Post #794724 by mikehooker on Thu, Apr 25, 2019 1:08 PM

Finally found some time to wrap this up. If you've made it this far, thanks for reading and hope you're enjoying the journey!

Day 6
We took a Lyft to Gene and Jude's for breakfast hot dogs which were the best of the three places we tried on the trip, then sloshed through the snow to Hala Kahiki.

What a beautiful time capsule of a place! It's not as densely outfitted or breathtaking as the Mai Kai, but every surface is covered in luahala and seagrass matting, there are some fantastic hanging lamps, lit up resin tikis, and the most insane collection of Witco I've seen including fountains, lighting, shields and everything you can imagine. It's everywhere you look, and the place is expansive.

When you enter there's a very long bar with a plethora of stools and a bunch of seating across from it. That leads to a small dining area that overlooks the patio/garden, then you pass into another room where there's a small service bar and another, larger dining area that has a different view of the garden. This is where we spent most of our time. They also have a gift shop beyond this room. Sadly, we couldn't see the water feature in action or really enjoy the extravagance of the garden because it was under snow.

MC Jet Sterling introduced the Cocktail Preachers who played the first two CATTs and reunited to play two sets for us. Great instrumental background music for the days festivities covering surf, exotica and some hits of the 60s. There was a raffle in between their sets where people won swag from Pussers, Plantation, Kona Brewing and other sponsors. There was also a market place with several vendors hawking tiki wares, mugs, carvings, syrups, and more.

My one negative note would be that the drinks I had were undrinkable. They offer a flight of cocktails where you can get 5 miniatures which I thought was a great way to test some options and determine what I'd like to order a full size of. I picked some old reliables in the Mai Tai, Zombie, Navy Grog, Planters Punch and Suffering Bastard. I couldn't consume more than a few sips of any of them. They were super duper sweet, one note, and very disappointing. None even closely resembled what they were supposed to taste like except the mai tai was nothing but orgeat, so I know they got atleast one ingredient right. I heard others say their drinks weren't bad at all, so maybe it was just the bartender who made mine.

Despite that set back, this stop was a great way to end the Chicago Area Tiki Tour. It is a really fun event that's well organized, and I believe the money raised goes towards scholarships for the children of Easter Island who go to Chile and bring their knowledge back to the island to improve their society.

All in all, Chicago is a wonderful city and this was a fantastic trip. We had a blast hanging with friends and making new ones. Drank an immeasurable amount of alcohol. Got to take in the city, some snow, and visit a few great watering holes. I feel there's a lot more to explore so a return visit is in order. Definitely for the CATT in two years, if not sooner.

Pertaining to my initial post, pondering the best way to get around... I found the transit system to be pretty reliable and got us within a mile of many of our destinations. At times when we were too beat or crunched for time or the train didn't quite go where we needed it to, we took Lyft's. I don't imagine I would have enjoyed having a car to drive around and dealing with parking. Next time perhaps we'll stay in the Loop as it seems that was where we ended up the most.