Holiday Travels

So before they become too far gone I need to recount my travels over the last few weeks before embarking again on a trip to Chicago this weekend with the family.

Two weeks ago I was just trying to make it through two paper deadlines and in to the weekend for my brother's birthday celebration in Chi-Town. I finished the papers and left that Friday morning for the Windy City, eager for a change of scenery and a hearkening back to the party days of undergrad. The trip delivered on both accounts.

Friday night was spent at a local bar in Lincoln Park where $15 got us an unlimited tab for 3 hours. I'm not much of a fan of the well drinks and domestic beers, but as it wasn't my party I wasn't going to complain. I had a few drinks, ate free pizza, and was glad to be around a livelier crowd than my graduate program cohort has been as of late. The fact that the lot of them were recent or soon to be MSU alums won't be held against them - they're still good people most of the time.

Feeling bad for not being able to offer me more than the floor the last time I stayed with him, my brother reserved the aero bed in his apartment for me, thus guaranteeing me a relatively comfortable sleep by the time we finally came back to his apartment. Seeing as we ended up with about 10 people crammed in there for the night, I made sure to claim that aero bed the minute I walked in the door.

When Saturday morning came I couldn't get out of that apartment and away from some of my brother's more annoying friends. As divine providence would have it, one of my brother's friends remembered mention of a diner down the street, so four of us set out in search of breakfast.

I have talked about this diner now for two weeks. We walked in just as a booth was clearing, and things just went up from there. The busboy and waitress cleared the table right off and got us drinks within like two minutes. The coffee was fantastic and if you took your eyes off the mug for even an instant it would be refilled by the time you looked back. The waitress took our order and brought our food out just as quickly, and it was outstanding. The fact that it was all cheaper than a comparable meal at Denny's only sweetened the deal, though I would have paid double for such a perfect dining experience.

From now on whenever I visit my brother, breakfast, lunch, or dinner we are going there.

After breakfast I packed up and headed for the suburbs in an attempt to whittle away at the debt I owe the Captain for all his assistance in moving. I got to Lizle just as he and some coworkers were starting to load the truck, and did as best I could to lend a hand in loading the moving truck. It was either that, or just carve out a kidney as repayment to the Captain.

The rest of Saturday was spent moving the Captain into his new apartment across town and helping him get things squared away. I left Sunday morning knowing I had another paper waiting for me back in Allendale.

Getting through Monday and Tuesday last week after taking my own mini-vacation was brutal. On the one hand I felt reenergized and uplifted by getting away for the weekend, but at the same time knowing that a meeting and two classes were all that stood in the way of Thanksgiving break made those days seem unreasonably long.

Thanksgiving Break was, however, fairly uneventful. Only being half and hour from home makes going home a lot less of a trip than driving 3 hours from Ann Arbor, certainly less taxing than coming back from North Carolina. I spent the break seeing family, doing a bit of shopping, eating a lot, and just like every Thanksgiving in recent memory unable to stop thinking about the due dates and deadlines that remain before the end of the semester and a real break.

And now just as I was two weeks ago, I am trying to finish a paper that is due next Monday before leaving for Chicago for the weekend. This will be different from my brother's birthday celebration, as this trip is the annual family Chicago experience with my mom's siblings and their families. Aside from the benefit of my parents paying for meals, this will be my first journey to Chicago via Amtrak. And really, this will be the first time I've been on a train in close to 15 years.