The first night there, we took the train down to Wrigleyville to meet up with Tim and Ashley's old roommate John. I don't know John well, but I did have a few classes with him. That said, I think he's a really cool guy, and I was glad that we had a fun person to lead us around.
That night, we had a dinner at a trendy diner, and then we headed to a cool bar down the street known for having games to play while you drink. After that, we went to John's show. John is a fan of improvisation, and he's currently a performer at an Improv theater down the street from Wrigley Field. We saw his show, and then we went to a bar down the street to meet some other people from the show.
We drank for a bit at a bar that, at least for that night, only played country music. I tried to imagine if this was how people viewed all Texas bars, but never really worried too much about it. It was a fun time in a new city, and I enjoyed it.
But then the rains came. I had worried about the rain, but it was mostly in the context of the Cubs game on Saturday. The idea of it raining any time in the other 50+ hours never really concerned me. As we walked out onto the street, I realized that I'd made a bit of a mistake in that.
Woody had left a little earlier to catch a train back to the hotel. He was back home, dry in his bed. We were looking at a down-poor in Wrigleyville.
Because going out in Chicago is different than going out in Dallas. People don't drive down, struggle to find a parking place (or valet) and then hop back in their car and drive off. People in Chicago might not even own a car, so they travel by public transportation. Trains are everywhere (and pretty cheap, especially compared to gas prices), and the city seems to have more cabs than any other vehicle.
But here's the problem. You still have to walk to a train station. Only one train line runs after 1am. And all the cabs were overwhelmed.
So it was a surreal visual to see all these young people standing outside, huddled against the storefronts, waiting for their turn to get a cab. People stood as close to the wall as possible to avoid getting wet, and to avoid getting splashed by the rising flood as cars went by. Some of the guys removed their shirts, which had been soaked. Most of the girls cowered or tried to move quickly in their cute outfits and high heels.
Some people gave up almost immediately, retreating to local restaurants that were still serving. As we tried to come up with a plan, we fell back to a pizza place that was filling with people that just wanted to stay dry. We tried to hide in John's theater, but we were quickly kicked out.
Here I was, in a strange city...in the pouring rain...and we had no idea how we'd get back to the hotel. But what was so incredible was the way that the city was so alive. Closing time in Dallas is usually pretty standard - small groups break off to find their cars. Here, however, the people had nowhere to go. They just stood along the street, talking and laughing and waiting. The city was alive with people who felt like they were stranded. Some speculated as I walked by that it would take an hour to get a cab.
But we didn't really feel like waiting...particularly with a noon Cubs game creeping up on us. We started to walk down to the train station, taking refuge in a 7-11 briefly while we game-planned. The train could take John pretty close to his apartment, but it would take us five blocks from our hotel. None of us felt good about the idea of walking five blocks at 2am in Chicago, but it started to look like our last hope.
But as we were underneath the train, a cab rolled by without any fares. We quickly grabbed him, and the four of us piled into the taxi. A $30 cab ride took us to the hotel, and we were saved.
But the city was still surreal. People were running around, some people were riding bikes, and the city was still alive with excitement.
And the roads? Flooded. I've never really seen anything like it because the water had nowhere to go. Streets filled with a foot or two of water, and some streets were even shut down. I don't know if it was a problem with runoff or too much rain, but it didn't seem like it was an insanely intense storm. Woody later claimed that they received six inches of rain, but it sure didn't seem like it.
It was very cool to be in an area like that. I don't know if it's something I would love to do on a regular basis, but I certainly enjoyed it one time. It was just a strange visual and a unique experience...particularly for my first night.
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