Chicago, IL

Boy, Chicago sure is, well, windy. I only spent a day here but it really does seem like a great city. The architectural mix of old and new buildings in the Loop is fantastic. I did drive through Cicero which I think used to be a mobster hotspot. I confess that I was a little disappointed not to see any gangsters with tommy guns walking down the street.

There was some unprecedented October snowfall (2 feet!) in western NY that felled a bunch of trees and took out the power. Since I heard reports saying it could be days or weeks before normalcy was restored, I decided to abandon my plans of seeing Niagara Falls and Boston and started heading back West on Route 66.