There’s not a huge amount to report from Chicago. I mean, I did things, but they were ‘catching up with friends’ sort of things, which don’t lend themselves to photos.
That said;
I played some board/card games, such as this one, where you’re building dirigibles.
Sadly, you’re not then doing battle with said dirigibles, but maybe there’s an expansion? Or some hacked house rules?
There was also;
- The Phantom Society, a Ghosts vs. Ghost Hunters game.
There’s a memory component to this one, because the ghosts are hidden, and the hunter is trying to work out where they are based on what they’ve destroyed. I screwed up where my ghosts were hidden once, fortunately in a way that didn’t mean I’d broken the game rules, but only by luck.
It’s entirely possible that placing the ghosts & taking note of where they were took longer than the gameplay did.
The game does look good though; Nicely done somewhat cartoony graphics. - Ice Cool, where a penguin hall monitor tries to catch students who are running around the school trying to collect fish.
You move by flicking the little penguin figure, and the box cleverly turns into a five-room school building to move around in.
Lots of fun, and very re-playable, though it’d help to have a table you can get to all sides of, or maybe put it on an enormous turntable for ease of access for the tricky shots.
When I first got to Chicago, back at the end of July, we went to a combination arcade & restaurant/bar, where they did time-based playing, rather than per-game.
This time it was just an arcade, but like the previous place, was time-based.
It was just like the arcades of the 80’s & 90’s – Kind of cramped, indifferently ventilated, dark in places, …
It was fun, and being able to just hit the ‘Continue’ button on a game you’re enjoying being awful at means that you can, if you so choose, finish the game. Without spending $50 in coins.
I’d been staying out at a hotel in … I don’t even think it was the suburbs. Suburbs have houses.
This was a hotel in a commercial/light industrial area, where I stayed back in July/August because it was close to Steve & Moni’s place, and they had some cheap rates going. Probably because, without a car, you’re stuck there.
With the squirrels.
And apparently a skunk.
Post-weekend, I moved to the same central Chicago hostel as before, to wait for the train to Indianapolis; The Freehand Chicago.
First night’s room-mate was a 70+ year old lady, in Chicago for a school/university reunion.
I did encourage her to turn the light on when she packed up for an early flight, so that it’d be easier on her and she’d not miss anything.
Don’t think that happened; I don’t remember the light coming on, and the pair of glasses & pair of trousers left behind suggest that some things that should not have been forgotten were lost.
Do … Do you think they’ve read this sign aloud?
The one thing I had to do in Chicago, after discovering how hard it was to pack everything up, was to find a bigger day-pack.
Little Red, the 15 litre which came with Big Red, just doesn’t have enough space.
I’m not sure how the volume of stuff I’m lugging has grown so much, but it has. A case of “Ounces make Pounds”, perhaps?
In any case, I checked out some stores by wandering up the Magnificent Mile until I ran out of the sort of places which looked like they’d sell a daypack. This also involved stopping off at a Starbucks with a pretty good view, because of reasons.
Eventually I decided on this one; 35 litres, fairly water-resistant, as yet un-named, with a lot of pockets. One of them has that reflective stuff in it, and can fit my water bottle.
Suggestions so far, based on the grid of loops, have been based on Hand Grenades or Daleks.
It looked like I’d get the room to myself, which was a little odd, to be honest.
Then a guy from Korea arrived at 11:30pm or so.
He was trying to be sneaky and quiet, which rarely works, so I told him that it was OK to turn the light on.
And where the light switches were.
And where he could probably find a towel, which turned out to be wrong.
And that that’s a blanket, not a towel.
And the other place he could probably find a towel, which turned out to be correct.
He was gone by the time I got out of bed, and I thought he’d left, based on the somewhat-stripped bed & no bag in evidence.
Then I worked out that the ‘discarded’ bag in the corner had shoes in it, and his lock was still on the locker, so I’m guessing early start, understandable desire of security of his stuff, and restless sleeper.
It was raining on & off during the day, and the clouds were low, which at least gave the chance for an interesting photo as I schlepped my way to the station.
It rained heavier the closer I got, and I ended up hiding in a Panera Bread for a while when I realised that a bridge closure meant even more being rained on.
I picked up a couple of pairs of cheap sunglasses a month or so back, as part of a two for one deal.
Probably tempting fate to abandon the backup pair, bit they seem sturdy, and I was getting sick of them getting tangled with everything else in my bag. There’s no ‘free’ shelf at the Freehand, so I left then in the room with a note.
Something I noticed with the shared rooms & rapid turnover; Stuff builds up, because nobody knows who it belongs to.
I did a throw-out of water bottles & the like during a previous stay, once the folks who were there before me had moved out and I could be sure that things didn’t belong to them. There was an abandoned pair of trousers in that room too, now that I think of it.
Hopefully the note makes it easier for the next person.
I’m bundling the train trip to Indianapolis in with this post; It was a short trip, at night, and not all that interesting.
There was a moment of excitement at the station when the Amtrak Policeman, with his bulletproof vest & gun, asked whether anyone knew who belonged to those bags over there.
At the point he asked, I’d heard the recorded spiel about being attentive, and if you see something say something, a good dozen times, and I’m proud to report that … I completely failed.
Could remember that it was a guy working on a laptop, but I could have told you more about the laptop than about him.
Turns out he was just a very trusting guy who’d left his bags unattended in a railway station hall while he took a walk to stretch his legs.
I can also report that panorama mode on my phone works vertically, though you look a little odd.
My seatmate on the train hadn’t had a good day.
Flight to Chicago from LA was delayed, so he missed his bus. (No idea why he didn’t fly direct, though that might be quite expensive for a last-minute flight, and his was a last-minute trip)
Uber from the airport to the bus terminal was slow because of rain and traffic, so he missed his second bus.
Got rained on while walking to the train station.
As a final ‘screw you’, the train was delayed getting into Indianapolis because the rain was interfering with the signals.
We made it in the end, though I’m not sure how late; Maybe an hour?
I didn’t check.
Got a couple of … interesting? … shots of the JW Marriott from the train, looming over the approach to the city.
This one, I think, is taken over Victory Field.
Getting to the hotel, which was only a short walk away (at night, through a somewhat dodgy-looking underpass), was … annoying.
- First taxi driver didn’t want to answer the “are you waiting for someone” question, but it turned out he was waiting for a Greyhound-related person.
- Next one was happy to take the fare, knew the location, didn’t run the meter, … And then didn’t know the location, didn’t listen when told the intersection to go for, argued with me about said location because he wasn’t listening, …
Got there in the end, because he asked a hotel Valet at the hotel he thought I wanted, and got directions.
In hindsight, I wish I’d taken down the taxi number & his name, but it was well after midnight and I just wanted to go to sleep at that point.
The hotel room is nice, and has a kitchen.
There’s even a full sized fridge/freezer and a dishwasher.
And a view.
Sort of.
Well, there’s a window.
