Random Stuff I Think About!

I've realised that at some point I probably will leave this city.  Truth is, as much as I love Chicago, I am tired of it, and have also fallen in love with new places in the world (even if I have compared those new places to Rockford at times.)  So I've kind of got a "bucket list" of things I need to do before I flee this town.  Most of it is exploring related.  I am an explorer.  I explore.  It's what I was meant to do, and unfortunately most of the earth seems to have been explored already.  And I have a fear of deep sea creatures, so while we know less about earth's oceans than we do the moon, I'm totally not going there.  Ever.  Sorry.  All I can do is see things in the world that are new to me.  So as long as I'm stuck here, I'd like to do that.

I really want to go to Gary and East Chicago especially.  These cities were once industrial giants and are now fully incorporated into the rust belt.  Apparently there's a lot just sitting empty in that area, and also still big industries, like the Whiting Oil Refinery and a few power plants, nearby.

There are also a lot of abandoned hospitals in the Chicago area.  Probably more than I can even count on both hands.  I have a thing about abandoned buildings.  They're quiet.  People were there once, and then they vanished for whatever reason.  And when they're hospitals, it's scary sometimes to think what went on in them.  One hospital (Prentice) might be meeting up with the wrecking ball soon.  It would be an architectural gem if only people could see the nice looking parts of it, the cloverleaf design it's supposed to be known for, was visible from the street.  But it's really not.  The only time I've really seen the top floors of Prentice, and not just the boxy structure on the bottom, was when I was stuck in traffic on Lake Shore Drive.  It's probably first on my list to get a picture of, because it'll probably be the first to go.  And I've already got a billion pictures of Edgewater already.  I regret focusing so heavily on Edgewater when Michael Reese Hospital was on the chopping block a few years ago, and don't want to lose another chance at photographing a creepy old building to "progress".

I'd love to see the Prairie Avenue Historic District, and contrast it to the megamansions that popped up in Lincoln Park about a decade ago and caused controversy.

And I'd love to visit the historic cemeteries in the city again.  I've been to Graceland a few times, and Bohemian pretty often (Bohemian was right next door to my school.)  Some of these places do historic tours on the weekends when the weather gets warm.  I should look into that.

The town of Weston, Illinois.  It technically does not exist anymore.  Fermilab occupies its space.  I'm not sure if I can go visit, but I would like to find out more about it.

All of Lake Calumet is apparently a Superfund site now.  I'd like to go see that, how it got that way, and see what they're doing about it.  Well it's not completely a Superfund site.  But it's listed on the EPA's website as such.

I understand that a few of the things I wish to do are dangerous, and this may turn into an actual bucket list, and not just a leaving town one, but I'd still like to try.  I'm trying to think if there are any other ridiculously touristy things in the city that I'd like to do before I leave, but everything I think of I've already done, or hopefully I can do with someone visiting.  Things like museums, Navy Pier, skating in the parks, and the like I should probably wait until I have an out of town visitor.  Well, skating in the parks may not last that long, because it depends on weather, and even though winter seems to last forever here, it will probably go away eventually. 

But I'll go away eventually too, so I'd better see whatever I can while I'm still here.