A trip to Chicago with your family and two best friends. Why you are in Chicago in the first place is to celebrate your mom’s new work position! You keep a mental checklist of all the sights you have seen and things you have done. You end up having an everyday event with a unique twist.

We started our day, my family and friends--Kordelia and Andrea, by hopping on the bus and taking it to Watertower Mall on, none other than, Michigan Avenue. Obviously, we were there to shop, but we didn’t have much luck. So, with no bags in our hands, we proceeded to hopefully, some sweeter success. All of us jostled through the crowds to Ghirardelli and The Hershey’s Store. Stomachs grumbling, we paraded to Girardelli, to get a free chocolate square of course! The magnificent smell of brewing chocolate was almost too much. Every breath filled our lungs with chocolatey air. We made a loop around the store so it didn’t look like we wanted just the sample, although it was the truth; then we were out the door!

Exiting Girardelli was a definite reality check--the city sewers greeted us which is less pleasant than chocolate, to say the least. Still empty-handed, together we entered the wonderland of Hershey’s. We got a free sample there as well, but that was not what we were there for. You could hear the candy rushing down the machine; there you became a “worker” and got a bucket of candy--for a price. the cries of kids wailing, “Can I please get this, Mommy?!” were heard with every turn of a head. It was like they were all parrots, imitating each other’s phrases. Shortly after, we struck luck at a candy store of all things! I got a pack of Twizzlers Peel ‘n Go. As for Andrea and Kordelia, they each got a pack of foot-long Twizzler's. Once all of us were ready to leave the sgary paradise of Hershey’s, we started toward the bus top to head back to where we were staying. I for one thought we should get some well-deserved rest after all the walking! In the distance, our bus slowly pulled away from our stop; despite our efforts, we missed our ride. “Now what’s?”’s seeped into the air. We looked to see what was around and Louis Vuitton. While waiting, we gazed in awe at all the prices there, which, I guess, is to be expected from Louis Vuitton. One of the more extravagant pieces induced a price guessing game. Those who guessed: Kordelia, Andrea, and I, were way off: $17,000, $1600, and $7500. This questionably priced item was a diamond ring worth $47,000. This caused “Wow!”’s, various “Ooh!”’s, and assorted “Yikes!”’s. We retreated from the exorbitant cove just as our bus returned.

The smell of Chicago sewers was prominent as we approached the bus. A flood of people piled into the bus, it getting more congested with each body that boarded. Then we got on. We approached the machine that ate our money for the ride, its gears, very audible, as they turned. We scanned the bus; there were no seats available and barely any room to stand. People were elbow-to-elbow while sitting, whereas those who were standing hund onto the rails above. The sound of the roaring engine muffled any voices of the pedestrian swarm. Scrambling, we found a place for us to cling as the bus pulled away from the stop. My brother and his friend flung back and forth with every pause as they played “Jello” during the bus ride. Andrea, Kordelia, and I saw that the turntable in the center was open and not packed to the brim. With attempted balance, we started towards the center turntable.

Our laughter wasn’t blanketed by the bus engine, neither were our shrieks and squeals. Trying to hold your poise during a bus ride, while on spinning ground, in much harder than it seems. After a minute or two, we realized our stances made us look like we were surfing. That was the start to bus surfing.

Not only were we in Chicago, we were “surfing” in Chicago. We “surfed” the whole bus ride, even when there were plenty of opened up seats. My brother and his friend even joined the bus surfing group eventually. Every bus ride from then on was spent bus surfing. So, a little thing like moving to a center turntable while trying to balance, is one of the more memorable events that we had there. And to think, it all started with a missed bus and then elbow-to-elbow bus ride.