Post by Robin Hood on Jan 10, 2009 16:04:36 GMT -6
We left home about 5am Thursday morning, the drive was much better than I had anticipated, we ran into very little traffic getting into the city. Our friends weren't quite so lucky, there was an accident on the Dan Ryan that turned it into a parking lot and they were about 45 mins late getting to the hotel.
We met at our hotel, the Best Western River North. We had called ahead and asked about parking at the hotel before we actually checked in and they said no problem. Once everyone was parked in the hotel garage it was time to call a cab and head out to do the tourist thing, so we had the Concierge call us a cab.
First stop, Shedd Aquarium, this was very nice and we killed about 3 hours here pretty easy.
Second stop, Field Museum, we spent the remainder of our day here. We headed to the exit about 10 mins to close so we could call a cab and head for some dinner. My buddy's girlfriend has Cerebral Palsy and is in a wheelchair, getting a handicapped cab to actually come out and pick us up was a NIGHTMARE!! She has an electric wheelchair that can be set into the back of a regular mini-van cab if you lay the seat down, you would not believe the amount of cab drivers that wouldn't accommodate us. We finally got a cab, a really nice Ukrainian fellow who gave us his personal cell number so we could call him directly, this proved to be VERY useful.
Third stop, We went to Ed Debevic's for dinner, our friends from Buffalo had no idea what they were in for!! As cheesy as Ed's is, we all had a good time. Ed's is about a block from our hotel so we just walked back. After all the driving and the two museums we all were pretty beat, so it was off to bed early.
Friday Morning, got up fairly early and went down and had breakfast at the hotel, not bad. Concierge called us a cab and we headed to the Science and Industry Museum, if you haven't been recently, I would suggest taking a trip just to see the new U-boat exhibit, they done an amazing job with it. We hadn't planned on spending all day here, but ended up doing just that. I walked outside to see if I could find a cab that we could stick the wheelchair in and once again was greeted with rude cab drivers that wouldn't fold their seats so we could set the chair in the back, so I called our Ukrainian friend he was all the way out at O'hare, but said he would come pick us up (this got him a NICE NICE tip).
Dinner, we headed to the Rainforest Cafe partly cause everyone was hungry and it was close to the hotel and we could WALK back to the hotel.
We came out of dinner and it was snowing like mad, but the temperature was pretty decent, so we decided to go ahead and walk down to our next attraction. We walked I think about 13 blocks to the Sears Tower, well 3 of us walked and one cruised....lol I had never been to the top of the Sears Tower when it was nothing but clear outside, so going up during a snowstorm was a pretty cool experience. We were right at the cloud level, you could see stars above the clouds and the snowy city below, it was pretty cool!! We stayed until they closed at 8pm and this time I was thinking ahead and had called our Ukrainian friend about 7:30 to see if he was around, he was......THANK GOD!! Loaded up and went back to the hotel, we all decided to check out the pool with a little swim.
The pool was very nice and was like bathwater!! Our friends were looking pretty tired at this point so they bid us a goodnight.
Becky and I went back to the room and got cleaned up, we walked around the corner to a little Blues club called "Blue Chicago", it is just a little hole in the wall bar with live Blues. The band was EXCELLENT!! Their sax player wasn't exactly what I would have expected to be playing in a Blues band, she was a five foot tall, 90 lbs, Korean lady.......lol But HOLY SHIT she was AWESOME!! We ended up staying until the band finished their last set and walked back to the hotel in the snow.
We got up about 9am and got our shit together and headed home after having a nice little get away with our friends.
Here are a few thoughts:
If you have never traveled with someone that is handicapped, I highly suggest you do it at least once. You will truly appreciate the huge PAIN IN THE ASS these folks deal with every day.
Best Western River North was a very nice moderately priced hotel with FREE parking.
Cabbies in Chicago could be a bit more accommodating.
It was really nice to finally meet my best friend in the world in person, we have known each other for over 4 years, but didn't meet face to face until last Thurs.
Hedonites, must have something in their blood that keeps them feeling young, cause we were still going strong while they were dragging ass......lol We are old enough to be their parents!!!
We met at our hotel, the Best Western River North. We had called ahead and asked about parking at the hotel before we actually checked in and they said no problem. Once everyone was parked in the hotel garage it was time to call a cab and head out to do the tourist thing, so we had the Concierge call us a cab.
First stop, Shedd Aquarium, this was very nice and we killed about 3 hours here pretty easy.
Second stop, Field Museum, we spent the remainder of our day here. We headed to the exit about 10 mins to close so we could call a cab and head for some dinner. My buddy's girlfriend has Cerebral Palsy and is in a wheelchair, getting a handicapped cab to actually come out and pick us up was a NIGHTMARE!! She has an electric wheelchair that can be set into the back of a regular mini-van cab if you lay the seat down, you would not believe the amount of cab drivers that wouldn't accommodate us. We finally got a cab, a really nice Ukrainian fellow who gave us his personal cell number so we could call him directly, this proved to be VERY useful.
Third stop, We went to Ed Debevic's for dinner, our friends from Buffalo had no idea what they were in for!! As cheesy as Ed's is, we all had a good time. Ed's is about a block from our hotel so we just walked back. After all the driving and the two museums we all were pretty beat, so it was off to bed early.
Friday Morning, got up fairly early and went down and had breakfast at the hotel, not bad. Concierge called us a cab and we headed to the Science and Industry Museum, if you haven't been recently, I would suggest taking a trip just to see the new U-boat exhibit, they done an amazing job with it. We hadn't planned on spending all day here, but ended up doing just that. I walked outside to see if I could find a cab that we could stick the wheelchair in and once again was greeted with rude cab drivers that wouldn't fold their seats so we could set the chair in the back, so I called our Ukrainian friend he was all the way out at O'hare, but said he would come pick us up (this got him a NICE NICE tip).
Dinner, we headed to the Rainforest Cafe partly cause everyone was hungry and it was close to the hotel and we could WALK back to the hotel.
We came out of dinner and it was snowing like mad, but the temperature was pretty decent, so we decided to go ahead and walk down to our next attraction. We walked I think about 13 blocks to the Sears Tower, well 3 of us walked and one cruised....lol I had never been to the top of the Sears Tower when it was nothing but clear outside, so going up during a snowstorm was a pretty cool experience. We were right at the cloud level, you could see stars above the clouds and the snowy city below, it was pretty cool!! We stayed until they closed at 8pm and this time I was thinking ahead and had called our Ukrainian friend about 7:30 to see if he was around, he was......THANK GOD!! Loaded up and went back to the hotel, we all decided to check out the pool with a little swim.
The pool was very nice and was like bathwater!! Our friends were looking pretty tired at this point so they bid us a goodnight.
Becky and I went back to the room and got cleaned up, we walked around the corner to a little Blues club called "Blue Chicago", it is just a little hole in the wall bar with live Blues. The band was EXCELLENT!! Their sax player wasn't exactly what I would have expected to be playing in a Blues band, she was a five foot tall, 90 lbs, Korean lady.......lol But HOLY SHIT she was AWESOME!! We ended up staying until the band finished their last set and walked back to the hotel in the snow.
We got up about 9am and got our shit together and headed home after having a nice little get away with our friends.
Here are a few thoughts:
If you have never traveled with someone that is handicapped, I highly suggest you do it at least once. You will truly appreciate the huge PAIN IN THE ASS these folks deal with every day.
Best Western River North was a very nice moderately priced hotel with FREE parking.
Cabbies in Chicago could be a bit more accommodating.
It was really nice to finally meet my best friend in the world in person, we have known each other for over 4 years, but didn't meet face to face until last Thurs.
Hedonites, must have something in their blood that keeps them feeling young, cause we were still going strong while they were dragging ass......lol We are old enough to be their parents!!!
