Gilligan's Island The Chicago Series: "The Professor"

It's Monday and it is time for our Chicago trip series to begin! For the next few weeks, I will be writing about my recent visit to one of my favorite places. I wasn't sure how to share all the great fun we had in just one post, so I decided to break it up. It worked out nicely because mid-way through our getaway, my husband and I and the couple we were traveling with said something along the lines "Isn't this trip kind of like Gilligan's Island?" From there we started to match up characters from the show to those we crossed paths with. Before we knew it, we had the entire cast done! Names, if known, have been changed to protect the innocent, but the story and places are real, seen and experienced from my perspective.

So, grab a chair and

"Sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip...."

The Professor

from Google Search

The day of departure, I was traveling to Chicago with friends. The plan was to meet up with my husband, who was already there attending a conference. He would wrap up his meetings and then meet us at the hotel for lunch.

When we arrived, we hailed a taxi. As we made our way into town, I noticed our driver kept looking at his phone and was texting while darting through traffic. This of course was making me very nervous, so I started asking about the weather, buildings, etc. I realized the more questions I asked, the more he left the phone unattended. In our 20 minute commute we learned that he was from Somalia, he has lived in the US for 18 years, his two children made him very proud (his eyes and face softened as he spoke of them), and his parents still lived back in the homeland. He said he could tell that we were from the East Coast because we were so chatty and friendly.

We do look pretty friendly, don't we?

We thanked our new friend for getting us to the hotel and wished him good luck with his family. After checking in, we wasted no time! First and foremost was to find a place for lunch- we were starving! We settled on Harry Caray's. A great place to satisfy the appetite and baseball fix!

Our waiter was very nice and helpful when it came to the local beer selection. I ordered up an Eliot Ness and a Bison Burger, and we all decided to share a plate of Fried Ravioli. The food was out of this world good! A little gossip for the Yankees fans out there- a little bird told us that the night before, A-Rod and Cameron Diaz were cozy in the corner having dinner. I must confess, I am not a Yankees fan, but our friends are and that brought out an "Oh, reeaaaallllyyyy." which quickly left our minds as food and beverage arrived at the table!



Fried Ravioli



Bison Burger





Our waiter kept saying that he wanted to take our picture on the cow before we left-I was convinced that the staff in the back had a running bet who could get a customer on top of the cow. My girlfriend and I decided to sneak into the restroom and then we would all make a dart for it, but as we came out of the ladies room, there he was with a s-eating grin and a chair. The fellas were not helping by standing with cameras at the ready. Well, we were good sports and up we climbed onto the "Holy Cow!". Before we left, we said "Oh, no. You need to get in the picture with us." Payback is a bitch, isn't it? Although I guess the laugh was on us, because we were riding the bovine and I'm sure waiter was getting some greenbacks.

We set out to see other great sites: Millennium Park, The "Bean", Michigan Avenue and the Segway Tour place.

We talked about renting Segways as a fun way to tour the city. We found a place and booked a tour for the following day. It was around Happy Hour time by now and my husband mentioned a square that was blocked off and set up for an Oktoberfest. We were game, so we walked a few more city blocks. That night was 80's night and the band was in full swing. Tables were set up family style and folks were everywhere.

The guys grabbed the beer as my friend and I found a place at one of the tables. As we were discussing the different styles that were walking by, a new group of folks took the spot next to us. They too were enjoying a brew and some brats.

The gentleman standing next to us we deemed to be "The Professor". He totally looked the part, right down to the patched elbow jacket. Do guys still wear those? He was in town for the same conference my husband was attending. He was a little full of himself, touting how it costs too much money to operate his private company jet...yet was holding frequent flier cards fanned like a hand of "Go Fish". I would say that you should work harder on your inventions and less time trying to impress people you don't know with your claimed riches. Can you tell we were impressed? He kind of left a creepy vibe after that...sort of like "The Professor" of the tropical island. It was time to move on and leave him behind on the Oktoberfest "island".

We made our way to the House of Blues to grab a snack and listen to some good tunes. After walking all day and standing for most of the evening we were glad to make it in time to grab four stools and order some dinner. **As a side note, the B-52's are playing there on 10/7. So bummed I will miss that! I love them!!** 

It is here that we met the "Movie Star". Only for our story purposes, her name has been changed from Ginger to Omarosa or "Rude Girl". This my Twitter friends, is who I tweeted about after returning to the hotel.

Tune in next week as we hear Rude Girl throw around the difference of Blogger vs. Writer.