And then there’s Chicago. We squeezed as much as we could into a day and a half in the Windy City after driving down from Appleton. Compared to the small-town rural feel of northern Wisconsin, the 3rd largest city in the United States was definitely a big change. Chicago's skyline trails only New York's, and you feel it walking around.

We joked that the lower levels felt like Gotham, where all the dumpsters were clustered, litter blowing in the wind. The back-alleys and areas under the L train made me wonder if Batman was lurking somewhere hidden up above, waiting to spring upon any nefarious persons. The L train is extremely loud and rickety, giving the city an old-time feel, much different than San Francisco. Water is engrained within the city’s consciousness, with the Chicago River winding around the Loop and vast Lake Michigan dominating the entire eastern side. There are also many water towers dotting the surrounding countryside, as if the infrastructure of the city itself remembers the Great Fire and is unwilling to be too far from water.

The architecture varies on every corner. The birthplace of the skyscraper happened here, and decades of architectural style are visible no matter where you look. You can find Chicago School, Art Deco, Modernism, Beaux-Arts, Gothic, and Postmodernism on display throughout the Loop. Many bridges span the Chicago River, which also creates fun street configurations instead of a simple grid. It's an absolute wonderland for street photography, although I was confined to just my phone.

We saw several major tourist sites for which the city is famous, including the Field Museum, the Magnificent Mile, the Bean and Millennium Park, the Lakefront Trail along Lake Michigan and Ohio Street Beach, the Chicago River and all the Loop's architecture aboard a Wendella cruise, the Sears Tower, the downtown Christkindlmarket, the Chicago Theatre, and 3 awesome Chicago-style restaurants. All in 36 hours! It was nice because there weren't many people around the day before Thanksgiving, so we actually got to enjoy and experience these sights.

All in all, my first foray into the Midwest was kind of what I expected. The people are friendly, the weather unforgiving and cold. The food has direct European roots and yet is distinctly American. Sports are passionately followed, the local teams beloved. There was a congruent feel between small-town suburban Wisconsin and the big cities of Milwaukee and Chicago, as if the region is sure of itself and its identify of being located in the Midwest. It's a different, older, simpler vibe than California, and I very much enjoyed experiencing it.

I'm continually surprised by America's diversity, despite living in a heterogeneous place. People live differently in different states, and yet we're all American. We all want the same thing: a fun, prosperous, safe and healthy life for ourselves and our families. Any contrast in our way of life is miniscule and irrelevant compared to that resounding similarity. From California or Chicago, we can all recognize that.