With in a mile

It seems to me that my daughter could live her entire life within a mile radius of the apartment. The apartment takes care of the basics – shelter, place to sleep/laundry/shower/study/entertain/lcook/eave the dog during the day.

Columbia College falls within that mile as does the Public Library. Added to that she can get to a Dominick’s (Safeway), Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and Jewel Osco (same corporate parent as Giant) within easy walk. Multiple Starbucks abound along with any fast food you could want. Then there is Target, multiple movie theaters, parks, museums and sports stadiums. The L is only two blocks away at Roosevelt where she can connect with the Red, Blue and Orange lines.

If you want fancy shops, just head over to State Street (one block west) and walk north. Michigan Avenue is a block east. Same thing – head a few blocks north and you are in the center of everything.

All of this was running through my mind as I was headed back to the city. It seems that accidents and slow downs are all too common. Gertrude, my friendly (?) GPS, directed me off the Kennedy when it looked like more than an hour delay. Heading across multiple streets wasn’t all that bad and following the directions got me back on the I-90 just as the traffic was starting to move.

I have no clue as to why it directed me off at Ohio. In any case I will never do that again. There is a problem with being dropped off in the middle of skyscrapers – you can lose satellite feed. If you don’t know where you are, you don’t know where to go next. Given that all Chicago drivers are insane, stopping was totally and completely out of the question. Without a clue I kept on driving.

Oh – State Street! I know State Street and it only took me three blocks to figure out that I was driving in the wrong direction. After that it was a matter of getting turned around and heading back south. Just about two blocks from 13th and Wabash Gertrude kicks back in and tries to give me directions.

Do you think I listened to her?

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6 Responses to With in a mile

  1. Pat says:

    LOL! At least Chicago is laid out in a sane civic planning format, and
    a clear grid, so if you can figure out North, South, East, and West,
    you are pretty good. You don’t really need street names if you know
    the N/S-E/W coordinates.

  2. Mitch says:

    Chuckle, chuckle.

    I learned how to drive on the Ryan and Kennedy Expressways. I went to college a mile west of the apartment UI Chicago at Roosvelt and Halstead.

  3. Isobel says:

    If your GPS is anything like ours–forget about it! It took us over and over and over the Charles River. Not a pretty sight. Elly uses it and I yell at it.

  4. Denise says:

    This is some adventure, getting your daughter set up and settled in! Sounds like a great neighborhood, though. Anything that’s got grocery stores *and* a public library in a major city within do-able walking distance is good.

  5. Chere says:

    SOoooo true-

  6. Mitch says:

    Yes. I visited every spring from 2000-10 for annual meetings of the Higher Learning Commission (aka North Central Association) which met in the Hyatt on Wacker Driver just east of Michigan Avenue. It is hardly comparable to the city where I grew up in the 50’s and 60’s or the city in decline in the 70’s and 80’s. Living there now would not bad…assuming one had an eight-figure income.

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