City Life

As a country boy, I’m used to everything being miles away from everything else.  If you want to go somewhere besides the middle of nowhere, you have to take a car, and even getting as far as the middle of nowhere will require a short hike.  It’s so strange to be here in Chicago, because everything is connected.  If it’s in Chicago and you’re in Chicago, you can get to it with relative ease.  At first, the transition scared me a bit, but now I realize how many spontaneous adventures city life has to offer.  Here are a few of my favorite Chicago adventures so far:

1. Molly’s Bakery.  We’ll start with the least spontaneous (and most delicious) story.  During Men’s Choir rehearsal, I found out that a group of guys were going to some place called Molly’s Bakery for cupcakes.  I didn’t have much homework that evening, so I decided to go along.  Here’s the long version of what transpired: They called it the cookie monster.  It sat in the glass case, all gold and chocolate, a miniature cookie perched perfectly on top.  Sure, there were other cupcakes in the case, but none that shined with a heavenly glow – and none that had a chunk of fresh cookie dough tucked inside.  Yes, I said cookie dough, and yes, that is as delicious as it sounds.  The short version: best cupcake ever.

2. The Elusive Coffee Shop.  My friend Rachel and I decided to go study off campus for a while, and my roommate, Dan, recommended a good Caribou Coffee not far away.  He gave us directions, and we headed off into the cold afternoon.  Unfortunately, the coffee shop wasn’t as easy to find as it sounded, and Rachel and I wound up wandering the streets for a while before we finally gave up and stepped inside the nearest Starbucks.  It was a nice walk, and we had a good time at the Starbucks, but we got wrapped up in our conversation and forgot to actually buy something to drink.  Sorry about that, Starbucks guys.  Next time I can’t find a Caribou I’ll be sure to stop in and make up for it.

3.  Wicked Tickets.  Yesterday, about three hours before the final night showing of Wicked on Broadway Chicago, Dan informed me that they were giving away front row seats for only $25 in a random drawing in forty minutes.  We put on our coats, grabbed a couple of friends, and dashed out to the brown line station.  From there, we ran as fast as we could to the theater and put our names in the drawing.  We didn’t win, but it was completely spontaneous, and we had a great time.

4. Missing Curfew.  For the story of this adventure, see this post: “Blue Line”.  The part that I didn’t mention in the post is that I forgot what time it was when I left with my buddy Andrew, and as a result I showed up forty minutes late for curfew.  Fortunately, I still had all of my late minutes left.  It was totally worth it.

5. Burritos.  This one is my personal favorite.  On Halloween, Chipotle offered a deal: if you dress up like a processed food, you get a discount on burritos.  Ben, Adam, and I started out with big plans: we were going to hit three or four different Chipotles and scoop up as many burritos as we could get.  Unfortunately, the first three restaurants we reached were already closed.  We spent a while standing on the sidewalk in our outfits – Ben with a milk carton on his head, Adam wearing an empty bag of Doritos, and me trying to keep my Frankenfood hat from falling off of my head – texting ChaCha to find out which Chipotles were still open.  We finally found one, and by the time we’d bought and consumed that first burrito, we decided to call it a night.  A wacky, random, and spontaneous night, to be specific, and those are the best nights ever.

What are some of the best spontaneous adventures you’ve ever had?