Chicago

Back in April Diana and I decided that we needed to find a nice weekend get a way for just the two of us. We decided that Chicago would be a fun place to go  since it was somewhat far, but still very easy to get to.

We flew out last Friday in the early morning and took the train into the loop. 

From there we stopped by the JW Marriott to have the bellhop hold our bags for the day and we were off to the tallest building in the world.

It's still the Sears Tower to me dammit.

To get to the top of this thing you have to go down an elevator, snake through a lobby area, get your picture taken, pay $18 each, snake through another area, watch a movie, and then wait in line again for the elevator. The elevator feels like it is moving very fast and you are at the 103rd floor in no time. After a quick calculation I found out that what I thought was "fast" was only 16mph.

Surprisingly there are only 3 floors

Once at the top there were great views of all over the city. It was a gorgeous day and you could see for miles. The big attraction at the top are the 3 glass bottom rooms that put you right out over the sidewalk below.

                           
For some reason I did this lame ass shuffle out onto the platform as if that was the safe way to do it.
We tried to take some pictures with the city in the background by my photography skills can not compete with glass and a bright background.

Soon after we were back on earth and started walking around looking at some architecture and sculptures.

The Flamingo

Picaso (My favorite)

These bulls are like St. Paul's Peanuts characters, only better.

Cloud Gate

Art Institute of Chicago

Now seems like a good time to mention that Lolapalooza was going on in Grant Park that day as well. there were college kids everywhere. It was a real mess highlighted by not being able to see Buckingham Fountain because it was enclosed in the festival grounds. There was a Japanese couple that were standing at the entrance to the park to see the fountain as well and they kept looking down at the map and back up, as if they were somehow lost. Sadly, they were not, some young kids just wanted to listen to Nine Inch Nails.

After that we had lunch at the Sweetwater Grille, which was great and had an awesome beer selection. We were soon headed to Navy Pier to ride the ferris wheel and then headed back to the Marriott to collect our bags and wait for my friend Dave to pick us up.

We went to Giordano's for some Chicago deep dish and then over to Hugo's Frog Bar for a night cap.

Saturday morning we got up, had breakfast and headed back into the city to drop our stuff off at The Westin and head out for a little pre-gaming at Harry Carey's.

I don't remember a lot about Harry Carey and was not old enough to truly appreciate the way he broadcast games, but I just consider myself lucky to have watched enough Cubs games on WGN to get experience his work live.

Heading to Wrigley you could tell that there is a real culture or vibe on the north side when there is a home game. People out on their balconies drinking and socializing, streets closed down because bar patrons are spilling into the streets. It's the culture that we are told will develop if only we get a new stadium, and it hasn't...

                            

Dave was able to get some great seats from work. We were right behind the visitor (Dodgers) dugout, 9 rows back. It is the way to watch baseball. I was most excited to get a chance to see Yasiel Puig play, and continue the great start to his career.

Puig's first at bat

It was never really much of a game. The Dodger's played well and the Cubs did not. Final score 3-0. I was really hoping for Puig to have a good game (which he did) and that the Cubs would be winning most of the game so that the fans were excited.

Quick tangent: The last time I was at Wrigley Field was 1998 in a game against the Phillies. Kerry Wood had just came on the scene and struck out 20 the game before, this was his first home game since and everyone was there early and excited. This was also first year that Sammy Sosa was really chasing the home run record. Well, long story short Sosa hit 2 home runs as the crowd went fucking nuts, and Wood struck out 11 and hit a home run himself as the Cubs won 9-4. It was the 3rd best game I've ever been to behind Game 1 of the 91 World Series and Game 163 of the 2009 season.

After the game we went out for sushi where I had a $9 Summit Saga (Low light of trip) and then went back to Navy Pier. Dave had a work function that he said he had to go to "Since I'm the boss."  He tried to play it down a bit, but it was great to go. We went out on this Seadog boat that was supposed to go fast (it didn't) but was fun to be out on Lake Michigan regardless.

After cruising around for about 30 minutes we got to watch the fireworks from a great vantage point and then headed back to shore.

Once again my shitty photography

Not wanting to end the night we planned to go to a place called "Howl at the Moon" it is a popular piano bar and looked like a lot of fun. When we arrived there was a line about a block long and people were complaining about the line not moving. We decided to abort that plan and head back near the hotel. We ended up at Harry Carey's again for a couple more rounds and then off to sleep.

We flew back Sunday morning and were back at the house by noon. It was an awesome trip, that I still catch myself thinking about a couple weeks later.

I'll be back