no sleep 'til manchester (Day 7)

Free State Project migration Day 7 - Tues., 5/24/05 Milwaukee is a large city; I felt intimidated dealing with the traffic. It was the first bad traffic I'd experienced since leaving the Bay Area, and I'd gone by some pretty large cities. I went on the free tour of the Miller Brewing Company, which was pretty fun, and provided lots of free beer at the end; more than I felt comfortable drinking in the middle of the day right before getting back in my car, actually. I had gone to Denny's for breakfast beforehand, officially because I didn't want to go on the brewery tour on an empty stomach, but secretly because I was thinking about how awesome their pancakes had been a few days before! The tour guide at Miller noted that the brewery is "just like Willie Wonka's Factory...only, it makes BEER!" I had scheduled minimal driving on this day, because I wanted to give myself plenty of time to sightsee in Chicago (well, a day, anyway). But the traffic was terrible; it took me twice as long to get there as I had expected. There were very aggressive drivers on the freeway. I parked in a garage downtown that ended up costing $23! I had planned on going on a Duck Tour; the one in Seattle was great. But I failed to find the tour company at its designated location; after asking a few people for help, all of whom were rude and unhelpful, I borrowed a phone book in Starbucks and called the company. It turned out they weren't operating "this year", but had failed to note that on their website. Bastards! By this point, it was after 3:00PM. I decided to take a double-decker bus tour instead, since I had seen one of their stops close by. It was very entertaining, and the weather was beautiful. The only bad parts were when we were hit by the wind off the lake; it was like a freaking hurricane. I had to close my eyes and put my fingers in my ears! After the bus tour, I went to the John Hancock Observatory for the obligatory Ferris Buehller moment. Then I ate dinner at the House of Blues, a restaurant opened by Dan Akroyd and the late John Belushi. The food was excellent and they were going to have live music later in the evening, but I was alone and didn't want to linger that long. I had planned on reading a magazine while eating, but it was so dark in there, I couldn't even read the menu! I spent the night in the suburb of Arlington Heights; I figured my car full of STUFF would be safer there than if I stayed closer to downtown.