After living in Chicago for a year, I had moved back to Wyoming after quitting Fry’s and running out of money. While Living in Wyoming for about 9 months, I didn’t do too much other than work a lot and get back on my feet. I did visit my friend in Portland by chance, which was cool, but not much else.

I was missing my friends in Chicago, so the spring after I had moved away, I moved back to Chicago. I got a job and actually had some money to do things in Chicago, unlike the last time when I was a poor college student and didn’t really do much but study, party, and play Magic: The Gathering.

While moving into my friend’s place for a while, I ended up befriending Aaron, and shortly thereafter, we decided to go downtown for his birthday.

Without much of a plan, we started walking around Millennium park and saw a bunch of temporary sculptures.

Aaron being attacked by a T-Rex

And me being attacked by a T-Rex

We then moseyed our way over to “the bean,” more properly called “Cloud Gate.”

Me and the bean

Us next to the bean

After some more aimless wandering, we found ourselves at the Navy Pier, where we had some fun with a sculpture we discovered.

Aaron getting dragged around

Me kicking the children over

Along the pier are many boats that one can buy tickets to ride in, and one of them that caught our eye was a “pirate” boat, so we decided to go for a ride out onto Lake Michigan.

Aaron hoisting the sails

Sailor Bridger

Sailor Birthday Boy

He had actually just turned 21 and could now drink, which he did on the boat. I could only watch and take a picture in envy as I was still underage.

Chicago

And that was more or less Aaron’s birthday that we spent in downtown Chicago. We didn’t really have a plan other than walking around downtown Chicago and by doing so, we discovered some neat things that we may have not otherwise found. A day well spent!