ChiScooter Outing #1

Today's forcast called for thunderstorms at some point, and all that I had heard most recently pointed toward an evening cloudbreak. Armed with this dangerous bit of speculation, I headed out thinking I would be safe in the open air. Needless to say, 10 minutes into the trip found me waiting out a brief rain at the Cafe Neo in Lincoln Square, about a mile from home. Obscenely large breakfast crepe of turkey and egg whites and good no-frills espresso. Free wi-fi. Patron of questionable mental status who left when his sandwich was served with tomatoes, which he claimed he had not requested.

The rain cleared quickly and I was soon on my way. As I've mentioned before, the streets of Chicago are laid out in a fairly consistent grid pattern, north to south and west of downtown, with a handful of streets running at a diagonal to make getting cross- and down-town more speedy. One of those diagonal streets is Lincoln Avenue, which defines the Lincoln Square neighborhood on it's northwest end.

The Green City Market is at the southeast end of Lincoln Avenue, terminating at Lincoln Park (the park) on the lakeshore in Lincoln Park (the neighborhood). In true Lincoln Park fashion, the Green City Market runs itself independently from the official farmer's market program sponsored by the city. It was everything you could hope for in a farmer's market: fresh produce at good prices, great speciality items (including flowers, meats, and local honey), outdoor troubadors, and made-to-order food stands. I picked up some french red shallots and mushrooms for a chicken dish I am going to try tomorrow, as well as some white peaches for lunches next week.

The market is right across a park road from a pretty nifty destination I had missed entirely during my first visit to the Lincoln Park Zoo, the "Farm". It's a faux farm, intended to give city kids the chance to gawk at cows and talk about planting corn with a real life "farmer". I had originally wandered in looking for a bathroom, but ended up hanging out for awhile, um, gawking at the cows and, errr, listening to some kids talk to a real life "farmer". My favorite moment came as I was leaving, when a tiny voice echoed out over the entire farm, "But Daddy, I don't have to go to the bathroom!".


I was determined to give scootering in Chicago a good trial, so I set my sights on driving through downtown to try to penetrate the navigational challenge that is collectively called The Museum Campus, on the lakeshore on the south side of downtown. The Museum Campus consists of the buildings for the Field Museum, Adler Planetarium, Shedd Aquairium, Soldier Field, and a few other marinas and park lands. Like Navy Pier, it sits at a remove from the bustle of downtown, separated by both Grant Park and the very busy Lakeshore Drive. I've been trying for sometime to figure out the best way to access it, and while I had several U-turns and more than one episode of doubling-back, I think I have at least a marginally improved understanding. Columbus Avenue. I think it's all about Columbus Avenue.Scootering in Chicago is fantastic! It is so much more of an immersive experience than either taking public transit or driving yourself. I had 10-second conversations with drivers at stoplights, surfed the tomato-basil wake of a pizza delivery truck, and opened up full-throttle for a northbound stretch of Lakeshore Drive. All of this on top of parking convenience (all of those parallel spots not big enough for your SUV? Not a problem. Wasted space in the corners of parking lots next to the grocery store? Insta-parking!). Not to mention that, in total, I spent about four hours on the road today and burned less than a quater tank of gas. Not bad considering my tank capacity is about 1.5 gallons. Cheaper than the CTA!