With no RV parking and Labor Day weekend crowds, Chicago was a conundrum. As we drove toward the city, I googled things like “dog-friendly hotels,” “parking secrets of The Loop,” and “RVs on Lakeshore Drive”. Miraculously, we found a nice hotel downtown that we could pay for with AMEX points. Brandon dropped us all at the front door and parked the RV in a lot about fifteen minutes away. He caught an Uber ride back to the hotel, and we feasted on Chicago deep-dish.

It was hot. Lewis Grizzard used to say there are two seasons in Chicago: winter and the Fourth of July. One of our tour guides said he’d been wearing a sweatshirt all summer, and the forecast called for more cool weather the week after we left, so maybe Grizzard didn’t exaggerate. Our hotel was just far enough north to make walking to the parks and museums a real trek, so we took a few more Uber rides during our visit. They were as cheap as the “L” for a family our size and so much fun! We rode with a failed stock exchange trader, two comedians, and a Senegalese graduate student, who spoke to us in Shakespearean soliloquies the whole ride.

My brother-in-law, Dave, recommended an architectural boat tour as the best way to get an overview of Chicago. He was right. A native Chicagoan narrated our boat ride through the city on the Chicago River, teaching us about architecture and local history. It was fabulous! We’d seen an old, white tower on our walk to the Navy Pier and wondered what it could be because it was so incongruous to the surrounding buildings. Our guide said it was an old water tower, and the ornate exterior was really just a facade to dress up a functional necessity. Because it was narrow and made of stone, however, it is the only downtown structure to survive the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The fire was about four miles long and one mile wide, but the stockyards and railway yards were saved. So, a new city was built on the old one, this time using steel and stone instead of wood for construction, earning Chicago the nickname “Second City.”

Since all the old stuff burned down, I thought I’d be disappointed in Chicago’s architecture. I like a crumbly, ornate building. Instead, I finally learned how to appreciate Mies van der Rohe and his “less is more” buildings. Our guide led us from Beaux Arts and Art Deco into Mid-Century Modern and Postmodern architecture in such an engaging manner that I found myself suddenly enjoying buildings I’d previously snubbed.

Postmodern, Art Deco, and Beaux Art buildings all in a row

Mid-century architect Bertrand Goldberg thought these buildings evoked trees. Chicagoans saw corn cobs.

This Postmodern building uses contextualization; it responds to the shape of the river.

Chicago grew so big because of the railway system. The area has more miles of track than in all the other 48 states put together.  It also once had the largest postal service because of all the catalogue companies located here.

While Brandon and the other kids attempted to swim in the hotel’s rooftop pool (they were thwarted by a grumpy rugby team who’d lost a tournament and sulked in every corner of the pool), Jane and I visited the Art Institute of Chicago. Technically, she’s been there before. I tagged along to Chicago on one of Brandon’s work trips when I was pregnant with her, but she does not recall it. We were so excited about this museum, but it stressed us out as soon as we walked in the doors. It was packed with humans of all shapes and sizes and odors, and they chattered noisily as they wove in and out of each others’ swirly paths. Also, though the museum claims the art is arranged by time period, depending on which hall you’re swept into by the crowd, the time periods jump randomly from age to age. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason the arrangement. We persevered and eventually found most of what we came to see, as well as finding new favorites. And there were no eye-rolling teenagers whining about when we could leave. We strolled back through Millennium Park, listened to a little of the Jazz Festival, and watched people doing the interesting things they tend to do in large city parks.

By the time we returned, the rest of the family was primed for high-altitude adventure. The tour guide from the boat had so convinced us of the magnificence of Willis (Sears) Tower that we had to see it for ourselves. Thus we fell prey to the Great Chicago Tourist Scam. Now the tower is a marvel, and the story of its construction is inspiring much like the Gateway Arch. But, think hard before committing so much of your life to seeing it. The elevator ride from the basement to the 103rd floor takes less than 60 seconds, but the lines to get to the elevator, the sky deck, and even the ride back down are interminable. They disguise this hard reality from potential visitors with smoke and mirrors. Relief at reaching the end of one queue is crushed by the sight of a whole new line behind the next door. At least at Disney, they warn you how long you’ll suffer. No one in our party could even complain; we’d all been swayed by our lust for heights and gleefully stepped into the building-wrapped line outside. Two-and-a-half hours later, we emerged from the bowels of the skyscraper, exhausted and shaking the dust off our sandals as we madly texted Uber.

Finally in the elevator

Just a little glass between our feet and eternity

Our last taste of Chicago was a visit to one of the outlying neighborhoods. We were looking for a quick lunch on our way out of town, and we stopped in Beverly Hills. While we waited for our food, Georgia and I took the dog for a walk through the long tree-lined streets of the neighborhood. It was Labor day, and many of the big trunks were ribboned in blue. A man watering his grass told us the homes are full of policemen and firefighters. There were lots of backyard parties in progress, and it occurred to us that Labor Day in Chicago is a much bigger deal than it is in Lubbock.

According to our tour guide, when Marquette surveyed the swampy site that would be Chicago in 1673, he declared its inhabitants would “rule the continent.” They seem to be giving it a good go.

Vikings, Tsavo lions, and Sue the Dinosaur at The Field Museum