Can you feel the Illinoise? Last night I got back from my trip to Chicago. Ryan was moderating a panel at Northwestern’s Kellogg Tech Conference and I decided to tag along. Poor thing, he had to work the 9-5 while I was out and about every day.

Favorite moments from my trip:

-Wandering around for hours everyday, just marveling at the architecture.

-Riding around on the El. I loved feeling like I was on a roller coaster throughout the city.

-Meeting up with Drew, an old friend from San Francisco. He was as wonderful as ever, and as crankety as ever. It was just so nice to see him, and to know that good people like him are around in the world. I love having friends that inspire and amuse me.

-Having late night drinks at the Drake Hotel, a fancy local institution where Cary Grant used to live! Unfortunately I was a little bit too drunk to appreciate it at that point, but it was lovely being there.

-Seeing Max Raabe and Palast Orchester at the Chicago Symphony. They’re still on top of their game.

-Eyeballing the hipsters in Wicker Park and thinking “This is it?”

-Taking 10 minutes to photograph a mummified rodent- with three different cameras!

-Eating many fantastic meals- great food city.

Every time I travel I wonder, could I live here? Over the years I’ve realized that I prefer smaller sized, walkable, vaguely European cities. For example, in my travels I’ve preferred Montreal over Toronto and Madrid over Barcelona. And after college I chose to move to San Francisco over New York. While I was in Chicago, I felt the largeness of the city. All the while, it still felt entirely comfortable and doable. Could I live in Chicago? It is a maybe, which is pretty good, considering how picky I am!

Here are some photos from my trip. Click on the thumbnail to enlarge the picture.