Day One: Chicago

Miles: 140. States: 2. Nosebleeds: 1.

Our not-terribly-ambitious first day took us to Chicago, where we're staying in the bijou apartment of my fabulous, youthful and stylish sister-in-law Naomi. We didn't leave Madison until 1:30. An uneventful two-hour drive took us to Mitsuwa, an Asian market I've been wanting to visit for months. The mission was to find a kendama, a wooden Japanese toy with which my boys have been obsessed since seeing one of the swim-team coaches playing compulsively, a la Captain Queequeg, with one throughout the All City Swim Meet. If a swim team coach were to walk around in a pair of giant clown shoes singing the hits of Captain and Tennille and huffing glue, all of the kids on swim team would follow suit. The kids really want kendamas. Turns out Mitsuwa is more of a food and grocery operation. I bookmarked it for later culinary-type shopping trips. We bought fruit-flavored jelly candies and moved on.

A parking-lot-style traffic jam later, we made it to Naomi's and strolled from there over to Wicker Park to grab some food. Above is pictured the takeout window of Big Star, Naomi's pick, where I procured three different tacos: borrego (marinated lamb shoulder with radish and queso fresco); panza (crispy pork belly, guajillo sauce and more queso); and pastor (roasted pork shoulder with grilled pineapple). All scrumptious, chased with delicious limeade while seated in the park. Quite possibly the perfect meal. Sadly, I was so famished I couldn't savor it slowly; three tacos were demolished by me (yes, the passive voice is called-for here. I am deflecting responsibility for the inhalation of said tacos). Then I had to polish off Ike's shrimp basket and some of Oscar's leftover fries, because - say it with me - WE ARE NOT IN THE BUSINESS OF WASTING FOOD. Which is as close as I get to a parenting motto.

So far, the boys have yet to embrace the spirit of the Great American Road Trip. But it will happen, hopefully tomorrow on the way to Cleveland. The 2010 road trip has features my own childhood road trips lacked (GPS, portable video games, wide availability of lattes) but is also missing some things the 1980 version possessed (CB radios, hitchhikers, toll-booth tickets). Time will tell which is superior. Stay tuned for Day 2: Cleveland, a town which, it is rumored. rocks.