Good Bye Chicago!

After 2 very fast years of school, we only have 1 day left here in Chicago. The time has flown by so fast, I can't believe it is almost over. Before we came, it felt like two years was a long time to live here.

Things I will miss:
1. My wonderful friends I've made here. They have made my Chicago experience a wonderful one. They are some of the best friends I have and I am sorry to see us all move away from each other.
2. The food! Torry and I rarely have eaten at the same restaurant twice, and we haven't had a bad experience yet.
3. All the museums - the aquarium, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Field, the Nature Museum with the Butterfly garden and the Children's Museum. Elaina and I spent many hours in all of these and I will miss having such fun and educational places to take her to.
4. Hyde Park Produce. Seriously the best grocery store ever.

Things we will not miss (by Torry):
1. South side Chicago customer service. We rarely had a good experience, with Treasure Island being a consistent exception - sadly, it's only been around for about 3 months, but the people there are very nice.
2. Hyde Park traffic - the laws are a little different down here. For example: At a four-way stop, it's not about what order you arrive in, it's all about who will "win" or who has the least to lose (strongly correlated to how big or how beat-up your vehicle is); if there's room for another car, apparently there's a lane whether it's marked or not; and the world is your parking lot as long as you use flashers (this one is convenient on occasion, but it's a nuisance waaayyy more often.)
3. Potholes on the south side. C'mon Mayor Daley - it's June! Can't we get some of these fixed?
4. Taxes on everything. If you move a quarter from one pocket to another, only 23 cents makes it to the other side.
5. The Traffic Management Authority. Essentially humans who just tell you to do what the traffic light is already saying, this seems like a work-welfare program, probably a bone thrown to union leaders by the city at the taxpayers' expense (see #4 above). This agency would be just as useful at about 10% of its current size.
6. High-rise living. Getting two kids to the car is a 10-minute endeavor. And if you get down there and happen to forget that shirt you need to return? Forget it, you'll just return it next time you go out. We're excited for an attached garage.

All that griping aside--most these are minor complaints--we're sad to be leaving.