Coffeenuering #2 - Chicago Divvy Ride-Around

The first stop on my epic cross country road trip last week was Chicago, a mere 10ish hours covering DC, VA, MD, PA, OH and of course IL (we were awfully close to MI for a bit but didn't bite).  The late night arrival left time for only a stop off at Pequods Pizza followed up with check-in at the downtown Reneissance (points).  Pequod's was fantastic, amazing atmosphere, friendly people and the deep dish was exactly as we'd been envisioning over the 10 hour journey!  Once back downtown we met up with my best friend Ryan who happened to be in town for an Amtrack meet-up and wandered around enjoying the ridiculous architecture, bridges and a couple cold beverages.

But on to the Coffeeneuring!  The following morning my friend Kamal and I (the two of us were transporting his Honda Civic cross country) took to the Chicago Bike share - Divvy, to see as much of the city as possible given our short window.  We started downtown by the hotel and worked our way to the Millenium Park and from there followed the water down to the Adler Planetarium and then back up through the city to the hotel...  As you can see above, the total mileage was about 7.5.  Not bad with LOTS of stopping.  In fact we took it upon ourselves to ensure that we never exceeded the 30min grace period on the Divvy bikes and ended up hitting 6 docks by my count.  Funny that I've never actually used the DC Bikeshare bikes myself, so the experience was alot of fun in Chicago.

I'll let the pictures do most of the talking, gorgeous day, good company and a fun ride around.  The coffee was almost an afterthought.  I had wanted to stop at Intelligentsia which was close to our return route but we were getting short on time and wanted to squeeze in time for a Polish Sausage on the way out of town.  The coffee back at the hotel ended up doing the trick for me anyway, as it had a great view of the river.  I'd love to come back and explore the city much more properly next time!

1. Chicago, IL
2. 10/20
3. Reneissance Marriot, Chicago Downtown - Black Coffee, drip... not bad but not noteworthy
4. Most landmarks in a new-to-me city seen during Coffeeneuring
5. 7.5 miles

What can I say... this thing was AMAZING.

I've got some more shots to stitch a pano with that needs some attention. I'll get to it sooner or later!

Out on the breakwater at the Adler Planetarium... lots of cool buildings in Chicago!

I LOVED these twin towers, very close to our hotel, the floors from the ground up to about 1/3 of the way up are parking garage, and its condo's on up from there. Not pictured is the small marina on the river. So if you lived in Chicago, and had the dough... your boat, your car, and your condo are all extremely convenient to you!

After a fashion, we did find the polish sausage... and it was good.