I took a rather late flight, arriving in Chicago around 23:00. Kate and I ended up at her apartment, to be joined shortly by a cavalcade of miscreants, drunkenly sauntered in from the beach: Steve, Maggie, Jaimie, Alex, Matty. Kate's boyfriend Anthony was also there, but was only just getting around to drinking and had not been to the beach.
Anyhoo, a non-party party was underway.
Kate had to work the next day and asked what I planned to do with myself. I said I'd hit up a museum, probably the Science and Industry. Jaimie's eyes lit up and, after I mumbled something about World War II-era walkie-talkies, she decided she'd call off work and be my museum buddy.
The plan was simple: call each other whenever the next morning, coordinate a time to meet in front of the Sear's Tower. From there we'd hop on the free shuttle and take it all the way to the museum.
Nothing was to prove so easy.
Jaimie, though she'd lived in Chicago years and years and years, was uncertain she could get to the Sear's Tower, however big and obvious and easy a meeting place it might be. So I left with Jaimie, Alex, and Matty to their apartment to stay the night, so we'd find each other easy enough the following day.
The next morning we hopped the Blue line and got off in the loop. I pointed out the Sear's Tower as we walked to where I remembered the shuttle stop being a few years before, only the shuttle stop was mysteriously absent. We cut over to Adams and eventually located the stop. Unfortunately, Science and Industry was absent from the list of its destinations, so we opted for Adler instead.
The shuttle slithered its way through the thick fog of traffic, stopping every few feet to let people on and off. The driver made an additional stop to use the restroom. After a brief eternity, it was announced that due to the Kenny Chesney concert in Grant Park, the shuttle wasn't going to go to Adler after all.
Lovely.
We got off at Roosevelt and walked, cursing Kenny Chesney, the shuttle, and life along the way.