So it seems like about half the people I chat with online live in Chicago, the Chicago area, or an area that means they can come in to Chicago with relative ease.
As a result, Chicago was pretty much me running around to catch up with people, punctuated by two days where it was my own schedule and nothing else.
Apart from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
amilynh, wiliqueen, and havocthecat - all from the old days of SG1 - I met up with ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ailelie, freneticfloetry, and everbright_mourning. I missed out on meeting up with frea_o due to scheduling and life things happening, and I'm pretty sure that there was at least one other person who was trying to connect but couldn't because of life issues.
Next time, gadget!
(Incidentally, the next planned time of holiday in the US - late July/early August 2016. Probable locations: definitely Colorado, maybe Houston, probably San Fransisco again. Have to work out if I'm going twice in 2016 or just once...)
So, you've already seen the post with me catching up withailelie at the Geek Bar in Chicago on Thursday night, and of me and amilynh cycling all around her neighbourhood in the guise of fic research.
I've also posted about Elgin and meetingwiliqueen and havocthecat.
So, on to Sunday, when I caught up withfreneticfloetry, who, as it turns out, lives in the suburb where amilynh went cycling for fic research! And she also helped significantly in helping me search out places and spaces for Sokovia, Suburbia, and the Senate to take place. There'll be a little bit of stretching, but it's pretty possible, I think.
Also: betas who know what they're talking about for the win! :D
We had lunch at Portillo's, and ice-cream at The Rainbow Cone Place.
That was some damn tasty ice-cream, right there! And we bought popcorn. Quite a lot of popcorn in my case - given how little I really eat popcorn - and a lot of a lot of popcorn in her case.
Incidentally, that popcorn travelled all the way back to Sydney with me, got put in a container yesterday morning when I got home, and by this morning was almost entirely gone, thanks to me and the sistren.
We also sat in Fren's car and talked MCU and fandom for, oh, about 90 mins. It was fun. And funny. And totally fannish. But FUN.
Monday was Chicago Tour Day witheverbright_mourning, wherein I learned about using the bus system in Downtown Chicago. (Actually much easier than I imagined.)
We did the Chicago Field Museum in the morning, with Sue the T-Rex, the entire display on China and Chinese artifacts (quite fascinating), and wandered in and out of a couple of other displays. Lots to look at there!
Sue the T-Rex:
The afternoon was the Chicago Architectural Tour on the river. and I left the city very impressed by the ingenuity of Chicago's building designers and architects of the last fifty years.
Plus, I just love the Art Deco-ness of this city!
The boat we were on for the tour:
Alas, this late, I don't remember the specifics, only the generalities - that the river used to be a pit, and was only cleaned up in the last twenty years, to the point where it's no longer lethal, merely toxic. But as the waterway has been cleared up, so, too, the property prices have risen, to the point where a hundred thousand people live within sight of the river.
Apparently in the early days, someone managed to drive their car off this parking lot.
Not entirely surprising, eh?
Although, rather amazingly, they survived the plunge!
The architect of this building wanted an organic architecture: no straight corridors.
Sears Tower:
Apparently there's a lot of underpinning and architectural stuff that goes on to keep these buildings upright. Girders down to bedrock, and weight-bearing columns, and external and internal bracing. It's a little terrifying, actually, if I stop and think about it.
Several pics of the river and the Navy Pier:
And surely no city is complete without at least one building in the Gothic style!
Although in other countries, this type of building is usually a church:
Bloomingdales, Chicago:
And, finally, a pic ofeverbright_mourning and I!
After all that, I caught the El Train back to the South West and went home to a blood-red ball of a sunset:
It was a good day. :)
As a result, Chicago was pretty much me running around to catch up with people, punctuated by two days where it was my own schedule and nothing else.
Apart from
amilynh, wiliqueen, and havocthecat - all from the old days of SG1 - I met up with ailelie, freneticfloetry, and everbright_mourning. I missed out on meeting up with frea_o due to scheduling and life things happening, and I'm pretty sure that there was at least one other person who was trying to connect but couldn't because of life issues.Next time, gadget!
(Incidentally, the next planned time of holiday in the US - late July/early August 2016. Probable locations: definitely Colorado, maybe Houston, probably San Fransisco again. Have to work out if I'm going twice in 2016 or just once...)
So, you've already seen the post with me catching up with
ailelie at the Geek Bar in Chicago on Thursday night, and of me and amilynh cycling all around her neighbourhood in the guise of fic research.I've also posted about Elgin and meeting
wiliqueen and havocthecat.So, on to Sunday, when I caught up with
freneticfloetry, who, as it turns out, lives in the suburb where amilynh went cycling for fic research! And she also helped significantly in helping me search out places and spaces for Sokovia, Suburbia, and the Senate to take place. There'll be a little bit of stretching, but it's pretty possible, I think.Also: betas who know what they're talking about for the win! :D
We had lunch at Portillo's, and ice-cream at The Rainbow Cone Place.
That was some damn tasty ice-cream, right there! And we bought popcorn. Quite a lot of popcorn in my case - given how little I really eat popcorn - and a lot of a lot of popcorn in her case.
Incidentally, that popcorn travelled all the way back to Sydney with me, got put in a container yesterday morning when I got home, and by this morning was almost entirely gone, thanks to me and the sistren.
We also sat in Fren's car and talked MCU and fandom for, oh, about 90 mins. It was fun. And funny. And totally fannish. But FUN.
Monday was Chicago Tour Day with
everbright_mourning, wherein I learned about using the bus system in Downtown Chicago. (Actually much easier than I imagined.)We did the Chicago Field Museum in the morning, with Sue the T-Rex, the entire display on China and Chinese artifacts (quite fascinating), and wandered in and out of a couple of other displays. Lots to look at there!
Sue the T-Rex:
The afternoon was the Chicago Architectural Tour on the river. and I left the city very impressed by the ingenuity of Chicago's building designers and architects of the last fifty years.
The boat we were on for the tour:
Alas, this late, I don't remember the specifics, only the generalities - that the river used to be a pit, and was only cleaned up in the last twenty years, to the point where it's no longer lethal, merely toxic. But as the waterway has been cleared up, so, too, the property prices have risen, to the point where a hundred thousand people live within sight of the river.
Not entirely surprising, eh?
Although, rather amazingly, they survived the plunge!
The architect of this building wanted an organic architecture: no straight corridors.
Sears Tower:
Apparently there's a lot of underpinning and architectural stuff that goes on to keep these buildings upright. Girders down to bedrock, and weight-bearing columns, and external and internal bracing. It's a little terrifying, actually, if I stop and think about it.
And surely no city is complete without at least one building in the Gothic style!
Although in other countries, this type of building is usually a church:
Bloomingdales, Chicago:
And, finally, a pic of
everbright_mourning and I!After all that, I caught the El Train back to the South West and went home to a blood-red ball of a sunset:
It was a good day. :)
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