Post #794532 by mikehooker on Wed, Apr 17, 2019 4:12 PM

TRIP REPORT... as best I can remember...

We crammed a LOT into this trip. We began with some touristy stuff and eased our way into the 12 hour drink-a-thon that is C.A.T.T. Even got to experience 4" of snowfall in one day.

Alright, here we go!

Day 1:
We purchased a 7-day Ventra card and took the train from our friends place up in Sheridan Park where we were staying for the first leg of our trip to Oak Park to do the Frank Lloyd Wright home & studio tour. We had the worst tour guide of life. Seriously, it had to be her first unsupervised tour and she was clearly not ready. She kept forgetting names, dates, and other pertinent information, rushed through each room, and didn't allow any time for questions. There were also tons of screaming kids in the tour behind us. All that was kind of a drag, but the interiors were super cool and I'm glad we went. FLW designed so many other buildings in the area we ended up just doing our own walking tour through the neighborhood and admired the homes. One of the houses that really impressed me was built in 1902 but looked like a mid century modern masterpiece... 50 years ahead of its time...

That photo really doesn't do it justice so Google Arthur B. Heurtley House. I just couldn't get over how that house was over 100 years old and looked so modern. Most of the other ones we saw were really neat and some were awe-inspiring like the Nathan G. Moore House, originally built in 1895 and redesigned by Wright after a 1922 fire...

We eventually made our way to the Unity Temple. It's an early 20th century poured concrete structure (which was intended to cut costs, but they still went way over budget in its creation) with a delightful, welcoming interior. We decided to just do the self guided audio tour of that one. Sadly didn't take any interior pictures, but do yourself a favor and Google it if you're not already familiar. I love the fixtures and layout and the church seemed really progressive.

I definitely recommend tracing our steps if you're in the area and have even a mild interest in design and architecture. Just hope you get a better guide at the first stop.

We grabbed a quick bite at Courageous Bakery before taking the train to the loop where we did an architectural boat tour. It was a beautiful day and we had a great guide with a background in architecture and friends who are working on the new wave of 800'+ high rises. He gave great insight into the different designers and styles and how new buildings paid homage to their neighbors. Really interesting stuff and he was very thorough. The Marina Towers were definitely our favorite structures. The designer Bertrand Goldberg had a building on our path we weren't previously aware of called River City that was also super cool. The boat brought us out by Navy Pier where we got a nice view of the cityscape...

Next we walked to the Hancock Building (third tallest in Chicago), and took the elevator up to the 96th floor "Signature Lounge" and had drinks overlooking the city.

Took the L back to our friends place for a quick rest before grabbing a Lyft to Lost Lake. Had a few drinks there and a nice time with some old friends in one of the booths in the back. I think in anticipation of CATT they had already removed all the stools so I'm glad we were able to secure a private spot to sit together with attentive table service. We sampled several things and mostly preferred the off menu drinks to the newer menu ones but the Something From Nothing was really good and I look forward to trying to recreate it at home.

Day 2:
We went to the Art Institute and rushed through several exhibits. I wish we had more time to explore but they didn't open until 10:30 and we had tickets to see Hamilton at 1:30 so we really only had a couple hours in the museum. Seeing a play was not at all on our initial itinerary but the guide on our boat tour the day before had mentioned that Hamilton was still playing in Chicago and since everyone I've ever talked to seems to have seen it and loved it, we decided to catch a matinee for a shockingly good price. The show was incredible and the cast terrific. Glad we found out about this as tickets for the traveling show coming to Austin soon are not only sold out, but were exponentially more costly.

After the show we walked over to Three Dots. We only intended to squeeze in one quick drink before our dinner plan with a friend. For me, since we were short on time and being that it was my first time there (my wife had gone once before), I got the obligatory Three Dots and a Dash... from Three Dots and a Dash. It was terrific as expected. We were about to cut out when we got a text that our friend wasn't feeling well and had to cancel dinner, so we were forced to make a night of it at Three Dots instead. We had several drinks plus crack chicken and crab rangoon. Everything was exceptional. This is one my wife had called Kuikawa that she absolutely adored.

Yes, that's a snow shovel to continually shovel pineapple snow ice into the coupe. The drink that kept on giving! We also tried the Cobras Fang, Jet Pilot, Aloha Felicia, and possibly others... And we were gifted a Shotstopus by the bartender which if I recall correctly, he said consisted of Smith & Cross, 151, and passion fruit foam. Was real yummy.

It was early enough when we arrived that the music was still good, it wasn't too crowded, and we got to sit at the bar. I'm glad that was my first experience because I've heard how clubby and crowded it could get. One of our friends from Austin happened to be in town for the Star Wars convention and his group arrived just before we were going to head out. So we gave up our sacred bar stools to join them for a bit, but by this time the place was really jumpin' and we were ready to call it a night shortly after.

But not before a trip to Binny's for some Doctor Bird!

OK, this report is already getting super long and we're only two days in. We still have two more trips to Three Dots, a return to Lost Lake, plus Hala Kahiki, Tiki Terrace and Chef Shangrila ahead of us. Plus a bunch more touristy crap. Will try to finish up tomorrow.

EDITED to add more photos and recollections.

[ Edited by: mikehooker 2019-04-18 15:52 ]