I'll see you in Grand Rapids

I'll be back in town Wednesday through Sunday. I only wish it was under better circumstances.

It's Saturday and I've picked up the CSA box, grocery shopped at 'the hole,' and cleaned the apartment. Tonight we're having Matt and Mandy over for dinner. Rest assured we'll clear out the magic hat variety box purchased today and I'll awake tomorrow morning with a sore shoulder from swinging a wiimote around the living room. Very little other news to speak of - Xtina is sending out her first nursing school application this week.

Making dinner, Xtina is listening to Garrison Keillor in the kitchen. It's curious that while I've always found his program irritating, It's starting to give me nostalgic feelings - but nostalgic feelings for a time where I also didn't like prairie home companion. strange.

Day trip to Pullman

Each year when the air begins to turn crisp and temperatures fall, I start to get a bit of cabin fever. This may be why we tend to go on a significant vacation every year at this time. However, with xtina's school schedule and our restricted budget, that simply isn't in the cards. Not sure what to do with our weekday off together, this morning we debated several options. We considered visiting starved rock, geneva, or warren dunes state park but in the end it was obvious we didn't want to spend hours in the car and a fortune at the pump. We chose a trip a bit closer to home and are happy with the results.

We started our trip with lunch at a local culinary institution: Hot Dougs. They're widely known for unusual gourmet hot dogs and weekend duck fat fries but they also have the best veggie dogs in town - served chicago style with everything on 'em: tomato, pickle, grilled onion, celery salt, relish and mustard. Make sure you go before noon because the line can reach all the way around the block.





From Hot Dougs we drove to the far south side to visit Chicago's historic Pullman neighborhood. To those of you who aren't familiar with this part of midwestern history, the town of Pullman was the brainchild of George M. Pullman and his Pullman Palace railcar company. Slated to be a 'workers paradise' Pullman created a model village adjacent to the factory complete with row houses, markets, a church, hotel and plenty of public space. In the height of its operation the town was dubbed "The Worlds Most Perfect Town." Shortly thereafter, however, the famous Pullman Strike begins when leaders refuse to hear workers grievances. Two years later the Illinois Supreme Court rules that the Pullman company cannot own non-factory buildings and is forced to stop collecting rent from the homes and municipal buildings (including the church) where they were demanding a six percent return on investment. The homes and buildings have been privately own ever since.





The Pullman Palace Car Company has long since closed, and after community leaders and residents banded together in the 1970's, saving the town from demolition and renovated most buildings, Pullman now faces a new onslaught of problems.





Only six weeks ago, the state of Illinois suspended access of the Hotel Florence to the Historic Pullman Foundation which until recently operated the building for the past thirty years, hosting events and tours regularly. Fifteen years ago, the state purchased the Clocktower/factory building (pictured)and the hotel (pictured, top) with promises to open a much-needed Pullman museum. The state never made good on its promises and the Clocktower, once painstakingly renovated by neighbors and volunteers, now sits deteriorating behind barbed wire. Now with the closure of the Hotel Florence, a hotel still in private operation as recently as 1975, all foundation tours have been called off. The building sits darkened and unused with no plans for further renovation or public viewing. Now stripped of access to many of its assets, the Pullman Foundation appears to be hanging by a thread, ironically operating by the aid of a sole volunteer in a 1960's stone box building on the site of the former marketplace. This sad tale appears to be business as usual for the state of Illinois, notorious for underfunding its historical assets. It's worst (in)actions include razing entire neighborhoods, allowing limitless facade jobs, neglecting Worlds Fair artifacts, and allowing the Uptown Theater to rot all while putting on the typical progressive face for tourists and dignitaries.





While we were so far south we figured we might as well go to our favorite brewpub: Three Floyds Brewery in Munster, Indiana. Inside the tiny pub in a secluded business park the furniture is ikea, the music is generic, and the decor consists of Star Wars paraphernalia, but the beer is Fantastic! The demand for three floyds beer is astronomical, limiting their distribution to the Chicago metro market, all while scoring top honors at national beer festivals.





After a gorch fock, a munsterfest, and a topless witch, we were on our way home.

A more complete photo set can be viewed here.