Breaking Down Broadway's Walls

Full Disclosure: Yes, I know shows are only considered "Broadway shows" when they take place on Broadway, but when you enter this realm as rarely as I do, you take what you can get. 

For the past nine or so months, things have been a little hectic in our household. First there was the pregnancy bedrest. Then the two months in the hospital. Then, the, you know, baby. So not counting our once-a-month romantic outings to On the Border, my husband and I really haven't had a date since last July.

We broke out of that in style, by attending a production of The Book of Mormon at the Boston Opera House. This was really my first of this type of show, since I'm kind of a pain in the butt when it comes to musicals. I only really like them if they're cartoons or if they're comedies. I think it's because I have a problem suspending disbelief in a story that's supposed to be serious. How can it be serious if, right in the middle of conversation, 50 people appear and start dancing and singing in unison? At least in a cartoon and a comedy, things are already ridiculous so complicated dance numbers don't seem quite so out-of-place.

Which is why Book of Mormon seemed right in my wheelhouse. Co-written by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the guys who write South Park, it has all of the crude, inappropriate humor of...well, an episode of South Park. So of course I was game.

It was a Sunday matinee, which lent itself to some fine people watching. Traditional theater-goers to the Boston Opera House, a beautiful and ornate building in the theater district, were your typical crew - older, wealthier, wearing nicer clothes. We played along and wore nice clothes ourselves. But the fact that we were seeing a play written by the guys from South Park at 1 p.m. on a Sunday meant that the non-regulars were a mish-mash. I saw baseball caps next to ball gowns, jeans next to suits. The woman sitting next to me wore a Doctor Who dress over acid-wash jeans. I love it.

The show itself was fantastic. It had the right amount of over-the-top random humor (in one scene, a character with a tendency to let his imagination get away from him is repremanded by his father, Darth Vader, a couple of hobbits, and Yoda), but the storyline was equally funny. Basically, it follows two Mormon missionaries - the perfect Elder Smith and the bumbling compulsive liar Elder Cunningham - as they complete their service in a Ugandan village. They and the other missionaries struggle with convincing the natives to convert to Mormonism, since the natives are too concerned with things like poverty and famine and murderous warlords and AIDS. You know, typical comedy fodder.

Since it is not technically a trip to Boston without eating in the North End, we grabbed a gift certificate we probably got 5 Christmases ago and ate as al fresco as my perpetually cold body would allow (i.e. next to an open window).

When you have a baby, it's important to be able to step away, to make sure that you retain at least some semblance of the person you were before the baby was born. Our situation is compounded by the amount of challenges facing our boy. But you have to work at it because if you don't, you're just going to become miserable and resentful and that's no good. Maybe we won't go to a "Broadway" show EVERY month, but there's always On the Border.

Chicago State of Mind

A few weeks ago, we spent quite a bit of time in Chicago. A portion of that time was dedicated to my work - the whole impetus for the trip was for me to attend the American Library Association's annual conference. The conference was fabulous, if overwhelming. Tens of thousands of representatives from public libraries, college libraries, school libraries, business libraries, etc., descended on the city like a swarm of conservatively dressed bees who only want to sting you with knowledge. But I certainly got a ton out of it work-wise, as well as interest-wise (highlights include seeing Temple Grandin and Octavia Spencer speak).

I also spent a portion of this trip sick. Like, really sick. On the second day of the conference, I could have sworn I had strep throat and I'm not entirely convinced I didn't. I couldn't swallow for a few days. Then I couldn't breathe through my nose. Then I couldn't go 30 seconds without delving into a coughing fit. Add to that the fact that I was also 6 and a half months pregnant (and found out a week after returning that I shouldn't be walking long distances or standing for long periods of time...my bad) and we weren't QUITE able to keep to the itinerary we had originally planned. Luckily, we also stayed for 10 days so we had the luxury of turning in at 6 p.m. without feeling like we were missing anything.

Here are some of the things we did, in the order in which we did them because I have OCD and that's how I roll. Some I'd recommend wholeheartedly (Field Museum, Lincoln Park Zoo); others, I'd say you could skip if constrained by time or money (Adler Planetarium). But all were fun in their own way.

Field Museum

The day after we arrived in Chicago was the victory parade for the Chicago Blackhawks' recent Stanley Cup win. You know, the one they beat the Bruins for. We had no ill will toward the Blackhawks, were happy that the Bruins lost to a likeable team (unlike, say, the Canucks), but still. Did I mention that the parade was RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET FROM OUR HOTEL? Because it was.

We opted to walk a few blocks and hide in the Field Museum of Natural History. It was a good choice, even if we were greeted by a gigantic taunt:

The Field Museum is famous for a few things. One is that it is the workplace of perhaps the most famous anthropologist of all time - Indiana Jones. Another is that it is home to the most complete and preserved Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton in the world.

Its dinosaur fossil collection in general is immense and impressive, as is its exhibit on Egypt. Frankly, the whole thing is pretty awesome and definitely worth an afternoon.

Adler Planetarium

I spent the next few days post-Field Museum at the conference and therefore, we didn't do much sightseeing. Well, I say we, but Matt did take a walk and photograph some of the city's famous drawbridges. But since I wasn't there, it doesn't count.

After the final day of the session, with tickets already purchased for a baseball game that night, we headed to the nearby Adler Planetarium. The planetarium was in the same area as the Field Museum and the Shedd Aquarium, known as the Museum Campus. (We skipped the aquarium because of time and because you had to pay extra to see the exhibits that normal people would want to see, like penguins. I mean, really, what else is the point?) Adler is famous for a few things; namely, it's exquisite view of the Chicago skyline.

The actual planetarium was...OK. If the tickets had been cheaper, I would have probably liked it more. Like Shedd Aquarium, you had to pay more to see all the exhibits and we did upgrade so we could see at least one show. I'm glad we did; that was, by far, the best part.

The other interesting thing about the museum stems from the fact that astronaut Jim Lovell lives nearby so there is a ton of artifacts from his various trips. As a fan of that era of space travel (you know, the era where we actually traveled in space), I enjoyed it.

U.S. Cellular Field 

When we told people that we were going to Chicago, their first question always was, "Are you going to Wrigley Field?" Everyone seems to forget that there are, in fact, TWO professional baseball teams in Chi-town and we planned on hitting them both.

Obviously, U.S. Cellular Field doesn't have the same cache as the second-oldest ballpark in the country. It's named U.S. Cellular Field, for starters. And it's kind of in a shady part of town. The whole atmosphere had a kind of minor-league feel to it - the food was terrible but cheap, we bought tickets for $10 online and the promotions wouldn't have been out of place at a 9-year-old's birthday party.

That being said, it was still baseball. Professional baseball. And it had its moments. Before the game even started, we hung out in the bar located right behind right field. And by "right behind," I mean you are literally on field-level looking at the outfielder's back. We drank some sodas and watched batting practice just long enough for a practice ball by Baltimore's Chris Davis to land right next to our table. Instant souvenir!

We also got great seats on the cheap, saw some fireworks every time a member of the White Sox hit a home run and watched as the home team defeated Red Sox division foe Baltimore.

Lincoln Park Zoo

It's been a couple of weeks since we got back and I still can't believe the Lincoln Park Zoo exists. It's not just because it's a nice zoo; I've been to nice zoos before (the Pittsburgh Zoo remains my gold standard). No, it's the fact that it's a nice zoo with a huge collection of different types of animals in non-depressing environments and it's COMPLETELY FREE. Not just free on Tuesday mornings or on the third Wednesday of each month or free for kids if you buy the parents' tickets. Just free. For everyone. Always. No kid in the Chicago area will grow up having not seen a lion or a gorilla or a flamingo in the flesh. That's just awesome.

And like I said, it's a nice zoo.

Second City

For those unaware, Second City is the comedy troupe that kickstarted a lot of careers. Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey, John Belushi, Amy Poehler, the list goes on and is highlighted by handprints and signatures of people who have performed there (even just as visitors). It's also known for its improv and while I'm not usually a big stand-up comedy fan for people I don't know, I love me some improv. So that's the show we went to.

We made sure to keep the program and circle the troupe members we saw perform. You know, just in case we turn on Saturday Night Live in a couple of years and someone looks kind of familiar.

Untouchables Tour

Embarrassingly enough, when we started looking into things to do in Chicago, this is what excited me most. Not Wrigley Field or Navy Pier or the famous museums. Not deep-dish pizza or Chinatown. No, I wanted to learn about gangsters and I wanted to do so from a guy dressed like an extra in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Check and check.


The tour was equal parts interesting and corny because obviously. In short, it was everything I thought it would be (although somewhat overpriced). We saw the site of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, where John Dillinger was shot, the brewery where Al Capone made his near-beer during prohibition (as well as the alcohol to add to said "near-beer"). Perhaps most interesting was the church where Capone put a hit on a rival; his body wound up at the entrance to the church and while they attempted to hide it over the years with installed concrete stairs, there is still one bullet hole that was too high and is still visible.


Navy Pier

Our original goal had been to time walk on Navy Pier with the Fourth of July fireworks because Navy Pier is known for its fireworks and it would be festive. Nothing beats festive. Well, nothing except pregnancy, a terrible cold (treated with nothing stronger than tissues and cough drops) and the fact that we got there seven hours before the fireworks would start. Then nothing beats a hotel room bed.

So we did spend the Fourth of July at Navy Pier; it just happened to be mid-day, sans fireworks. I'm OK with that. For those that don't know, Navy Pier does have some military origin but now it's more of a combination mini-amusement park, kitschy shopping plaza and waterfront boardwalk. It's a nice place to walk around, do some fine people-watching (within 20 minutes, we saw a Forrest Gump impersonator and a wedding where all of the bridesmaids were wearing leopard-print dresses) and check out the views of the city. It probably would have been even more fun if I had been able to go on any of the rides, or at least the famous ferris wheel, but oh well. I still had a fine time taking an obscene amount of pictures of it.

Architecture Boat Tour

Other than Wrigley Field, this was the thing everyone said to do. Home of Frank Lloyd Wright and a slew of other architects that people with more architecture knowledge than me (i.e. everyone), it seems like every building has some sort of unique design history. And even if you don't know much about architecture, it's a nice way to go on a relaxing boat ride through the city and see some impressive sites. 

John Hancock Observatory

At first, I figured we would go to the top of Willis (Sears) Tower. I mean, it is the most famous building in Chicago's skyline. But then I thought about it - if you're on top of Willis (Sears) Tower, then you can't take a picture of Willis (Sears) Tower. Also, the Hancock Observatory is cheaper and, from everything I've read, nicer.

The views were, as expected, great, particularly of the beach and coastline. Strangely, they seem to really like marketing their Skywalk, which is just this little walkway between the two sides of the building that has terrible views blocked by grates so you can't even take photos. Why use the worst part of your product to sell it? But anyway, yes. Pretty sweet.

Wrigley Field  

Of course we went to Wrigley Field! Duh! It was exactly what I thought/hoped it would be (other than the utterly confusing way they label sections and rows) - a nice combination of history and pure baseball love. As a Fenway Park regular, I felt as much at home as I have at any other ballpark. No free batting practice ball this time, but it did happen to be free t-shirt day, so there's that.

Around Chicago

Other than the big sites, we hit a few places walking and driving around. Millennium Park was a sight, particularly the famous Bean statue (above) and the weird Cloud Gate water fountains (below).

Grant Park was across the street from our hotel (and the location of the Blackhawks victory parade) and had some interesting installations.

This being a library-themed trip, we stopped by the Chicago Public Library's main branch (above), a huge place made slightly less impressive when I learned it was only built a couple decades ago and made to look old. Making up for it was the children's library dollhouse containing references (obvious and not) to dozens of different classic children's books. We also passed by the Chicago Cultural Center (below), which was the original public library ages ago, and hung out with a group of librarian friends at Branch 27, a former branch building of the public library system that has since been made into a restaurant and bar.

We also stopped for photo ops at Steppenwolf Theatre (where Gary Sinise and John Malkovich got their starts) and Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Studios.

Eatin' (and Drinkin')

Unfortunately, I didn't much drinkin' done because, you know, fetus. But we ate a lot. Like, a lot. Some of my favorites included:

• Lou Malnati's - The best pizza we had in Deep Dish Country, we went more than once.
• Pizzeria Due - The Pizzeria Uno chain was started in Chicago, and the second franchise was known as Pizzeria Due (for some reason, the two franchises are located about 20 feet from each other despite using pretty much the same menu). The menus for both are limited to their specialty - deep dish pizza that takes 45 minutes to prepare - and we went to Due rather than Uno because it had a cool balcony to sit on. I love the Uno's chain and it was fun for historical purposes, although I do think Lou Malnati's pizza was better.
• Hackney's - This chain bar was located right down the road from our hotel, in a district known as Printer's Row because of its history of publishing companies. The food wasn't superb but it had a good drink menu, the people were nice, and it was just our kind of hangout. 
• Yolk - Also a Chicago chain, this breakfast and lunch eatery was awesome. Really awesome. So awesome that we ate three out of four straight meals there at one point. Gahhhh, so good.
• Eleven City Diner - A famed Jewish deli, even things like turkey burgers were made from scratch and extra seasoned. 
• Lou Mitchell's - So disappointing. I had read about this breakfast joint and got excited because I do love me some breakfast joints. While it did have some charms (like giving out donut holes and Milk Duds to people waiting for tables), the whole thing was so disorganized. The hostess was grouchy, the waitstaff completely forgot about us for awhile and the prices were not worth the food quality/quantity we got.
• Goose Island Brewery - This was located right near Wrigley Field and was the perfect type of brewpub. 
• Rock n' Roll McDonald's - OK, full disclosure: We didn't really eat here. I think I may have had a smoothie for my sore throat and Matt might have gotten some breakfast biscuits while we waited for the Untouchables Tour to depart from right outside. But we hung out in there a lot. It's like a McDonald's Museum, with old photos and artifacts from the history of McDonald's, as well as general pop culture stuff. There was a display building outside that was, strangely, locked, so you could only see so much, but that included Elvis' car and statues of the Beatles.

For the Love of Lighthouses

I had never really been all that interested in lighthouses before. They were New Englandy, which was nice, and they kind of represented lobster and clam chowder, which was even better, but it wasn't as though I'd plan a vacation around them or especially seek them out. They were just kind of there.

Things changed a couple of years ago when my grandmother died. I was pretty close to her growing up, considering she had lived with us for several years during my childhood. She had since moved on to another relative's house and then a couple of nursing homes before she finally passed away at age 98. I had a few things from her - other than memories, of course. Some beautiful, antique furniture. A gold necklace my parents had given her years ago.

When my aunt visited her brother to go through some of Nana's other belongings, I had one request. I wanted a painting. Before having children, she had been an art teacher, had studied at Worcester Art Museum and everything, and even after she became a housewife, she still regularly painted. Most of her stuff were landscapes, pictures she had taken out of magazines and calendars and tried to recreate with a brush and canvas. There were some exceptions, and to be honest, I wasn't picky. I wasn't looking to enhance my house's decor with some sweet art; I was simply looking for a memento that I could hang up someplace to remind me of Nana.

My aunt came back with a landscape of a lighthouse situated on a rocky coast with crashing white, foamy waves, housed in a plain wooden frame. It was a simple painting and I liked it. Not just because it was a Nana original, but because it certainly was New Englandy and quaint and hung perfectly in front of the chimney in our new house (see above).

We quickly wanted to discover where, exactly, this lighthouse was. Not knowing anything about lighthouses, all we had for clues was the painting itself and a year scribbled on the back under Nana's name and address - 1961. The rocky coast screamed "Maine" and my father, who would have been 11 when she produced the piece, thought he remembered her using a photo from a calendar of Maine shots as her guide.

Placing the lighthouse was both easier and more difficult than I would have guessed. Not having real keywords - "Maine," "lighthouse," "red roof building" - my Google image search was far more productive than it should have been. The big problem came with the photo inconsistency. In Nana's painting, the lighthouse is next to a white house with a red roof, a small red shack and a weird triangular, almost teepee-like white structure. I found dozens of photos of what looked like the same lighthouse, the same red-roofed building, the same red shack and the same rocky coast, but the teepee was nowhere to be found. Finally, I started reading the found this:

The station originally had a fog bell operated by automatic striking machinery. The skeleton frame bell tower was replaced in 1911 by a white pyramidal tower, itself torn down in 1961.

 So there it was. A pyramidal tower that was torn down at almost the precise time Nana painted her picture. Her lighthouse was the Nubble Lighthouse on Cape Neddick in York, Maine. (This is about the time in the story where anyone who knows anything about lighthouses or Maine says something like, "How in the world did you not recognize one of the most photographed lighthouses in New England?" To which I say, "Shut up.")

The discovery of the lighthouse was enhanced even more when we realized we were actually scheduled to go to York later that summer, for the wedding of a friend. Another pair of friends live in Kennebunk, Maine, not terribly far from York, and we came up a day early, stayed with them and had them take us to the lighthouse, allowing us to take a photo that puts us right in Nana's painting.

Since then, I've felt a new connection to lighthouses in general, and Maine lighthouses in particular. We've made a visit to our Kennebunk friends an annual tradition and they always take us to a new location. Last year, it was Marshall Point, famous for this scene in Forrest Gump. We had fun re-enacting his cross-cross-cross-country run.

This year, it was Portland Head Light, the oldest lighthouse in the state, located in Cape Elizabeth. It was another beauty.

No lighthouse will have the same connection for me as Nubble, and I'm looking forward to bringing my son there in future years. But I'm also enjoying checking off these New England institutions one beautiful day at a time.

Travel Fun: Washington DC and Richmond

When your birthday happens to fall in your husband's busiest travel time for work, you get used to spending your big day in strange places. This year, he had to be in Richmond, Virginia, on Valentine's Day, which means we made a side-trip to Washington, DC.

(Full Disclosure: I'm not really a Valentine's Day person. I think it's silly to shower your significant other in gifts for some random day of the year rather than days that have meaning to you or really, any day you feel like. That being said, I'm always happy for an excuse to have a fun dinner and eat copious amounts of chocolate. Plus, these Ghirardelli Valentine's caramels are worth it. Since my birthday is Feb. 13, I tend to view Valentine's Day as Day 2 of the Woodstock that is my birth celebration. Rock on.)

Anyway, we drove down Tuesday evening, giving us all day Wednesday in Washington, all day Thursday in Washington and Richmond, and then came back Friday (supposed to be Friday morning, but hello stop-and-go traffic all through Connecticut!). The wrench in our plans came when I woke up Wednesday with a terrible cold/flu: achey body, sore throat, stuffed nose, headache. I felt like crawling back into bed and not coming out again until Easter. But I would persevere, my God! Washington, DC! By keeping a pharmacy's worth of medicine, a bag of clementines, and a couple of boxes of Kleenex in my purse, I would have a good birthday yet.

We started off walking the length of Pennsylvania Ave. from our hotel in Georgetown. It was a gorgeous day, and with our ultimate goal of getting to the Library of Congress, it would take us by a lot of the best spots.

Like, say, the White House.

And the Capital building.

Finally, we got to the Library of Congress. It was the first time I had ever been there, which is weird considering my profession. It was as gorgeous, inside and out, as I would have hoped.

We went through a couple of the exhibits before hitting the gift shop (duh) and heading back to our other professional obsession: the Newseum.

 (That's the First Amendment decorating the building's facade.)

We were in love with the Newseum, being the news junkies that we were. Six floors of important news history, everything from original newspapers headlining major events to wreckage of the 9/11 attacks and the Berlin Wall. It was amazing, and took us quite awhile to get through. Thankfully, the tickets are good for two days, so we started Thursday by going back and finishing the job. 

On our way to Richmond, we stopped at my favorite memorial in the greater Washington, DC, area: Iwo Jima. When I first visited in the eighth grade, I don't know why I loved that statue so much, but I did and I still do. Maybe because it shows the good aspects of war - patriotism and brotherhood - and not just guns and violence. Maybe it's because of the sheer size of the thing and how impressive it is. Maybe it's the way it combines a real, live flag with a frozen-in-time statue. Either way, it was fantastic, as always.

We arrived in Richmond early - far too early for our dinner reservations at a local restaurant. So I did what any person today would do: busted out my phone and Googled "things to do in Richmond." There, I stumbled upon the Edgar Allan Poe Museum.

Located in the oldest house in Richmond, the museum is several buildings' worth of various Poe materials - first editions of works, letters he wrote, photos, clothing, etc. etc. It wasn't Earth-shattering, but it was interesting and a fine way to spend $5 and 60 minutes.

Afterward, we had our Valentine's dinner before we actually had to do some work and then embark on our (long) (Long) (LONG) journey north. It was an interesting way to spend my birthday extravaganza, in one of my favorite cities to visit. Plus, there was also this:

Thanks, Georgetown Cupcakes!