I am a big fan of the Dresden Files book series by Jim Butcher. In fact, I am what you might call a super fan (I may follow nerd forums and have fan theories). The book series is set in Chicago and the city itself plays a big role in the stories (e.g. zombie dinosaurs raised at the Field Museum and marched through Millenium Park).
I have absolutely LOVED being in Chicago these last few weeks 🙂
Because our time is rapidly coming to an end, I decided that I wanted to do something very Dresden-inspired before we left and eat at an Irish Pub in homage to McAnally’s .
Clara has read a few Dresden books, so I deemed her worthy to accompany me on this quest. Plus, she’s fun to travel with 🙂
We started out bright and early by catching a morning train into the city. The Rock Island Line goes right past our house and drops you off about 5 blocks away from the office building that Amazon is in. It’s also the same train featured in the movie Source Code, which is still trippy to me. Clara loved the reversible seats.
Amazon offices are very loosey goosey these days — instead of assigned seating, you can just pick a desk wherever you want. So we found desks in a far corner next to some very nice Recruiting people and with a great view of the surrounding area.
(pictures of AWS sign + desks)
I worked while Clara did crafts and school and listened to audio books (book 7 in the Dresden files. I’m so proud :’) ). Every once in a while during my meetings, she passed me notes.
(pictures of rest of the office, HISSSS notes)
At lunch, we went to Shake Shack (because it’s delicious).
(pictures of shake shack)
After work, we left the office with the vague idea of finding the Pedway (the underground walkways in Chicago). They feature prominently in the Dresden universe, so I thought we’d check them out. This is a Dresden Day™ after all!
(Pictures of architecture and walking around before bikes)
Buuuuuut, we abandoned that plan in favor of riding bikes. Chicago has a great bike share program that is very reasonably priced.
(pictures of bike riding)
We rode west and crossed the river, then curved north around to River North as the sun began to set. Chicago’s multi-level streets are NUTS. At one point, the map told us that we were in the right spot, but we realized that we just were down on the wrong level, so we had to ride around until we found a path. Craziness. But so much fun.
(pictures of us with the city behind us and the river)
I had originally decided to go to the Billy Goat Pub, but we decided to stop at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business Bookstore to buy stickers and read books for a moment.
(bookstore)
But as we were getting ready to head over to the pub, I pulled up directions and found out it’s only open from 7:30 AM to 11:00 AM! What kind of pub does that?!
So, we changed course and instead rode our bikes over to Brehon Pub in the River North area. As we arrived and dropped our bikes off, Clara told me that she was super thirsty. So we dropped into a CVS and THEY HAD LIQUID DEATH ON SALE! (AKA water in a can)
Of course we bought it and we giggled madly about how it looked like I was buying alcohol for a minor.
(liquid death pictures)
When we arrived at Brehon Pub clutching our tall boys, we got a couple of very dirty looks from people. We giggled some more.
(pictures of interior of pub)
Finally, we had arrived at our original destination and we ordered our food. I, of course, got a steak sandwich and Clara got the mac and cheese. Clara spent the time while we were waiting for our food making drink hats and generally teasing her poor, long-suffering father.
The food was incredible. 10/10 would recommend.
(pictures of drink hats + food)
At last, feeling very full, we stumbled over to the L train (El train? The Elevated train thing that’s super famous in Chicago) and rode it back to the Rock Island Line, then took the Rock island line back to our neighborhood, then finally walked the remaining mile to the house.
(pictures of travel, drawing, river at night, walking home in the dark)
It was a glorious day.
