A Girl Who's Caught The Travel Bug

Traveling. There's something about getting on a plane and going somewhere you've never been before. There's something about packing a bag with sweaters and short sleeve shirts and boots and tennis shoes and not knowing what days those are going to be worn. But knowing that that's all you have to rely on for the next X amount of days. There's something about putting all of your make up in a bag and trying your best to fit it into the suitcase. There's something about knowing that you have to put all of your liquids into one bag and hope that it all fits.

There something about knowing that you're about to see sights you've never seen before. Or maybe you have seen them and you're getting an extra opportunity. For me it's like going to Washington DC for the second time. I knew what I was going to see and at the same time I didn't. I knew I was going to see the museums and monuments and I was going to try new foods and I was going to eat food I had before and fell in love with. Like Shake Shack, but that's another heavenly hamburger story.

This last week I had the opportunity to travel to Chicago. A huge city in the United States, but not really an end of all ends destination for people. Yeah there's a lot of industry, and a lot of businesses, but really if you have the opportunity go somewhere, are you gonna pick Chicago? I certainly wasn't, but I knew that it was going to be a trip of the lifetime. The only was I about to go to a big city (which I LOVE big cities), I was going to see Hamilton. That is a dream in of itself. But I know that traveling anywhere is an exciting opportunity, and I don't get to do it very often. Most traveling I get to do is go to Utah once a while. But my parents have given me the awesome chance to travel, often to different places, places that you don't normally see as a dream destination.

Chicago was a dream though. I knew the minute I stepped on that plane, I was already on my way to a fabulous place.

To say it's fabulous is an understatement. Chicago is full of sights, sounds, food, tall huge buildings that are twice the size anything I could've ever imagined, and have I mentioned food? Everywhere you go in Chicago is an exciting new adventure because there something you've never seen. When you talk to some people that are pretty much natives there, they even said there's no way that you could try every single restaurant in Chicago. That's how much food there was!! And when it came time to go to these restaurants, it was the end of it all. We ate at this restaurant that was 95 floors above the ground in Chicago. 95 FLOORS. I ate at this place called RPM and it was some of the most intense, beautiful, wonderful Italian I've ever had. And my mom makes the top Italian foods. But honestly, the food I ate there is unmatched and probably the best food I've ever eaten.

The sights. Oh the sights. When Dr. Seuss wrote "Oh the things you'll see in the places you go", he was talking about Chicago. The tallest building in the United States is in Chicago and it's called Willis Tower, or Sears Tower. It's 1,354 feet above ground & they give you the chance to step out onto a plexiglass platform and see the city from a different view. You can see the top of every building in Chicago from there. The buildings are all so unique. And in some cases, the city has restored Old buildings from the 1700s and 1800s and has made them into beautiful and useful buildings. Take the water tower for instance, they use more as a museum now, but it used to be a landmark and still is in Chicago. Or there's a building on the Riverwalk that you can see from 4 blocks away. It has a Clock and is a huge tower. Also a landmark. In the hotel I stayed at, it used to be a post office. They've maintained a lot Of the authenticity of the city. There are signs posted everywhere from the original date of whatever the building used to be, and most of them are from the 1800s. Imagine my little history nerd side coming out on that one.

The sounds. To say that Chicago but have the majority of the angry drivers of this country would probably be the most accurate thing I can say. Everywhere you go people are honking their horn's, trying to get in and nobody uses their turn signals. And I mean nobody. A lot of the drivers we had just zoomed through the city not having a care in the world. I try to imagine that going down to Rexburg, not very well. There's sounds of blues and jazz and comedy and people yelling for food. There's also a lot of homeless individuals, people who live on the streets and beg for money or food. Stacked with blankets and clothes they probably found or been given, it was something I could never ever forget.

Traveling is beautiful. It gives you experience is that you can never find anywhere else, especially not at home. It gives you the chance to look at the world a little differently, get out of the place that you know so well, and get lost in the city. It gives you a chance to see historical landmarks, and movie references. I sat in the Art Institute of Chicago, and saw the painting from Ferris Bueller's. I saw the streets where Batman was filmed and my sweet dad just geeked out the entire time. I was talking to a man who is the driver for a producer of Fox shows. Like where else are you going to find that I'm Rexburg, I'll tell you, you won't. I love love love traveling, for the food, the sights, this sounds, and again for the food. But most of all I do it for the experience, because I know it will benefit me more than anything else I could ever ask for. And while I dream of going back to Chicago one day, it won't happen for a while. But I know I got my fill and I finally understand what Frank Sinatra meant by "my kind of town, Chicago is".

Much Love,

Sara Jean