A Scentless Discovery

6:20

my journey downtown begins. I notice that it’s not that cold despite it being the afternoon and it’s pretty bright outside so I put on a hoodie and set sail on my adventure. Also very active noise wise. The sounds of cars making their way home, buses hauling people around, and people going outside and walking for themselves made it seem as if it were the middle of the day. Also to note that there were no particularly strong smells.

6:23

I take a pic of hotel Lincoln and notice that there is a restaurant at the bottom. Was that place always there. Research was done and I realized that the building really is old. It caught my eye because of its neon light all the way at the top and it turns out that the hotel was built back in the 1920’s and was brought back to life in 2012 making it the hotel it is today.

6:25

I took a pic of a house with ivy all along the side. Wonder how long that took to grow alongside the house. I knew it was ivy because of my vast common knowledge and thanks to the handy dandy iNaturalist app. And I learned that ivy can grow super easily and cover a wall sometimes in 3 months. It can keep your house cool and dry, but it may mess up with the house’s foundation at the same time. A double edged sword situation.

6:30

D.L. Moody Walk! Finally figured out what street I’m on. Would’ve been tough if I was never able to figure out what street I’ve been walking down this whole time. There was also a parking lot theatre with a blowup screen with a bunch of people getting ready for a makeshift drive through theatre. They had food but I didn’t smell anything strong. It was a pretty creative concept though, but they’ll have to wait a little bit before it becomes dark.

6:33

It’s pretty obvious that it’s becoming night time. The little light I had left to the day made me feel as if the temperature was going to drop mad fast, but the temperature hasn’t dropped at all so a hoodie still does me well. Also you can smell when the temperature is going to drop, and I didn't pick up on anything so I’ll be fine…hopefully.

6:35

Moody street has now become N La Salle Dr. I think this is probably its proper name. It does seem more official as it has the big street signs saying it is. I took a pic of a lamp as well because it reminded me of a memory of my youth. I remember you woke up at 7–8 o’clock because kids don’t know the blessings of rest. Your mom makes your breakfast, and you literally go play outside until those street lights come on. Once those street lights come on that means it’s time to go inside. This was a hard fast rule that I followed mindlessly and never wondered why. I guess i never had the time or wanted to guess why.

6:37

As I was walking down the street it finally hit me why it was so active outside. Everybody just got off of work! WOW! Surprise, who would’ve thought. My detective skills kicked in when I saw a guy in a suit driving towards Old Town which is primarily a residential neighborhood according to my investigations of the neighborhood. It had completely slipped my mind that people still go to work and not just stay home like me. Man, being an adult must suck.

6:39

Lots of dogs out as well. No particular breed stands out to me. They all just seem like regular dogs to me, but then again I didn’t grow up with a dog so I don’t know too much about the different types and breeds. But I guess it is time for that evening walk with the dog. Reminds me how much work dogs are. I’d still like to think that I’d get a dog and we’d be the best of friends, but I don’t know the first thing about taking care of one so we shall see.

6:41

I FINALLY FOUND THE RED LINE! I don’t know how much I’ll use it but I finally found it. Everyone talks about these different colored lines but I’ve never seen the entrance to one. And they all refer back to the L. I finally got the name right too. I am now a master of Chicago names and places.

6:44

Someone has put pumpkins out. I think it’s a little early as they might rot before Halloween, but I guess it’s ok. Though my family has never done our pumpkin carvings until the week of Halloween so I don’t know how long it takes for pumpkins to rot. Maybe I’ll look it up. Probably not.

6:45

Forgot to write this down in the last update, but when it starts to get dark here it gets DARK. It’s practically night time out here, but the temperature still hasn’t dropped. I guess I overestimated Chicago because everyone tells me how ridiculously cold it gets up here. And I found another church. I wonder if churches compete in this part of town for membership because there are a lot around in the same area. This might be the one thing I look up…possibly.

6:47

Found my first piece of trash along my walk. I thought it would be a lot worse seeing as Chicago is one of the great cities like LA and New York. In New York, you can’t step outside your door before kicking some trash. But another thing to note is that the city doesn’t have the scent of trash though. Also this guy on a motorcycle did a cool wheelie. Although dangerous tricks are par for the course for cyclists, I think Chicago has some crazy night time life.

6:50

Another thing to note is that the streets are along a grind now instead of the randomness back in the heart of Old Town. I think I may have left Old Town and entered the outskirts of downtown. It makes things a lot easier to navigate, but kind of loses that sense of mystery is waiting around the next corner as everything is laid out for you.

6:55

Saw an ad for the new avengers game coming out to pc and the next gen consoles that people are now wondering which side to choose. XBOX or PlayStation, but that is another matter entirely. Most advertisements that I see for games are outside GameStop or online, usually where gamers see them because that’s who they are targeted for. I beta tested it and have my opinions on it, but I think it’s cool that it’s getting a physical advertisement.

6:57

Moody st was getting boring so I took a left down Ontario st. and I found a super McDonald’s. This McDonalds seemed like something from the future. It was as if the whole building was glowing as the lights from the inside shone brightly through the glass windows. It was truly a sight to behold as I have never seen a McDonalds that was built like this. It almost seemed of higher class until you remembered what they served there. But once again there was a lack of smells to go with the scene.

7:01

We are almost there. To complete utter darkness and the end of my journey as my handheld time machine is almost out of juice so I got to book it fast back to base.

Overall this journey was very revealing as to what city evening/night life is like. This experience just confirmed that there will always be noise, but I felt as if there were a lack of smells on this journey. I was quite odd. It was as if my nose was stuffed and I couldn’t smell anything. But regardless of the smells the places I walked through brought back memories which is an effect walking has on us. All in all, this trip was a successful one. I’ll see you guys on the next one.

:^)