Chicago Trip

I had never been to Chicago, but it was fitting to go this summer to round off my tour of major midwest cities that I have visited or driven through this summer:  Minneapolis/St. Paul, Des Moines, Omaha, and Kansas City.

 

 

The drive from Sioux City took about ten hours.  A good two hours were spent in stop-and-go traffic from Aurora (party on) to Chicago; the drive back home only took about eight hours.   

 

 

I have to say that I hate tolls.  I just read that the Twin Cities are looking to add some tollways and that would make me sad.  They are such a pain in the neck, especially when you have to pay to exit the tollway.

 

 

On the way into the city, we saw this guy dancing around on an overpass sign.  I quickly grabbed my camera and snapped the scene.

Hopefully he got down safely...  it was a long way down to those speeding cars beneath.

 

 

A glimpse of the city coming in...

 

 

Driving underneath the Sears Tower.  Although the traffic was horrible around Aurora (it was five o' clock on a Thursday) once we got into the city, the traffic wasn't very bad.

We found Aimee's mom and brother who we would be staying with.  The reason Aimee's brother was there is because he is taking a two week comedy writing and improv course at Second City.  Our first night we ate at Dick's Last Resort.  It was kind of an interesting place... the gimmick is the wait staff is purposefully rude.  So when we sat down at our table, our waiter walked up, threw the menus in a big pile, the napkins and silverware randomly all over the table and said "here ya go here's some stuff, I'll be back later."  

 

 

After dinner we checked out Navy Pier.   Here's a view of the skyline from it.

The next day we checked out the Museum of Science and Industry.  They had an amazing model railroad that went around a mockup of the city of Chicago.

 

 

 

 

 

The main attraction right now is their "Action!" movie making exhibit.  They had a bunch of props from well known movies... here are a few.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Museum of Science and Industry is also where they faked the moon landing of Apollo 11.  

 

 

They also have the Apollo 8 space module that orbited the moon.

 

 

Overall the museum was a pretty good time.  If you like science and/or industry, I highly recommend it.

 

 

I saw this little guy on the street and had to take a picture.

Friday night we ate at Pizzeria Uno.   I gotta say that the Chicago style deep dish, at least at Uno, wasn't my favorite.  I much prefer Great Plains in Ames or pretty much any of the places we got pizza in Europe (although the deliver charge from there can set you back a bit).  

 

 

That evening we went to a performance by the Blue Man Group.  I saw them a good five? years ago in Boston but the show was still amazing the second time around.  Everyone loved the production.

 

 

 

The next day, Saturday the 17th, the Cubs were playing a day game against the Brewers.  We really wanted to go but didn't have tickets, so Aimee and I got up early and took the "L" to Wrigley to stand in line to try to get some tickets.

The ticket window opened at 9am.  We got there at about 8:30 and got in the line with about 300-400 people in front of us.  We had heard that on the day of the game they open up some tickets for the game that was otherwise sold out (Cubs tickets sell out immediately, they are hard to get unless you go on eBay or know somebody).

We didn't know if we were just wasting our time, things were looking sort of grim.  At nine they announced to the crowd something about "standing room tickets left only" and a few people gave up and left the line.  We stayed in it and it moved relatively quickly.  When we got up to the window we asked how the standing room tickets worked.  It turns out they are first come first serve general admission in special designated areas- mostly back along the back wall of the lower level.  We didn't look forward to standing the entire game but we bought four tickets, because, hey, it's Wrigley field. I'd stand on my head the whole time just to experience a game there.

The tickets weren't too bad- only twelve bucks each.  Even though the game started at 3:20, we decided we'd try to get to the Field right when the gates opened at 1:05 so we could find a good place to stand.  Another incentive was that it was free away-hat day to the first 10,000 adults.

 

 

When we came back before 1:05 to get in line, I saw this sign right inside the gates.  "Spectators are FORBIDDEN to enter or throw objects on PLAYING FIELD."  I wonder if that applies to home run balls hit by the other team?

 

Click on the picture for a bigger version

 

When I first walked up the gate up onto the field what struck me immediately was how close you were to the diamond.  It was much more immediate than when I first stepped into the Twins' Metrodome, which seemed much bigger and imposing.  

 

  Heyyy click on the picture for a bigger version, would ya?

Although we didn't get one, if you want to nab a ball, I recommend getting there early and hanging out along the sidelines during batting practice.  

We scoped out the best place for our "standing room."  At first we chose a spot right off of first base, but the persistent wind made us change spots to directly behind home plate.  It was a little less windy and the view was also better.

 

Here we are with our free hats.  One of the ushers was nice enough to take our picture.

After about the second inning we saw some seats were still open so we grabbed some a few rows ahead of us.  At first we were a little worried someone would show up and kick us out, but we got lucky and never had to leave.  We had a nice free little upgrade from our $12 standing room to $26 Terrace Reserved (section 221).  We were definitely not the only ones to do this.  A group of about five people were kicked out near us when ticket holders came.  Around the eighth inning Aimee's brother Ben and I joked that the people with tickets to our seats would probably show up: "Well, it's the eighth inning, here I am.  What'd I miss?"

 

Sammy trying to knock the leather off the ball versus Sheets

 

 

The seats were pretty good- the only downside being that with the terrace above you, you can't see the ball when it pops up very high.

 

 

Cubs win! Cubs win!

 

The game itself was great.  It was a bit of a pitcher's battle for a while, but Sosa, Alou, and Patterson homered to clinch a win, with Greg Maddox pitching a very impressive complete game shutout.

That evening we met up with Aimee's old roommate Phill who lives in Chicago.  We ate at the House of Blues then checked out the Millennium Park, which officially opened the day before.

 

 

Millennium Park was very cool.   In a city that already has a million things to do, the park was icing on the cake.  I highly recommend checking it out.

 

 

This is the "bean," an all-reflective sculpture that you can see the whole skyline in.  It's not quite done, you can see the seams which will be filled in eventually.

 

 

 

Take that, Oprah!

 

 

The park also had these giant monolith-type structures with video displays of various faces and water flowing down the sides.

 

 

...which inexplicably spit on you if you wait around long enough.

Overall, for my first time in Chicago I think it was a great place to visit.  Being there three nights we barely scratched the surface of things to do there, so I'd like to go back someday.  One nice thing about Chicago is that the people seem a lot friendlier than in New York.  New York is a lot bigger, but the people there seem to only want to mind their own business and people assisting you in stores or cafes want to deal with you as quickly as possible.  Walking down the streets of Chicago after a Cubs game, it isn't unusual for a stranger to stop you if you're wearing Cubs attire and ask who won the game.   

 

 

copyright 2003 andy langager