At some point during the twelve hours it took to get back to DC yesterday, I was trying to figure out when I last took a real vacation. It's been awhile. Ususally, if I go somewhere, it has something to do with research, interviews, or archives - in short, with the dissertation. But a total getaway, not involving dissertation or any kind of work? It's been awhile. Like more than two years. Ugh.
A weekend in Chicago turned out to be exactly what I needed. It was so much fun. It was thirty-degrees cooler than the DC swamp. It is such a fun city.
I'd been to Chicago once before (not counting numerous nightmare layovers at O'Hare), but that was to be recruited for graduate school and so we didn't really get to do much on our own. They took us on an architecture-oriented tour of downtown, which was really cool, but other than that, it was mostly a two days of learning about a political science department and one of the best African Studies programs in America. It was also snowing. In April. And I had been to visit Austin three days before that, and it was perfect and sunny and my family was there and we drove out to Luling for bbq and to see the bluebonnets. And, well, I didn't choose to move to Chicago, despite the fact that it's a really cool city with lots of neat neighborhoods. The El takes you most places (slowly, slowly) - every time I went into the city, Cubs fans were heading to Wrigley Field, which is so close to the station that you can see the field from the train. I didn't take a picture of that, but got this one downtown:
My friend Melissa, though, just moved there with her husband to pursue a PhD, so when she said, "Come visit," I said, "Okay." And it was such a fun, laid-back weekend. They live in Rogers Park, which is a multi-ethnic neighborhood full of cool restaurants and shops. Saturday we just hung out - went to the REI garage sale that morning (where I got a North Face backpack for $16!) and then I went down to Hyde Park, where the University of Chicago is, to browse the bookstores. They definitely live up to the hype. The Seminary Cooperative claims to have more academic titles than any bookstore in the U.S. and I believe it. Unbelievable selection. (Read: you know you're a nerd when one of the highlights of your vacation is finding a paperback copy of the "people's history of Congo" when you've avoided buying the hardback for two years because it was $80.) Powell's was a disappointment, but I found a book there as well before walking to the lake to catch a bus to head uptown to shop on the Magnificent Mile and see a few sites before meeting Melissa for dinner.
Sunday, I met some other friends for day 3 of Lollapalooza, which will have to be the subject of another post, because the blogger photo uploader stopped working a few minutes ago. Suffice it to say that the weekend was awesome, and just what I needed to get ready for what's next.