Elizabeth and Michel Romantically Scavenger Hunt around River North

Last weekend was a busy one.  Our friends, Meghan and Grant, had spent the week vacationing in Chicago, and we met them for dinner at Fountainhead on Friday before all heading to Michel's end of semester reading at The Book Cellar and the after-celebration at Ricochet's, the diviest dive bar known to divedom...or at least Lincoln Square.  We met our other friends, Lauren and Mike, along with their adorable little girl Ayla, for breakfast Saturday morning, and I followed that up with cupcakes at the new cupcake shop in Lincoln Square with Charlotte.  (Note:  Flirty Cupcakes is delicious.  Completely different from our normal cupcake shop, Sweet Sensations on Montrose, so fortunately we are simply expanding our cupcake horizons rather than changing them.)  That afternoon we did a scavenger hunt around the River North neighborhood, ran to the store, and finished the evening at the Green Mill with Meghan and Grant (more on that in another post.)  It made Easter Sunday blissfully relaxing.

However, this post is only about one of those things: The Scavenger Hunt!  Yes, this is another one of those How About We date activities, and I'm pleased to report that it redeemed our opinion of the website following the disappointment of our afternoon tea.

The scavenger hunt is organized by a website called Stray Boots, which has created scavenger hunts in several cities across the country, with more coming soon.  Chicago has about 7 options to choose from, and we chose the River North option.  River North, the area just north of the river and downtown and just west of Michigan Avenue, is an area that we've not really explored in any depth.  The hunt was also a "romantic couples hunt", so we thought it might be a fun date day. 

Our hunt started on Chicago Ave. near the Water Tower.  Phone at the ready, we pulled up our first clue about a romantic chocolate shop.  Our task was to find the chocolate shop and determine the nationality of the Greek founder's wife.  Across the street we saw Leonidas Chocolate Cafe.  We wandered in to a beautiful, old-style European chocolate shop, founded by Leonidas and his Belgian wife.  It was right place!  I ordered a delicious macaron, and Michel ordered the Mayan hot chocolate.  He's declared that the Battle of the Chocolate Shops: Hot Chocolate Edition may have to be restarted.

Romantic Level:  High and Highly Obvious.  It's a really good chocolate shop.

Our next clue took us to Streeter's Tavern, an underground bar across the street with a giant Jenga game.  Michel wasn't paying attention when I took the picture with the bouncer.  Fun Fact:  Try to go here for drinks around 9:30 on a weeknight, this bar will be filled with 20-and-early-30-something young professionals blowing off steam to the dulcet tones of Miley Cyrus and the Backstreet Boys.  If you require a nice drink, good conversation, and a sophisticated atmosphere, look elsewhere. 

Romantic Level: If you like playing giant games in a crowded bar to nostalgic but terrible pop, high.  Otherwise, low.

Next, the hunt took us to Holy Name Cathedral, the seat of the Chicago Archdiocese of the Catholic Church.  It's ceiling is carved wood, and the entire cathedral is simply spectacular.  It is the site of Pope John Paul II's historic 1979 visit to Chicago.

Romantic Level:  High if you are getting married.

The next place we found was a gate with a giant rose.  That's all I remember.  We didn't even go into the shop, so I don't know if it connected to the rose at all.  We were instructed to take a "flirty" picture.  So we did...sort of.

Romantic Level:  Well, it's a giant rose, so...cool?  Medium-ish.

Following the giant rose, we were led to a charming little French bistro...only it wasn't the French bistro that Stray Boots thought was there.  It was Troquet, making us wonder if our charming little French brasserie with the amazing specials for croque monsieur and poutine was not so charming and individual but a chain.  This Troquet is much fancier, so while we did not resolve the potential chain status of our brasserie, we did discover that Troquet had replaced a previous bistro, LM Bistro, and, in doing so, had painted over the drawing of the Eiffel Tower that we were supposed to find.  Oh well.  Fortunately there was a waiter who had worked in both iterations who was able to help.

Romantic Level:  High.  It's a French bistro.  If that's not romantic, I don't know what is.

After this the tour took a decisive down turn when not one but two, count 'em two, clues led us to a giant McDonald's that was part of a trifecta of kitchy, tourist focus restaurants.  (We can now direct you to both the Hard Rock Cafe and Rainforest Cafe as well as this pantheon of ridiculousness that is the River North McDonald's.)  That being said, I still took the most pictures here.  

 It has a museum covering the history of McDonald's on the second floor.

In said museum we were instructed to find out what color mood rings turn when you are "happy and in love".  Blue.  Specifically dark blue.  Everyone who was a child in the '60's or '90's knows that without spending 15 minutes in a giant McDonald's.

Romantic Level:  Not at all.

 We were then instructed to find a statue of that famous four-some who sang love songs.  Well, we logically guessed that there was a Beatles statue at the Hard Rock Cafe.  We were right about the Beatles statue, but, much to the exasperation of the kind (though exasperated) Hard Rock Cafe staffer, it is not there.  It is in a shed.  In a parking lot.  Behind the McDonald's.  You can't even go in.  Not kidding.

We were instructed to take a picture.  It was hard through the glass.  Michel was having difficulties with the sun at this point in our picture taking.

Romantic Level: Pbbbth.  Thumbs down.

Our next hint directed us to the Anti-Cruelty Society where we were encouraged to go cuddle with the animals.  Unfortunately, this does not work for us because Michel is allergic to cats and dogs, and I would want to adopt every single one we played with.  The other option was to watch other people cuddling and adopting through the windows.  I am pleased to say that many of the animals were in the midst of being adopted that day.

Romantic Level:  High if you are in a position to either play with or adopt the animals, which you are all encouraged to do.

We then found our way back toward the shopping area just west of Michigan, looking for an "abstract statue of a voluptuous woman."  We decided this was it, and the picture we were instructed to take ("looking sexy"...we did not succeed) was accepted.  That being said, I have searched the City of Chicago's public art records for at least 30 minutes and have not been able to find out what this statue is or who it is by.  So if any of my art friends out there have some insight into this work, we would definitely appreciate it.

Romantic Level:  Medium.  Would have enjoyed it more if we had any idea of the identity of the piece and artist.

Next stop was Nordstrom to locate the designer who put his or her name to the perfume, "Romance."  We walked in, asked, and were told Ralph Lauren by a rather prissy perfume department person.  Nordstrom is currently under construction, so no pictures.  

Romantic Level: Um, ok?  Low.

We were beginning to think that Stray Boots had failed us, that this scavenger hunt was a waste of time, but suddenly, things began to improve.  Clues pointed us to this super cool jazz record shop, The Jazz Record Mart, filled with posters of the jazz greats like Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, and Duke Ellington, the entire Marsalis family, among others; records of all genres of American and international jazz, along with jazz-adjacent music (some classical, some Broadway and film soundtracks, even a recording of Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore); and a wide variety of other resources for the jazz lover.  It's rare to find such a great record store these days, and we would love to go back and spend more time hunting through the displays to see what gems we could find. 

Romantic Level:  Hot socks!  It hits on all sixes and is hip to the jive! 

A quick jaunt next door brought us to After-Words Books.  We were supposed to find a quote from the poem "A Few Figs from Thistles" by Edna St. Vincent Millay, and we soon did so among the quotes wrapping around the columns that run through the middle of the store.  It is a gorgeous store selling new and used books, and it has an apparent penchant for slightly under-appreciated genres.  Their mythology and fairy tale selection is the best I've ever seen in a store.  It covers both the first floor and basement of its building, and we're looking forward to visiting again soon.

Romantic Level:  High, especially for book lovers.

Finally, it was time for our hunt to end at a blue house full of music.  Yes, that's right: House of Blues Chicago.  Neither of us had ever been to House of Blues in any city, and we were pleasantly surprised.  The lobby is super cool, if overrun with tourists and (apparently) school groups, and we're going to keep an eye on their performance schedule.  

Like any relationship, this scavenger hunt had its low points.  Fortunately for us, the high points more than made up for the low, and we enjoyed getting to know a neighborhood that we had been to but not spent any meaningful time in.  In fact, we enjoyed it enough that we're going to do the Lincoln Park tour with visiting friends soon.  Plus Stray Boots asked for our feedback, both on quality of the tour and on updates they needed to make, allowing us to alert them to the bistro change and the fact that McDonald's simply isn't romantic, no matter how you swing it.  It's actually a really fun time, so we encourage y'all to see if Stray Boots is doing scavenger hunts in  your city.  It's a really neat way to discover places you might not otherwise.