The Holiday Jones

...Continued from 6/18/2017:

       It was around 10 pm Friday night when Tom and I came rolling into Chicago, tired but grateful to be alive and well (see post from 6/18/2017) for our reunion weekend with our children and grandchildren.

    Our daughter Maria and son-in-law Justin and their two children were flying in from Los Angeles,

...and were staying with our daughter Claire and son-in-law Miguel, who live in Chicago.

     The rest of us,

                                                …Tom and I,

…Tommy and Emily,

….and Theresa and Callie,

…were driving or flying into Chicago from Ohio.
        I’d made arrangements for us to stay at a new hostel -

– that is to say, a  hostel that Tom and I had never tried before – called Holiday Jones and located in the Wicker Park neighborhood.

  The plan had been that we'd all meet up at Holiday Jones at around 4 pm on Friday afternoon then go out somewhere for dinner.  

     But man proposes, God disposes,

..and by the time Tom and I arrived the others had long ago checked in and dispersed, joining the crowds of young people populating  the streets of Wicker Park on a pleasant Friday summer evening.

     Anyway, when Tom and I finally made it to Holiday Jones,

...and, as it turned out,  not the last ones to arrive that night,

...we were warmly welcomed, despite the late hour, by Mike, the friendly, helpful youngster manning the reception desk,

...which we found  located at the back of an apparently popular Wicker Park empanada restaurant called 5411 Empanadas,

...that was just closing for the night when we arrived.

    Our desk host Mike insisted on carrying my suitcase for me as he walked us to our room on the third floor,

...up narrow,  winding  staircases,

...then down narrow, winding hallways,

...done in a sort of urban-industrial-pop-art decor.

     I’d reserved for us a 6-person room with our own bathroom,

...as opposed to having to share one of the community bathrooms out in the hall,

...though we found the community bathrooms to be as nice as our private bathroom. 
     Generally speaking, hostel community bathrooms tend to be a mixed bag consisting  of some of the bathrooms being just a toilet and sink or sometimes just a toilet, some being just a shower,  and some being a full toilet-sink-shower combo.  At Holiday Jones every bathroom in the building is a toilet-sink-shower bathroom and the bathrooms were plentiful, which is really nice, as any hosteler would agree.
      And the bathrooms were  spotlessly clean, as was the rest of the place.  And the beds and pillows were super-comfy.  And the air-conditioning set at the sweet-spot of cool. 
       "Please let me know if there's anything else I can do for you," said Mike after bringing me the extra pillow that I requested.   I thanked him and told him we were good.
         At that moment, thankfully safe and sound, comfortable in my cozy bottom bunk and all settled in for the night, I couldn't have been better in a luxury suite at the Plaza.      

     To be continued...

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