Backyard Destinations

Tonight I met someone who brought a watermelon from Florida to the hostel.

Yup. Seriously.

Andrew, a college graduate who resides in Tallahassee, Florida, is working toward a certificate to teach English.

He flew to Chicago from Florida and explained that before flying, he bought a watermelon off the side of the road and put it into his carry on baggage. (So one bag was for the watermelon, and the personal item was his laptop.)

“I figured it would save me a couple of trips to the grocery store,” he said.

Plus, he claimed, most watermelons sold at grocery stores are seedless, which aren’t as sweet as those with seeds.

Boy, was I amused.

And then he cut a couple of slices up for me!

That encounter was the highlight of my weekend, most of which was spent further wandering around the city in three ways:

1. Abusing my transit pass/taking the bus and train around
2. Abusing my feet/walking
3. Abusing my legs/biking

Outside Wrigley Field

I couldn’t help it

Home of the Chicago Bulls!

Michael Jordan statue!

University of Illinois at Chicago

Looking up at the ceiling of the 9th floor of the Chicago Public Library

I spent several hours yesterday biking the Lakefront Trail. (This activity was suggested by my friend Benny, who I met in Banff last year when I was traveling through Canada. He also blogged about his travels [in English AND German] at http://redmapleleafblog.wordpress.com.) I only biked part of it (as I overestimated the distance I could cover under the sun and with a limited supply of water), it’s a beautiful and relaxing trail that provides a stunning view of Chicago skyscrapers. It also goes through a couple of parks, which is nice. Despite ending the ride on a tired note, biking was completely worth the time and money spent, and I would suggest any future first time visitors take biking the Lakefront Trail into consideration.

There was also the Chicago Blues Festival this weekend, so I checked that out (very briefly) this afternoon. There were a good number of people and live happy music on the stages.