Discovered at a National Geographic Traveler writing seminar, Brett Ashley McKenzie won IT over with her unique pitch and her literary name—she tells us her mother named her after Lady Brett Ashley from Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, "because she hoped that I would always grow up to be a writer and because she didn't want my gender to be evident on college applications." Just as her mother hoped, she writes:
Ernest Hemingway once described his hometown of Oak Park, Illinois, as 'a place of broad lawns and narrow minds.' Had the author lived to spend a weekend there today, he might have held his tongue.
Unlike the dull, Prohibition-practicing suburb of Hemingway's childhood, the streets of today's Oak Park are lined with quaint shops, galleries, and cafés. At Ridge Art, you can admire antique relics from the Caribbean, which the author called home for 20 years. Cabernet & Company sells Spanish wines like those Hemingway would have sipped after a Barcelonan bullfight. Visit Minou Cafe and Bakery [104 N. Marion Street; +1 708 848 6540] for an espresso and croissant before perusing Hemingway's works at Barbara's Bookstore.
Café LaGuardia West offers some of the freshest Cuban sandwiches and best mojitos north of Hemingway's beloved Havana. The roasted pork sandwich features tender meat marinated in savory juices on crispy French bread. Pair it with the Hemingway martini, a refreshing mix of vodka, Chambord, and pineapple.
Hungry for Hemingway's Moveable Feast? Café le Coq is as authentic a French bistro as you will find outside of Paris. Drink in the 19th-century decor—the stained-glass window, antique bar, ornate gold-framed mirrors, and cafe-style seating—then select your own drink from the impressive wine menu. The bavette à la Bordelaise (steak with caramelized onions in red wine butter sauce) will fill you up without leaving you overstuffed, which you'll appreciate when the crème brûlée sampler (vanilla bean, chocolate, and white chocolate mocha) arrives.
Italy has been blamed for Hemingway's expatriate tendencies: His time as an ambulance driver during World War I was the author's first exposure to travel, and inspired his novel A Farewell to Arms. Get your own Italian fix at an American Opera Group performance of Don Giovanni.
Spend the night at the Write Inn, across the street from the Hemingway museum. Built in 1926, the inn served as a residence hotel for Chicago's working women who feared the big city. The hotel has been renovated, but the decor and Oak Park's oldest operating lift will convince you that you've traveled back in time. Enjoy Sunday's champagne brunch at the Inn's Hemmingway's Bistro (intentionally misspelled as the bistro is not affiliated with Hemingway). Rooms start at $89 a night, a better bargain (and size) than you'll find anywhere in Chicago.
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