Cicada report: Glencoe

[muckefuck]

It's hard to get monshu out of the city. He's not what one would call a rugged outdoorsy type. Although his place is small, there's a lot that needs doing on a weekly basis. He's too tired to do it on weeknights and he's not happy if he doesn't get it done on weekends. On top of that, neither of us drive.

So when I realised we both had the Fourth of July off, I seized my chance and proposed an outing outside the city limits. It was he who chose the Botanic Garden. I'd already been there once this year, but it was early and very little was out. He was a little spooked by the chance of thunderstorms, but I know just how little to trust Chicago weathermen on such things. ("60% chance" my butt!) It was partly cloudy without a single raincloud until mid-afternoon when it cleared up almost completely.

In any case, because of the not driving, our only way of getting there is by Metra. The closest it gets us is the Braeside station, which is about a half-mile walk from the Garden entrance along Lake-Cook road. On the north is Highland Park in Lake County, and on the south is Glencoe in Cook County. It's not a bad walk. Traffic is light and the Cook County side is some kind of forest preserve. There's sleepy residential on the Lake County side (including a kick-ass haunted house about a third the way from the station). You'll almost never see another pedestrian, although we did found ourselves dodging a fair number of cyclists.

On the way there, we could hear the hum of cicadas in the woods, but it was muted. The few specimens we saw on the sidewalk were all dead and most were already decayed. The only for-sure live one I saw was on its last legs; it was standing on the pavement and almost didn't get out of my way. When it did, it flew a few yards into the lawn on the left and dropped into the grass. Sad.

I was more excited by the toad we found right by the railroad crossing on the way back. For whatever reason, I never see them in the city parks, although I occasionally heard them croaking on the South Side. I would've held it and stroked it if not for the high risk of getting peed on and having no place to wash my hands until I was back at monshu's.

The Garden was interesting, by the way. I thought it'd be pretty empty, what with every red-blooded American having parades and barbecues and what-not to attend, but it wasn't: All the furriners were there, from sunburnt Brits and four-generation Hispanic families to Russians, Rumanians, and plenty of colourfully-clad South Asians. (A lot of saris, but oddly no kurtas or shalwars.) There was a lot in bloom, from a whole field of wild bergamot to a couple of sacred lotuses to trumpetcreeper and astilbe, but I was more pleased to find everything in full leaf, since it was oodles more comfortable in the shade.

Comments

Metra

[ursine1.livejournal.com]

You are very lucky to have the rail infrastructure in Chicago since it was really a rail hub until WWII. The only thing I see missing is an integrated fare system with Metra and CTA.

Chuck