Chicago MEA 2024 on Jamie Thingelstad

Sun, 20 Oct 2024 18:00:00 -0500

Our trip to Chicago for MEA was all electric in the Tesla Model Y. We’ve not done that many road trips using the Supercharger network and it worked great. The worst charger was the one on North Columbus in downtown Chicago, and the best was in Waukegan.

Chicago MEA Trip Log

Sun, 20 Oct 2024 17:00:00 -0500

Thursday

Depart at 6:12a
Charge at Mauston.
Charge in Janesville, walk to Culver’s that was closed
Lunch at Culver’s in Janesville
Arrived in Chicago
Go to Museum of Science & Industry
Charge at North Columbus parking ramp in Chicago.
Tammy, Tyler check into L7
Jamie navigates lower level roads and finally gets to hotel.
Dinner at Perellia
Walked to Palmer House and realized we were at wrong place.
Walked to Magic Parlour
Great Magic Show
Walk back to hotel

Friday

Drive to Arlington Heights
breakfast with CJ at Scratchboard Kitchen
Charge at Waukegan by a large casino
Drive to Gurnee
Tyler and Jamie do Extreme Flight simulation, while Tammy explores mall
Ice cream at Scoops & Kettle in Gurnee Mall. This Just Got Serious. Chocolate Shoppe ice cream
60 to Escape. Mystery Mansion.
Attempted to go to Botanical Gardens. Denied!
Early dinner at Prairie Grass Cafe.
Decide last minute to go to a movie — mad dash to get there just as the movie starts!
Return to Prairie Grass Cafe to pick up Tyler’s coat that we forgot while rushing to get to the movie.
Return to L7 Hotel for the night.

Saturday

Breakfast at Wildberry in Downtown Chicago.
Visit “The Bean”
Walk over to Buckingham Fountain, and return 20 minutes later to see the major display.
Check out Abraham Lincoln statue in Grant Park.
Visit the Art Institute of Chicago.
Walk to Bike Rental place, but decide to instead rent Lyft bikes instead.
Ride Lyft Bikes to Soloway Coffee in Lincoln Park.
Explore Oz Park after dropping off bikes.
Go to Soloway Coffee for great cappuccino and Kyiv cake.
Walk from Soloway Coffee to the Magnificent Mile, then walk the Magnificent Mile to the Architectural Boat Tour.
Take Architectural Boat Tour.
Dinner at Lou Malnati’s.
Back to the hotel to rest and turn in.

Sunday

Up early to drive back home.
Charge in Janesville.
Charge in Black River Falls while having lunch at Culver’s.
Arrive home.

Sat, 19 Oct 2024 20:00:00 -0500

A trip to Chicago is not complete without a meal at Lou Malnati’s!

Sat, 19 Oct 2024 18:30:00 -0500

Chicago skyline.

Sat, 19 Oct 2024 18:15:00 -0500

We had a great time on the Architectural Boat Tour of Chicago.

Sat, 19 Oct 2024 17:30:00 -0500

The L crossing the river in Chicago.

Sat, 19 Oct 2024 15:00:00 -0500

Tammy had read about Soloway Coffee, a Ukrainian owned coffee shop in Chicago, and we rented some bikes and rode to the Lincoln Park neighborhood to try it out. They had Kyiv Cake, which I had never had, and it was great. They had Napolean Cake but the person in front of us bought he last slice!

Sat, 19 Oct 2024 14:15:00 -0500

While making our way to a coffee shop in Lincoln Park we ran across Oz Park in Chicago. It was a fun discovery. We didn’t have time to find the Lion though.

Sat, 19 Oct 2024 12:45:00 -0500

We visited the Art Institute of Chicago specifically to see one of the original Great Wave pieces that they have there. The Great Wave is one of Tyler’s favorite pieces of art. We also checked out the contemporary and modern galleries.

Sat, 19 Oct 2024 11:30:00 -0500

While walking from Buckingham Fountain to the Art Institute of Chicago we took in the Abraham Lincoln: The Head of State in Grant Park.

Sat, 19 Oct 2024 11:15:00 -0500

Buckingham Fountain in the early part of the major display.

Sat, 19 Oct 2024 10:15:00 -0500

“The Bean”

Sat, 19 Oct 2024 09:30:00 -0500

Breakfast at Wildberry is a tradition for us in Chicago.

Fri, 18 Oct 2024 22:09:36 -0500

Our evening plans were a bit in flux and we decided at the last minute, very last minute, to go to the Wayfarer theatre and see White Bird. Very good movie with a gripping story.

Fri, 18 Oct 2024 22:06:53 -0500

Prairie Grass Cafe had “Chicago Magazine’s #1 Sirloin Burger” on the menu and Tyler and I couldn’t pass up an award winning burger. It delivered — so good!

Fri, 18 Oct 2024 22:04:29 -0500

Browsing the Ebisu Life store at Gurnee Mall. All Japanese products.

Fri, 18 Oct 2024 22:02:08 -0500

After our flight simulator we went to Sixty to Escape and did the Mystery Manor room. It was a great room with interesting puzzles. We had to use one clue and won the room in 47 m 30s! Room 58!

Flying a 737

Fri, 18 Oct 2024 21:53:59 -0500

Tyler and I had a blast at Extreme Flight Simulation flying a 737. Tyler got the pilot chair and I took the co-pilot spot. We did a full pre-flight routine making sure everything was good to go. We then took off, did a quick fly around 5,000 feet, followed with a landing. We got to pick our airports:

MSP: Our home airport. I wanted to see if the terrain was familiar. The lakes and most roads were where they should be, but the buildings and downtown wasn’t very current.
CDG: We thought it would be fun to see the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe — which we did!
HHX: Tyler picked this as he knew it had a particularly difficult landing. You have to come in from a totally different heading and right at the end do about a 30° turn at 500 feet or so to land. We landed it but it wasn’t pretty.
LGA: Our last airport and we started in the air for this one and then landed. I wanted to land here since I’ve landed at this airport for sure over 50 times and it was very realistic. This was our best landing by a ways.

We got to finish by doing a full shut down of the 737. It was a great time.

Fri, 18 Oct 2024 21:45:20 -0500

This morning we made our way to Arlington Heights and met CJ Chilvers for breakfast at Scratchboard Kitchen. I have followed CJ’s blog and newsletter for years and have a ton of respect for how he approaches his craft. It was awesome to finally meet him in person!

Fri, 18 Oct 2024 11:21:19 -0500

This Waukegan, IL Tesla Supercharger is the largest I’ve ever seen. 20 charging stations with Gen 3 capacity. ⚡️

Thu, 17 Oct 2024 22:07:27 -0500

We had a great time having our minds blown seeing Siegfried Tieber doing a guest performance at Dennis Watkins’s Magic Parlour.

Thu, 17 Oct 2024 22:04:58 -0500

We had an incredible dinner tonight at Perilla. The Korean styled steakhouse was amazing.

Thu, 17 Oct 2024 22:02:33 -0500

Great but short time exploring the Museum of Science and Industry upon arriving in Chicago today.

Thu, 17 Oct 2024 21:57:31 -0500

Captured the Tesla Coil at the Museum of Science and Industry at 120 fps and playing back at 1/4th speed. Super cool. ⚡️

Thu, 17 Oct 2024 16:47:53 -0500

Ferrofluid under magnetic pull. Super cool to zoom in. Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. Captured with 5x camera on iPhone 16 Pro.