Chicago & Minneapolis

Chicago, Illinois and Minneapolis, Minnesota...

After a wonderful 10 days of being spoilt by family it was time to hit the backpacking road again. Our next stop was the famous northern city of Chicago.

After short flight from Charlotte we arrived in the 'Windy city' mid-afternoon. Our first night's accommodation was in northern region of the city, Rogers Park, where we stayed in our first Airbnb accommodation. Our two hosts, Jim & Erin were very welcoming and gave us loads of valuable tips to help us plan our stay in Chicago.

As Chicago is notoriously known for it's freezing winters we were surprised by the mid 30 degree warm weather that greeted us.

Our first evening we took a stroll along the sandy shores of the famous Lake Michigan and watched the sunset over its seemingly boundless waters.

"A beach is a beach by any other shore"

Being so far north from the city center we got to see a glimpse of the high skyscrapers over the lake that awaited us the next day...

View of the city from Loyola beach

Since Chicago is also notoriously expensive we had to revert back to our tried and trusted 'dorm in a hostel system'.

For the next 3 days we booked ourselves into the HSPI hostel located in Wicker Park, a young, hipster and vibey area.

Back in the prohibition days Chicago was a hub for organized crime syndicates dealing in the illegal alcohol trade which spurred a great demand for European immigrants skilled in the brewing and distillation trades. Suddenly a wave of Slovaks and Germans found their way to the windy city and made a good bit of money along the way. Most of them settled in the Wicker Park area, and the characteristic architecture of the housing is still evident today.

Our first afternoon in Wicker Park we just strolled around the neighborhood to find our bearings and take in the unique aspects of the area...

The city has also renovated an old elevated rail line, the 606, into a jogging route, which was near to our hostel, so we headed out for an afternoon jog along the route which had great views of the surrounding neighborhoods...

Groen luiperd spotted on the 606...

Now after having traveled for five months and backpacked through South America we have come to think that we're the 'beezneez' when it comes to traveling, it was thus a much needed humbling moment when we met one of our dorm mates, Johan, from Switzerland, who is in the final stretch of a round the world cycling trip! Just comes to show there is always someone who has pushed the boundaries a bit further, or in Johan's case, a lot!

The next day we finally headed downtown to go see some of the city's famous sites. It was another stunning day with temperatures reaching well above 30 degrees (Celsius!) so we got there nice and early. We started off with the Millennium park, where you can find the famous cloud gate sculpture commonly known as the 'bean', which is made complete from stainless steel so you get to see some spectacular, albeit distorted reflections of the surrounding skyscrapers!

Kristi & the bean

Afterwards we headed to the beautiful Buckingham fountain which does a big water display every hour...

After admiring the show we headed down to the pier and strolled along the lake Michigan shoreline, but it soon became almost unbearably hot so we decided cut the wall short and head for a lunch spot. Kristi's cousin Katusha, who lived in Chicago for some time gave us a list of favorite restaurants to visit, one of them being the famous Chicago hot dog house, Portillos! It's a very popular joint but we just managed to miss the rush and soon enjoyed some delicious hot dogs and waffle fries...It's the stuff dreams are made of!

The secret lies with the pickles!

Just to make sure we thoroughly tested the renowned Chicago cuisine, we headed out later that evening to another one of Katusha's picks, Pequod's, to have some classic Chicagoan deep dish pizza. It's such a filling meal that we only finished half of one serving but then had some deliciousness to look forward to for lunch the next day!

Vd Merwes: 0, Deep-dish pizza: 1

The next day we headed back downtown but with a different agenda. To hire some bikes and hit the lakefront trail...It was another stunner of a day, we first headed South along the shoreline to the famous Soldier field, home of the Chicago Bears, which is situated right up next to the lake...almost like Cape Town stadium back home.

Soldier field

We then turned around and headed up north to the popular beach spots, I couldn't resist the urge and jumped straight into the refreshing cool waters of Lake Michigan...Kristi forgot to bring her bathing suit and thought my suggestion of just going in bra and panties was just absurd...ons is mos nou in 'n eerste wêreld land!

Swimming in Lake Michigan!

The city is really well setup for cyclists and we got to explore pretty much all of the lakefront areas as well as the Lincoln Park region...We'd highly recommend it if you ever find yourself in this beautiful city (in the summer!)...

On our last evening we went to a really nice Mexican place in the Wicker Park area (another one of Katusha's recommendations), Big Star, which was a great way to end off a really cool stay in Chicago.

I don't know if it was the lovely weather but we really loved Chicago, it's such a nice open city with great architecture and parks and a beautiful setting along the boundless Lake Michigan, and the food was really good. It's probably a good thing I don't live here cause I could foresee a long and fulfilling friendship with that deep dish pizza!

The next day we headed to our good old amigo, the Greyhound station. To board a bus heading north west to a place I'm sure not many travelers pass through, Minneapolis, Minnesota. The reason for our excursion was to visit two good friends of ours Tony and Gerbrandt Kriel!

We meet again...

The two of them have relocated temporarily for Gerbrandt's work, and it was really great that we could meet up with them while on our trip!

Minnesota is the state of 10 000 lakes, and Toni & Gerbrandt stay right on top of one of them, Lake Calhoun... It's a really cool setting, you don't feel like you're in the city at all!

We've actually come to really enjoy places off the tourist trail, because you get a much better feel for the local way of life, and when will we ever have had the opportunity to see a place like Minnesota! Lumber country, and home of Paul Bunyan, the giant lumberjack!

The city and its twin counterpart, St Paul, straddle the northern leg of the great Mississippi River. Having seen where it mouths into the Gulf of Mexico at New Orleans, it was pretty cool to see it way up near its source! On our first day Toni took us for a brief tour of the river, the signs of the once mighty logging and milling industries still evident along its shores...

Mississippi River, Minneapolis

We also got to see the newly built Viking stadium (where the Minnesota Vikings are based), built in the form of a viking ship! Pity we just missed the opening game by a week!

Viking stadium

Afterwards we headed back to Lake Calhoun, where we treated ourselves to a delicious seafood lunch.

Minneapolis has put in place a series of bike paths that link most of the city's lakes and parks. So the next day Kristi and I borrowed Toni and Gerbrand's bikes and went along a series of trails (thankfully mapped out by Toni!) to the Minnehaha waterfall, about a 15 mile round trip...

Minnehaha falls...no laughing matter

It was really cool, most of Minnesota was settled by Scandinavians, hence the Vikings football team, and the architectural designs of the houses still resemble that heritage...

The Erikson and Anderson households...

Add to that the numerous lakes and beautifully green parks and you can imagine what a fun outing it was!

Later that evening the Kriels took us back to the Mississippi riverside for some sun-downers, and a great view of the city skyline and then to top it off Toni spoiled us with an amazing steak dinner later that evening.

Gerbrandt works for an agricultural firm so he has spent loads of time in the surrounding farmlands. So the next morning we took a scenic drive to neighboring Wisconsin to go have a lovely brunch at a riverside town called Hudson. 

Who doesn't love a good brunch

The countryside is really something, with rolling green hills, fields of corn (mielies), swathes of forest and beautiful lakes, oh yes and the classic American farms with the red barns! It was a really cool outing...

That evening Toni cooked up another great meal, pulled pork wraps, and we just spent the evening relaxing at their place - we've really come to miss these kind of evenings of just hanging out with friends. We even managed to put together a big 1000 piece puzzle of the USA - which really put into perspective the grandeur of our North American trip!

I know I used to be good at this...

All in all it was really great to see the two of them again, and we are so grateful that they invited us into their home and made such an effort to show us around.

We really enjoyed Minneapolis, its laid back atmosphere, its beautiful scenery and off course its many lakes!

Lake Calhoun

The next morning they did us another big favor by dropping us off at the airport, where we had to get on a flight west to the golden state of California for the next leg of our American adventure...

Thank you Gerbrand and Toni for your amazing hospitality, we really enjoyed our stay and hope to see you back in SA shortly! Good luck for the coming winter I hear Minnesota gets it pretty bad!

Not too shabby "Kristi'pher Columbus"