Back to da East Coast
I drove back home yesterday to visit the family and see friends (and to meet a certain friend's BF). It was an almost 12 hour drive, and I didn't hit any traffic to speak off but I got home and I was wiped out. I ate dinner and then went to bed. At 9pm. Eastern time. It was worth it, though, because while it's good to be home, it's much better to be home when I have my own transportation.

The night before I left, I went to meet Todd downtown to see one of the free concerts held in the Pritker Pavillion (the crazy Gehry-designed bandshell that looks out onto the expansive green lawn in Grant Park). The city holds various free concerts over the summers in its parks. I had joined Jenny and Pam for one last year and I was so impressed: everyone is allowed to bring in picnics and wines and it's free. It's even more impressive to sit in the Pritzker Pavillion because you're looking up at all of the impressive Chicago architecture looming over you. Plus, the night we went last year, the weather was perfect, and we got to watch the free fireworks over Navy Pier. I really wanted to come again this year.

So we did. We came to see the Decemberists play with the Grant Park Orchestra. I had never heard them, but it sounded good to me. Me and about fifteen billion other people because that place was packed. Rich ended up coming with and then we ran into my grad school mate, Jennifer, and her sister, so we all walked over together. We found some free lawn outside the actual pavillion and kind of beside/behind the bandshell, but none of us really cared about getting all up in there. so we sat. I had brought a thin little sheet on which to sit, which was an outrageously poor decision since I didn't take into account that it had *poured* that morning so the ground was akin to a water-saturated sponge. Needless to say, our bottoms were all soaked within about 0.3 seconds of sitting. Then it started to sprinkle...and then full-out rain. We opened up umbrellas and sat talking while nibbling on crudites. I was proud of us because we stuck it through and waited out the rain, ears soaking in some escaping music from the Decemberists (the bandshell does a nice job of keeping the sound enclosed, and since we were outside that enclosure...it was a little muted).

We ended up leaving toward the end of the set in order to beat the el crowds (successfully!). Good thing too because as soon as we got home the sky cracked open and the full-fledged pouring commenced. Glad that we didn't end up waiting for the fireworks. I would definitely do it again, but will choose a less popular evening and will check the weather forecast.