Lakeside, Midwest

We arrived into the chaos of O’Hare airport in Chicago on Sunday 15 April. Mark Harris pulled up to collect us in Emma’s monster SUV, a GMC Denali Yukon nicknamed “the truck”. We sped along concrete freeways, pitted after the winter’s freeze that has not long thawed, before arriving at the leafy haven of Lake Forest which is about 30 miles up Lake Michigan from downtown Chicago.

Sophia has visited the Harris family on an annual basis when I take the girls for a week’s skiing, usually in the first week of April. I on the other hand have not visited since before the birth of Toby, my six year old godson. So a long overdue visit!



Needless to say that Flora and George, the other Harris siblings, have grown considerably since I last saw them.

Lake Forest is a great place to live. The Harris’ house, as well as being attractive and well located, is very comfortable and practical, built in the 1960s, in what the “realtors” describe as colonial style. The location is a natural forest of white oaks. Save for the necessary clearance for development, the trees remain and provide a distinctive character to the neighbourhood, belying the relatively recent age of the housing.

The centre of Lake Forest is one of the most civilized shopping centres I have seen. It is apparently the very first shopping “mall”, but unlike the more recent incarnations of this retail phenomenon it is not enclosed. Parades of shops surround an oblong “square” with further shops on adjoining streets. Very up market, civilized and containing everything that you might need, but with a price to match.

During our stay, with the dollar dropping so that there are 2 to the pound, we have had “retail therapy”. A quite different experience from England as typically you drive to an out of town shopping centre and then drive from shop to shop. Even in Lake Forest, where shopping is a relatively pedestrian affair, there is a drive in bank, library books can be returned “driving in” and there is a drive in Starbucks. Despite this culture, you see quite a few people on bicycles.

We have also been “downtown” twice. On the first occasion Emma drove Sophia and me to the Chicago Yacht Club at Monroe Harbour, for lunch. A really enjoyable meal in unhurried surroundings. The chowder was exceptional.

What a view! What a place to sail! The Chicago to Mackinac race, an annual affair, is from Chicago to the other end of Lake Mitchigan, over 300 miles away. If you win the race you are a “goat”, becoming an “old goat” if you win a number (not sure how many…).

After lunch we headed for the Chicago Art Institute where we viewed the impressionist and post-impressionist galleries and the exhibition of artists associated with Vuillard, a Parisian dealer at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. There were separate displays of the various artists whom he had patronised or in whose art he dealt. They included Cezanne, Gaugin, Picasso, Renoir and a host of others. We spent an afternoon and saw only these relatively small parts of the Institute's permanent displays. Exceptional!

Our second trip was, at Mark’s suggestion, to take the architectural tour on the Chicago River run by Wendella.



A great way to learn about how Chicago developed and why it looks as it does.



The rest of the day involved a wander about Chicago, checking out some of the blues joints and having lunch (at Mark’s suggestion) at the RL Restaurant, which is an extraordinary place. Like the Ralph Lauren shop, which it adjoins, it is wood paneled and old world in a modern way that you would not often see in Europe. Great meal; great fun; great people watching.

After each trip, Mark drove us home in his convertible Saab Aero; more top down wind in the hair moments, with the temperature rising during our stay.

We leave Chicago tomorrow and are about to head out to Francesco’s in Lake Forest with Mark and Emma for our send-off dinner as we fly to NY State tomorrow. Today has involved more retail therapy, in my case in Marks Saab Aero convertible, top down. Then we had a picnic lunch at the Lake Forest beach, a most indulgent affair. The weather has changed for the better during our stay and it was brilliantly sunny with temperatures that saw some (hardy) people sun bathing.



We followed this sunny picnic with a farewell meal at Fracesca's Intimo, yet another great institution of Lake Forest. Good fun...

A really enjoyable stay! It was good to see all the Harris family, but especially to get to know Toby as I had not properly met him previously.

All good things…