After a full day in the city, and plenty of activity, it was time to head home in one way or another :)
The day started with some planespotting out into the still-gloomy skies outside, but there were a few highlights –
A dying breed, literally. American are phasing out their “Super 80” fleet slowly but surely, yet you can still find them around, like this one taxiing to its gate –
O’Hare is clearly a United hub…just a few of their planes hanging around the tarmac, plus some semis at the cargo hangar and even a train on the tracks in the background –
Lastly for this section, a commuter jet taking off for Palm Beach, Florida, which was hopefully a little bit warmer than Chicago!
After that quick spotting session, I went down to the hotel fitness center to enjoy the pool and its amenities. I was slightly dismayed to find out that the fitness center cost $15 to enter – something that almost deterred me until seeing the sign that the pool was free for guests to use. Whew!
So, I jumped in and just let my foot soak for a while, then gradually turned up the heat by first going into the steam room and then into the sauna – whoa, that’s hot, but something worth doing occasionally, as you can chill and sweat it out ;)
Walking away, I snapped a picture of this, which is a sure sign that O’Hare can be a community upon itself –
I then headed back up to my room for the final re-packing and the trek out to the car. But first, another plane ;)
Or 3, including that Etihad 777 arriving at O’Hare 49 minutes late after its flight from Abu Dhabi. Now the last airplanes, for real this time ;) I like this shot because it’s a great display of how busy O’Hare is, planes *everywhere* –
While all this is going on, I made a coffee with the in-room coffee maker and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf coffee. For being a filter pack coffee, it was acceptable, but nothing you’d get from a proper coffee shop. I then made my way back to my car using the tram.
Remember the walk to the train station from the car? It’s still as long on the way back…only complicated by the slight problem that the skies opened up and the rain poured down. I was very thankful that I brought an umbrella, even though it could unequivocally be classified as the world’s worst umbrella, it would have been much worse without one.
I made my way to the Chicago Premium Outlets, which are definitely premium, considering this is one of the stores there:
The only other place I know has a Kipling store is the Ala Moana Center in Honolulu. As a guy, handbags don’t interest me, I’m good with the suitcases that I have, and if I’m going to buy a new backpack, I prefer function over fashion ;)
However, there is a store that drew me in –
I made sure to pick up a packet of hand creme there with the outlet discount :)
It was time for something to eat, as I hadn’t had anything as of that time, and I was also ready for a proper coffee. When I was coming in, I noted on the wayfinding display that there is a shop called Crepe Cafe, which is right in front of Lindt, I may add…but I got the house special crepe –
It has banana and mixed berries topped with Nutella and chocolate dressing, along with a dollop of whipped cream, and OMG again there are no human terms to describe this!
After the crepe, I wandered around the mall a little bit, and when I got to one of the exits, there was this –
Yep, a wall of clocks. All set, like a watch ad, at 10:10. This wall only covers A-Fa (Abu Dhabi to Fayetteville…skipping Chicago). The rest of the alphabet goes through the doors into the vestibule from the parking deck. More public art…
My foot had stopped hurting as much due to me walking around, so I hopped back into the car, and started driving along the Des Plaines River Road…a road that takes a winding route, not surprisingly, along the river. I spent what felt like an eternity on this road and thought…the tollways don’t have stoplights, crossroads, and will actually get me out of Cook County by the end of the decade, let’s be smart and get on there!
This is also where the photos really end, since I was driving – I took a couple of quick stops to stretch at the Oasis, then stopped at Costco where I had a realization looking at this scene –
This could be literally any Costco in the USA…the pricing signs are the same, with date codes and stars; the produce selection is practically homogeneous – some items may be organic in one store, non-organic others. Heck, even the food court is the same.
Well, except this one was different. The beef chili wasn’t there, replace with an Al Pastor salad. Also, they still had the chocolate frozen yogurt, which is being replaced in food courts with an açaí and vanilla yogurt blend. The açaí for the new Açaí bowl offering that has started coming around. I would have had the salad, but they were sold out, so I decided against the other food court items, and dropped in at the grocery store to do a quick shop there as well. Too bad I wasn’t going to be there in a few days though!
I carried on home, listening to the qualifications for the Indianapolis 500, making one last stop at Starbucks for an iced coffee, and then I got home to unpack everything and then return the loaner, adding about 400 miles to its clock, and increasing the average fuel. Maybe it is time for a hybrid ;)
Note from Snoskred –
I hope you all have enjoyed our 4 Mondays of Travel With Sephyroth. I know I certainly have. It should be noted the entire reason all of this came about was due to The West Wing Weekly who were arranging some live podcast recordings – tickets sold out incredibly fast and Sephyroth missed out on tickets.
I follow Rob Lowe on Twitter and when he mentioned he would be touring I looked to see if there were any dates nearby to Sephyroth and it turned out Chicago was the closest. I suggested to add in a couple of days of activities and stay a couple of nights, and this trip was born.
I am hopeful this experience will encourage Sephyroth to book a couple more trips, whether it be overnight stays or longer. Travel is an awesome thing!
That crepe looks delicious!! I used to make them, but it’s been a really long time.
Oh, how I love those Premium Outlet Malls. And L’Occitane.