fandomhigh | These United States [Wednesday, May 14, 2014]

These United States [Wednesday, May 14, 2014]

"Welcome to Chicago!" Josh said, gesturing around, "where, as far as I know, it's done snowing for the year. But don't quote me on that. Chicago is the third most populous city in America after New York and LA and is also the only city, despite snowing nine months a year and having the wind blow all the time, in the Midwest worth visiting."

Josh.

"Seriously," he continued, "because screw Indiana especially." More than a couple passing people gave him the stink-eye for that. "There was this campaign stop and half of their counties were in different timezones and who runs a civilization like that and oh, yeah, Chicago. The city is an international hub for finance, commerce, industry, technology, telecommunications, and transportation, and if you're not on a direct flight from one side of the country to the other, the chances are high that you'll be cooling your heels in O'Hare International Airport, home of exactly five power outlets for your laptop."

Josh.

"The food culture of Chicago is pretty unique," he said. "They serve dish-deep pizza, which as someone who grew up outside of New York I am required to scoff at and call casserole, and hot dogs with pickles on them instead of mustard and sauerkraut as God intended--" Josh, "--so you guys can try some of that after we're finished touring some of the great architecture of the city. Get out your cameras, folks, this'll be as much fun as you're legally allowed to have in flyover country."

JOSH.

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JOSH.

"Jutting into Lake Michigan, the Museum Campus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_Campus) is one of Chicago's greatest links to the Columbian Exposition of 1893," Josh read from his brochure. "The Field Museum of Natural History, constructed for the Exposition, is a Classical Revival building that among other things houses Sue, the most complete T-Rex skeleton ever discovered. The Adler Planetarium and Shedd Aquarium aren't too shabby either." He pointed at the nearby stadium. "That's Soldier Field, where a football team called the Bears, which is made up of people who aren't soldiers and also aren't bears, sorry folks who aren't from the planet--play football, a game where you mostly hold the ball with your hands."

Well, that cleared everything right up. "Anyway," he concluded. "Go poke around the museum--do not knock the T-Rex over--or the planetarium or aquarium, and meet me out here in forty minutes or so."

Edited 2014-05-14 09:32 (UTC)

"This is the Rookery Building (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rookery_Building), designed by Burnham and Root--Burnham's the guy responsible for the Burnham plan that transformed the city for the Columbian Exposition--with a later lobby remodel by Frank Lloyd Wright," Josh said, pointing. "It's one of the best examples of Chicago's turn of the century architecture, with one of the true masters of Modernist architecture adding to it. The lobby (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkUxlVbv7AQ) is the only area accessible to the public, but that's MORE than enough. I'm not exactly Architecture Guy, but this place is pretty amazing. Go take a look."

"Okay, this is the Sears Tower (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willis_tower)," Josh said, craning his neck way, way up to look at it. "Pay no attention to how it's been renamed. It's exactly like how no one in Washington DC calls National Airport Reagan National. We're gonna go inside and ride all the way to the top, so if any of you are afraid of heights, now's a good time to go find a hot dog."

"This is the second tallest building in the United States, because New York is always better in every way and One World Trade Center is taller again."

JOSH.

Head on up and enjoy the view from the observation deck, class! Try to restrain yourself from pushing Josh from it...

Grab a slice of pizza and a fork, or a Chicago dog (with yellow mustard, white onions, terrifyingly green pickle relish, a dill pickle spear, tomato slices, a pickled sport pepper and a dash of celery salt on a poppy seed roll) before heading back to Fandom.

~~God, I'm so hungry.~~

Try not to hit Josh. I know that he's making that very difficult today.

I AM SO SORRY, YA'LL.

A thousand thank yous to Nick for giving me amazing architecture information to point you all at! Josh's opinions are NOT MINE. My husband's from Chicago!

Kathy Li

Oh, Kathy had no problems trying the Chicago dog (well, dogs, because she had more than one.) The poppy seed roll was weird, but the dash of celery salt made it really good!

Kathy was enjoying Professor Lyman's take on Chicago, but if he tried this with Los Angeles, they were going to have a real problem.

The view from the top of Sears Tower was amazing, though.

Will West

Will's trips to museums totaled maybe three since his family moved around a lot so he took advantage of the opportunity and headed towards the Museum Campus.

Once he started walking around, he thought about his dad and how he really would have liked this place.

Will grabbed a slice of pizza since it seemed imperative. And it was really darn good so he thought he'd made the right choice.

"What's beyond the lobby?" Kathy asked. "Is it apartments or an office building or what?"

Kathy headed right to the Planetarium. Professor Lyman had woken a spirit of competition in her and she had to see how the Adler compared to the Samuel Oschin in Griffith.

"Offices," Josh said ~~after consulting wiki so hopefully that's right~~, nodding.

"I like that Wright left things open to view--like the wrought iron surfaces behind the marble, so you can see the original even as you appreciate the renovations."

And the light court ceiling was fantastic.

"Yeah," Josh sighed happily. "The light makes everything seem huge. Wish we had this in the White House."

"Maybe we can ask the Canadians to burn it down again," Kathy suggested impishly. "Then we can renovate to your heart's content."

Mercy was so amused by Josh that it was all she could do not to laugh at all the glares he was getting from passersby.

At some point when he took a breath, she handed him a travel mug filled with coffee just the way he liked it. If he was quiet for a moment drinking it, they might avoid a mob scene.

Then again it would make for a great story.

Paddra Nsu-Yeul

Yeul made her way to the Aquarium simply because it seemed the most interesting in the time they had to make their decision about where to go.

She was right. The various exhibits were fascinating and Yeul had not seen anywhere near all of it before it was time to leave.

Yeul arbitrarily chose the pizza, since she didn't have an opinion on either option for which was better, and was pleased enough to find that it was good.

"Nah," Josh said, waving his hand dismissively. "They'd just send us a passive-aggressive note instead."

Josh was just making all kinds of friends today.

Funny. She'd always thought that politicians had more diplomacy than that.

"We can threaten to revoke their hat status?"

The terrible thing is that I did the math and the best I can say is that snow in May and September is rare. But it still happens. Sigh.

Anyway, glad I could help, and just know that I could have easily given 20 more buildings/parks that I feel are vitally important!

Oh, and yes, the Rookery is just an office building with the world's best lobby. I've heard that the office spaces are pretty wonderful and contain a treasure trove of architectural knowledge since Burnham and Root's offices were there for a long time. But I've never been past the lobby.

"Take away their strategic maple syrup reserve?" Josh suggested.

"International hockey ban," she added, giggling.

Vider Bearskin

You meant Chicagland, right, Josh? Chicagland. What was up with the 'o'?

Vider decided to check out the Natural History museum. Maybe they would have trolls!

She was destined for disappointment.

Okay, the food was a bit odd, but yes, Vider would eat both. And they turned out to be pretty tasty, surprisingly.

Soren Bearstar

"... Maybe I should invest in a map as well as a calendar," Soren muttered to Vider. "At least then I'd know the names of the places we're going."

"Might not be a bad idea," Vider agreed. "What's with the 'o'?"

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These United States [Wednesday, May 14, 2014]

Sign in [5/14]

The Museum Campus

Rookery Building

The Willis Tower

Eat Food!

Talk to Josh and Mercy

OOC

Re: Sign in [5/14]

Re: Eat Food!

Re: The Willis Tower

Re: Sign in [5/14]

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Re: Talk to Josh and Mercy

Re: Sign in [5/14]

Re: The Museum Campus

Re: Eat Food!

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Re: Sign in [5/14]

Re: The Museum Campus

Re: Eat Food!

Re: Sign in [5/14]

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Re: The Museum Campus