Windy City

*WARNING* - SUPER LONG POST, VIEW AT UR OWN RISK!

The long-awaited post on the Chicago road trip is finally here! Oh well gd things are worth waiting for aren't they?

Day 0 - Mackinac Island (22 July 2009)

Was scheduled to work from 10am-3pm at the Bistro but it wasn't opened due to bad weather. I went to help out at the Round Island breakfast for about an hour then asked my manager Bonnie if I can be off for the rest of the day. She said ok then I left for the bank and withdrew most of the funds in my account cos I wanted deposit them into a Bank of America account when I reach Chicago.

Albee, Lydia, Alex and I took the 5:30pm ferry out to Mackinaw City.

We were expecting the taxi that we had booked earlier to fetch us to Pellston Airport to collect the rental cars. However after waiting for abt 15 min, the taxi had not arrived yet. I called the taxi company and the person said that the taxi was there at 5:30pm and waited for 15 min then left. I told him that I booked the taxi for 6pm pickup but he insisted otherwise. I asked if he could come and pick us up immediately, he said he would need half an hour and we would need to pay him another $40 for gas and lost time on top of the initial $40 agreed for the one-way trip. We decided to seek other alternatives as we were running out of time (rental company closes at 7pm). With the help of the Shepler's staff, we managed to call another transport company Wolverine Stages and they could reach within 20 min but charges $27 per person for the trip. Leaving with no choice, only Alex and I went to pickup the rental cars while Albee and Lydia waited at the dock for the rest who took the 7pm ferry.

As we were running late, I called the rental company Hertz not to close as we were going to collect the cars. The person said she had issued out all the cars (cos of overbooking) and she would let another company Avis to handle our reservations. We reached just in time as she was pulling down the shutter door and she directed us to Avis counter. Avis quoted us double the amount (mainly due to age differential charge for 21-24 yr old) that we were expecting to pay Hertz. Alex and I felt so shocked and thought to ourselves "Has this road trip ended b4 it even started?" We asked the Hertz lady for possible solutions, saying that we really need the cars and all our friends were waiting for us. She went back to her office and issued 2 cars (intended for the next day) to us at the agreed costs on the reservations. We could not thank her enough for her generous help.

Anyway after checking the cars we left for the ferry dock to pick up the rest of the ppl.

Next stop at Walmart to stock up on supplies for the trip; the 11 of us

1st pit stop at Meijer: Elsa, Jenny and Alex; Ford Expedition & Ford Focus; Derek, Alex, Ivy and Michelle

taken inside 24-hr Meijer store: Elsa, Michelle, Derek, Jenny, Erica, Lydia, Albee and Ivy

2nd pit stop at a random Shell station off the highway exit; the couple Erica and Derek

We needed to pay 3 toll charges on the way to Chicago, this was the last and the most expensive one: Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge USD3 per car

Day 1 - Chicago (23 July 2009)

We parked at Howard Johnson Inn (accomodation for the night) b4 gg to the nearby McDonald's for some washing up and breakfast. They said this is the flagship 50th Anniversary restaurant.

decorations around the level 2 of the restaurant

After resting till abt 9am, we went to a nearby Bank of America banking center to open bank accounts.

After opening our accounts, Lydia and I went to fetch Sun Ke, Siyu, Kang Xi, Stella and Sam from the Greyhound bus terminal to Howard Johnson Inn while the rest were still in the process of opening their accounts.

Alex and Sun Ke contacted each other thru phone to decide where to meet. Alex and the rest were heading to a famous pizza shop to buy food for a picnic at Millenium Park. We were in charge of buying the drinks.

some photos taken along the way

corn-shaped building: top section consists of offices, bottom section consists of carpark. how cool is that?!

inside the famous Giordano's Pizza

After waiting 45 min for the pizzas, we finally settled down at a nice spot inside Millenium Park.

Crown Fountain that can spout water; Alex eating the famous deep-dish pizza

around Millenium Park

At abt 2:30pm we left Millenium Park to go on the 90-min lake and river cruise. We used 2-for-1 e-vouchers to purchase the tickets so each of us only paid half the regular price of $23.

views from the ferry; ferris wheel at Navy Pier

spot John Hancock Center in the bottom right pic

spot Sears Tower in the top right pic

The first 60 min of the cruise was on Lake Michigan and the last 30 min was on Chicago River. I must be lacking in sleep so badly that I dozed on and off during the Chicago River part. Nevertheless it was truly enriching and offered views like no other.

After the cruise, all of us went back to the hotel to check-in and rest for a while b4 setting off to Chinatown in search of dinner. We settled on Lao Sze Chuan Chinese Restaurant for dinner.

炒饭，炒面，红油炒手，水煮牛肉，麻婆豆腐，炒菠菜，蒜泥白肉

it was a fulfilling dinner for all of us

We drove to Navy Pier and the Grant Park surroundings in search of a nice spot for a picnic but as some of them were feeling tired so we went back to the hotel to rest for the night.

Hard Rock Cafe at night

Day 2 - Chicago (24 July 2009)

After we checked out of our rooms at abt 10am and left our bags in the cars, we went to McDonald's for breakfast again. Alex and I only ate some cake as we knew that we would be having McDonald's breakfast again the very next day.

After breakfast we went to purchase CTA (Chicago Transport Authority) day-pass which offers unlimited rides on CTA bus and train.

All of them (with the exception of Alex and I) made their way to Field Musuem.

Alex and I alighted one stop after them at Chinatown. We were craving for Chinese food again. We settled on a shop selling $4.25 set meals

We ordered 烧鸭饭，烧肉饭 and 牛肉干河

We felt super full after the meal. Went across the street to a supermarket.

We then made our way to the Field Musuem to meet up with the rest.

the famous T-Rex named Sue

Kang Xi, Derek, Erica and Lydia wanted to meet up with Sun Ke to visit University of Chicago so they left the musuem earlier than the rest. Alex and I left together with them but we went to walk around in downtown instead.

some photos taken near the Buckingham Fountain

some pics of University of Chicago

Albee and Ivy went to the Art Institute of Chicago after leaving the Field Musuem.


bottom right pic: Crown Fountain at night

Alex and I took a CTA bus to Navy Pier after spending some time in downtown

we finally managed to eat Chicago hotdogs! (it's not easy to find one on the streets as others say)


we looked so funny here!


Chicago Bulls!

Sun Ke they all came to Navy Pier to meet us for dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

After dinner we walked to John Hancock Center to go up to the Observatory level

the night views of Chicago were beautiful


that day was actually Albee's birthday but all of us agreed to act as if we had totally forgotten abt it. But we secretly bought a cake for her to celebrate at night inside the hotel room. (Sun Ke they all were staying for another 2 nights)

We setted off towards the factory outlet stores in Birch Run at abt 2am.

Day 3 - Birch Run (25 July 2009)

breakfast @ McDonald's then shopping time!

lunch @ A&W; last pit stop before returning the cars at Pellston Airport

that's the amount of stuff we bought!

~ ROAD TRIP MISSION ACCOMPLISHED ~ 900 miles or 1448.4096 km travelled ~