Well haven't posted lately because I haven't done much. Honey does and disc golf along with 2 weekend trips west of Houston since returning from Russia. I did take first place in a doubles tournament with a random partner a couple of weeks ago. I took a trip with Staci and my wonderful Mother In-law Marcella to San Angelo for a visit with her new great grandson Gage a little Smurf(No he's not blue). Then a weekend trip to visit my beautiful daughters in lovely(NOT) San Antonio. It was a great visit Christine started nursing school the previous week and Chelsea was my waitress at Red Robin one night for dinner.
Time to get out of town and check another item off my bucket list Wrigley Field home of the Chicago Cubs. Monday morning I arrived in Chicago and my friend Donie Smith picked me up at O-hare in a Mercedes loaner car. I meet Donnie at Joe Myers when he was parts manager at the Mazda store years back. Donie lives in Houston and works in Chicago so he graciously allowed me to stay at his apartment and even gave up his bed for me to sleep in what a guy! Donie's apartment is a studio on the seventh floor just a couple of blocks from the beach on Lake Michigan and ."The Miraculos Mile". Within feet were bars and restaurants in every direction and people walking the streets and right around the corner was the Viagra Triangle a triangle of restaurants were we ate lunch 2 tables over from Vince Vaughn and family.
Donie got 4 tickets to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field sitting in the bleachers with the rowdy locals. We sat front row dead center field and came just short of catching a home run ball from the Nationals. I ended up glad I did not catch it the guy who did was harassed by the crowd as they screamed unceasingly "Throw It Back" until he finally did. The next batter hit what should have been a base hit but a fan reached out and caught it in field which gave the visiting team another home run. He threw the ball back immediately but then the crowd began yelling "Left Field Sucks"! These guys are serious about there sports around here. Wrigley Field is a great historical stadium still very much as it was when it was built back in 1914, no large signs very nostalgic.
I also rented a bike one morning and rode around downtown on to Shoreline Drive and up to Lincoln Park. The lake,beaches and park were very pretty and cool being next to all the skyscrapers. Later I took a 90 minute architectural boat tour on the Chicago River. A huge variety of styles in building in this city making the tour quite interesting such as The Sears Tower, Trump Tower and The John Hancock Building which I went up to the 94th floor Observatory. A quick subway ride south and a couple block walk I checked out Soldier Field with it's expansion looks like a spaceship landed on the great old stadium(so much for tradition here).
Food was fun here as I tried the Chicago deep dish pizza it was good but I am a New York thin crust guy. I had an Italian beef sandwich with hot peppers dipped in sauce/juice/grease I don't know but it was Hot and Fantastic. The last night we ate dinner at Ditka's Steakhouse were I enjoyed Habanero Margaritas and Filet with blue cheese crust. I had a great time and would go back and visit Chicago again.
Just 30 days and Staci and I will be off to Great Britain for 2 weeks talk about bucket list.
