Ferris Bueller said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
And since that entire movie was filmed in and around Chicago, it seemed like an appropriate quote to throw into a blog about a long weekend trip to Chicago.
Two years ago, my girlfriend-now-wife, Madison, asked me to come cheer her on in the Chicago Marathon in October of 2023. So I spent 36 hours that trip hanging out with her family, taking the el train at the butt crack of dawn, and chasing Madison around a marathon route. That was my first ever visit to Chicago, and while I thought I had seen it well enough then, Madison disagreed. She said she owed me a “fun trip” to Chicago.
Fire escape. Canon Rebel T7i.
The Orange Line. Canon Rebel T7i.
Waiting on a call. Canon Rebel T7i.
We got into Midway International Airport Thursday night pretty late for an early-30s couple with bed times like old geezers — 11:30pm. Our hotel room was at the Hyatt Regency, right on the Chicago River, overlooking the NBC tower and the Wrigley building from the 26th floor. Being boring adults now, we finally learned to use credit card points to buy useful things like hotel stays, and then got upgraded to the waterfront view, which we weren’t mad about.
I didn’t anticipate our visit to be quite so high-brow as it ended up, meaning we spent a lot of time doing “smart people” things like visiting art galleries and taking architectural boat tours. The Art Institute of Chicago was our first stop after a quick but lovely breakfast on Wabash Avenue, under the elevated Orange Line train tracks. I never really expected to enjoy art museums, but marrying an interior designer who basically went to art school exposes you to lots of new things. Turns out, I do indeed enjoy a good art museum.
Woman at the Piano. Pierre-Auguste Renoir 1875-76
Nighthawks. Edward Hopper 1942
A woman sketching a figurine. Canon Rebel T7i.
One of my favorite paintings is Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks, which always felt like a scene from a noir film to me. That painting is part of the Art Institute’s permanent collection, and was featured in the art museum scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. That’s when I realized we were in the same institution featured in the film, and I geeked out because I love that movie.
We meandered through the huge Impressionism section, reviewing the works of Monet and Renoir, before proceeding to the Modern Art section, where I must admit I was too daft to appreciate most of. However, I did discover that I enjoy René Magritte’s Surrealist works, particularly Time Transfixed, which features a train chugging out of a chimney (I didn’t take a picture, so you’ll have to Google that one).
And of course, there was the fan favorite, American Gothic, featuring the farmer and his daughter, pitchfork in hand.
American Gothic. Grant Wood 1930
We did other things during our PTO-induced long weekend, like visit the Bean, walk down Navy Pier, sample Chicago deep dish, make our way to a packed rooftop bar on top of the London House hotel, eat dinner with some of her cousins that live in Lincoln Park, wander down the Riverwalk, etc. But the other highlight of the trip would have to be the Architectural Boat Tour.
Both times I’ve been to Chicago, I was obsessed with the architecture. I’m in construction, so I suppose it’s natural for me to be interested in the built environment, and that part of my brain goes crazy when I visit a big city. But Chicago seems to have done a great job of preserving its history while allowing for innovation. There’s a little old, a little new. The boat tour allowed me to indulge that fascination.
The St. Regis Chicago. Canon Rebel T7i.
Mather Tower. Canon Rebel T7i.
The Merchandise Mart. Canon Rebel T7i.
The boat was like a tiny ferry boat, with an open deck on top with folding chairs set up in rows, and an air-conditioned parlor below. Because so much of Chicago is built right on the Chicago River, boats are an ideal way to see some of the best architecture the city has to offer. It was hot that day and the sun beat down on us relentlessly during the boat ride, but amazingly my lily white skin didn’t get burned during the 90-minute tour. If you’re every in Chicago and have a free minute, I highly recommend an architectural boat tour. Even if you’re not a building nerd, you’ll probably enjoy the stories. Our tour guide even pointed out the building that Ferris Bueller’s dad worked at in the film, making our trip a bit more John Hughes-flavored.
We didn’t necessarily set out on an art-appreciation trip, but it got the creative juices going and my camera shutter was working harder than it has in quite some time. And the flight from Nashville to Chicago is such a short, cheap one that I’m sure we’ll be doing it again sometime, which is good because I wanted to go back almost as soon as we got home, much to Madison’s chagrin (she hadn’t even fully unpacked yet).
“You’re still here?! It’s over! Go home. Go!”