who slid into home plate went to the same high school as me (and I think graduated in my brother's year) which was also kind of cool to have a little hometown pride while in Chicago! To get home I walked up one L stop to the north so I'd have a seat. Brilliant plan (kudos to Marissa) cause I got a seat where I could read my National Geographic book on the National Parks (the West is calling!).



Today I don't know what it was but I was super exhausted and had trouble getting up. When I finally did get up I took the car to the shop to look at the AT OIL TEMP light that's been turning on when I start the car then I took Minty Fresh on the L and went for a bike ride by the water in downtown Chicago. I'm so jealous of this city and the beaches and paths right in the center of the city. I biked and drew and took some pictures then headed back in order to avoid have to come back after rush hour. (No bikes allowed on the L between 7-9am and 4-6pm), which also allowed me to pick up my car from the mechanic.

The waterfront marina downtown and my sketch of the marina, the note in the sketch says "Clearly I haven't drawn anything in a while, I mean... it came out Purple!"

I'd dropped my car at Russo's, the neighborhood and he said it was $100 for the diagnostic but if it turned out I just needed the fluids changed he's waive the diagnostic fee. Well he coudlnt' find anything wrong with the car, he drove it around, poked around and even called his transmission buddies and still nothing wrong. So when I came back to get my car, he didn't charge me anything! For his awesome customer service and help (and understanding of my road-trip-car-paranoia) I picked up a gift card for the Hole in the Wall custard shop I will drop by tomorrow on my way to the L as a thank you for his awesome customer service. So far I have been quite happy with the customer service in Chicago!
Keep it up, Chicago!

This is a chocolate dipped custard cone... it melted all over my hand and was super delicious. I <3 custard! If you find yourself in Oak Park go to Hole in the Wall Custard & Cones on Oak Park Ave right by the Oak Park-Blue L stop!

My goal for tomorrow was to leave the house by 10:30, and now it looks like it's supposed to rain and Marty and I just got back from the biggest hardware store ever (with the worst signage ever) to get materials for me to remodel her little mudroom into more kitchen storage space. So stay tuned for another Handy-Kaydee project! Hopefully I'll get to hang out with Marissa and Eric once more before they fly out on Friday morning too, so busy!