October 11th to 21st 2012
I've found joy in biking around Prospect Park. The loop is like a race course. I marvel at the grand shows of nature here. New york is not only dirtier, denser and harder than Burlington but it also has bigger nature. The trees here are huge. There's an actual pond with ducks. The roundabout and precise bike lanes around Grand Army Plaza. I didn't realize this existed outside of Europe.
Met with Emily in Albany when our trains Voltroned.
Once arrived in Chicago we precariously walked our bikes a few blocks, her with handle bars which did nothing and me with a gigantic bike box constantly catching the constant wind gusts. We got many funny looks.
Our host Natalia was very, very nice. She cooked us scrambled eggs with a tomato and a hotdog. We discussed our semi-vegetarian status but were too tired and hungry to refuse the meat. It was delicious but nowhere near sufficient to fill our surprisingly expansive hunger.
Our iPhones could not get a steady hold on our location so we were frequently lost. Wandering around, trying to make use of Yelp to no avail. Settled on "Epic Burger" which was actually pretty good. Portabella sandwiches with blue cheese to the R&B playing overhead (I thought of Linc).
At night there are glowing, color changing flower things which play Air (the band). It was funny, I thought of Blave. At the Seven Eleven in the ground floor of the apt building we were staying I encountered my first laser sound. Advertisements one can only hear when standing directly under a grate in the ceiling. It went along with an ad on a monitor. The ad was for these 2 different kinds of coffees for sale which by buying a certain one you were showing your support for Romney (red) or Obama (blue). And if you really don't give a fuck you can buy a purple slurpee ("something we all can agree on"). We got bananas, a blueberry muffin (awful) and some trail mix.
Chicago feels like levels. The canal is low, there's street level, there's the raised train levels. Nothing feels like "ground" level. It's all levels.
This is getting annoying to write and edit so without further ado, here's the pix (click for big).
This is the entryway of the H.E.R. coop at BU which I stayed at for a night.
Their snacks are rationed by day. "Today you eat this cantelope!"
Mollie and I had a NY Sunday.
Bagels and The Times in Prospect Park.
Park Slope.
The Brooklyn Public Library is simultaneously futuristic and old.
Brooklyn has art and bike lanes.
Dark Sky came in handy.
I object to the air quality in the Amtrak waiting area in NY Penn Station (as well as on every Amtrak train I've been on)
Chicago
Couch Surfing
Sears Willis Tower.
Chicago has train yards and highways running through its "park"s
Cloud Gate
Cloud Gate.
I could have spent a whole day here.
The Back to the Future II Delorean in a cafe in Chicago.
"The Boring Store" apparently exists in several major cities. The store is actually a front for a writing school for kids. The store then prints and sells the children's writing as well as other clever nick knacks such as a notebook disguised as a VHS. I would have bought a book of the kid's stories if I weren't on the move...
There is a stained glass museum in Chicago.
A $20,000 bottle of whiskey at Binny's liquor store.
On the train to Seattle I mounted my solar charger to the curtain with a clip.
The observation car on the train to Seattle. Quite luxurious, feels like a spaceship at night. Seen here is my trusty Powerbooklet sucking down some 3G thanks to Tether. Latency is laughable though throughput is surprisingly satisfactory (~3mbs)
This song has been ringing in my head:
This song which sounds like goldenrod has also been stuck in my head:
UP NEXT: Train times and other future things which I have yet to experience. The train is like golden rod. So much golden rod.
Emily helped with editing this.