Day 334 (Goodbye Chicago)

I think of all the places we've been to so far, I will miss Chicago the most. There's just so much stuff to do there, and the public transportation rocks! I will not miss, however, the heat, humidity, or the people of that city, who for whatever reason just do not know how to drive. Driving through Chicago was much, much, much more nerve-wracking than driving through L.A. or San Francisco. It was such a relief to to be driving away from the city this evening.

Since we could not leave without having an authentic Chicago deep-dish pizza, and Gino's did not open until 3:00, we decided to stay in town for dinner. For lunch, we went to an Ethiopian restaurant just down the street. I thought the decor was a little to European, kind of a mismatch in my mind, but the food tasted just like I remember the more appropriately decorated restaurant in L.A. served.

Ethiopian food, if you've never had it, is definitely one of those must have experiences, especially if you're a "foodie." It's usually served on this big flat spongy bread called injera, which has a tart flavor. And, you eat it with your hands, no silverware involved. If there are multiple people sharing a meal, they will often be sharing a plate, like my mom and I did with the above dish of lentils, cabbage and beef, so you need to be with people who you feel comfortable with eating this way.

After a few hours, we left Jeannine's apartment for good, and went in search of the prized Chicago deep-dish pizza. Gino's North, the closest Gino's to Jeannine's apartment, looked very different from Gino's East. Gino's East was a huge bustling restaurant covered in customer graffiti. Gino's North was basically one long kind of upscale looking bar with a single row of booths opposite it. I'm assuming the two establishments are related, but who knows.

I'm not sure if I accidentally ordered the wrong thing, because I thought we were going to get a thick crust. This crust was thin, but it was still a deep dish pizza, and very good.

We ended up leaving Cicago around 7:00 and soon found ourselves in Indiana. Truth be told, I was not expecting to see anything interesting in Indiana, let alone at a rest stop, but we pulled off around 8:30 and I noticed some little flashes of green light. I realized they were fireflies, the first I have ever seen in my entire life! My mom and I walked to the back of the rest stop where there was a field of tall grasses and just watched the twinkling of the fireflies. There weren't really that many of them, but it was one of the most magical things I have ever seen in my entire life. The air was perfectly still and the night was growing heaving and my mom was standing beside me taking it all in. I wish I had a picture of it, but there was no way my camera was going to capture the faint firefly light. So instead, I humbly offer this picture taken from another person's blog which will hopefully convey a small sense of the magic that I felt tonight watching these tiny creatures simply doing what God created them to do.

PICTURE OF THE DAY: