Day: December 5, 2009

by

Travels Without Miranda, #7: Chicago’s Navy Pier, Illinois

Chicago is one of my favourite cities. It is vibrant, clean, friendly, and approachable. I’ve been there twice, spending a week in 1999 and stopping over on my Great Lakes adventure in 2005 to return to Navy Pier. I also went through O’Hare on my way to Colorado in 1996, but I’m not sure that counts. 🙂

Until I visited Chicago in 1999 I considered myself to be a country gal with little use for cities, finding them to be ugly. Vacations were meant to be spent in aesthetically pleasing places; I had only come to Chicago to visit a friend, otherwise I would have spent my travel dollars on a great camping excursion instead.

My week in Chicago changed my opinion of cities in general and Americans specifically. Until Chicago, I thought all American cities were like filthy New York City and all Americans like its rude residents. I still had a lot to learn about not making sweeping generalizations about places and people.

One of my last stops during that 1999 trip was Navy Pier, a tourist trap jutting out into Lake Michigan that is filled with souvenir shops and over priced food. It’s one of my favourite places in the United States. 🙂

I walked down one side of the Pier that day and up the other, stopping in my tracks as I did so to take in the sight of Chicago. It awed me. Glimmering obsidian sky scrapers shimmered against a perfect blue sky, their reflections bouncing off the turquoise waters of Lake Michigan. I was looking at a downtown traffic snarl at the same time as I watched volleyballers frolic on a sandy beach. Cities can be beautiful, I thought with awe.

(I went through a long spell of traveling without a camera)

(I went through a long spell of traveling without a camera)

Six years later, I decided to return to that spot on the Pier and it was as though time had stood still. Chicago was exactly as I remembered her to be and while a stay over wasn’t on the plate for this trip, I was reassured that my memories hadn’t been romanticized over the passage of time.

Chicago taught me that cities can be beautiful, a lesson that I clung to as I so desperately worked to fall in love with Vancouver.

by

Safety Complacency

I usually feel very safe in my RV, whether I’m parked in a campground, a Walmart, or a turnout. If I’m overnighting in an urban area, I choose a spot with a couple of exits and good light. If I’m in the boonies, I try to stay out of the sightline of passing vehicles. I’ve only had one scare that taught me to keep my cellphone handy and charged at all times, otherwise I’ve been very lucky so far as intruders go.

Nick and Terry Russell weren’t so lucky the other night. You can read about their terrifying encounter with an armed intruder at the Gypsy Journal blog.

by

My Naïveté Continues

Why do I believe people who tell me “Oh, winters around here aren’t so bad, we never go below minus five” especially if these people haven’t been home in the winter for several years?! ( 😀 )

This is the forecast for the next week:

BRR

BRR

I know the drill:

-fill up the fresh water tank

-put away the sewer and water hoses

-fill the auxiliary propane tank

-take out the sleeping bag and a tuque

The upshot of this forecast is that it’s supposed to be sunny. Hopefully, it will change for the better. At least, the numbers aren’t scary.

It’s apparently plus three right now, but I find that hard to believe seeing as it is nippy in here. I’ve been keeping the thermostat at 16 degrees since we’ve had a few nights below zero, but the furnace has yet to kick on. The radiant heaters are doing a very good job. I just wish that there was a way to heat the toilet room that did not involve leaving its door wide open. There is nothing like smacking your face on a solid wood door to wake you up first thing in the morning… not even a cold toilet seat. 😀

Meanwhile, Dawson’s highs for the next week are in the high negative twenties. Sort of puts things into perspective. 🙂 Funny thing is that the Dawson I know is searingly hot, so have a hard time imagining being cold there!