It seems fitting to have started our Road Trip in one “home town” and end it in another, however temporary it may prove to be for Matthew and Sarah. We pulled into Chicago around 6 p.m. on Saturday, August 2 and drove right through the middle of Lallapalooza, which filled Grant Park and the surrounding area. Fortunately, everyone going to the concerts had already arrived, and we breezed up Lake Shore to Sarah’s new apartment. We put the Vette away one more time in a parking garage and celebrated a small family reunion with Laura and Sarah.
Later that evening, Matthew and I had the opportunity to meet Brandon Moss, traded just the previous week from Boston to Pittsburgh, along with his wife Allie at their hotel for a brief visit. Brandon has been trying out PEAKS and has become a believer. They were both very gracious with their time and enjoyable to visit with. They seemed excited about the pending move to Pittsburgh and the opportunity for more playing time. Obviously, he was anticipating great things with his PEAKS!
Then, it was off to dinner with our friends the Hills (the Overland Park Hills, not the MTV Hills) at LuxBar, a noisy, trendy and pricey place on Rush Street. We celebrated Jamie Hill’s birthday as well as Matthew’s a day early and then called it a night before the last game of our trip – Cubs vs. Pirates.
What else is there to say? Along with Yankee Stadium, Wrigley was the only other “old school” facility we visited. Kaufman Stadium is older than all the others, with the exception of these two, but it is clearly not the same generation. I have to put Wrigley far ahead of New York, if only for the ambiance of the surrounding neighborhood. Credit the frenetic activity on the streets around the field, the great watering holes surrounding it, or the creative integration of bleachers on every building surrounding the outfield, Wrigley is a great place to watch a game. Our friend Jeff came through one more time with outstanding seats behind home plate, so we had a great, shaded view for the entire game. Of course, everything at Wrigley shows its age, but at least the concourses were open to the outside and didn’t feel claustrophobic.
We couldn’t ask for a better day and a better way to celebrate Matthew’s 25th b-day than a beautiful day at Wrigley Field. While our loyalties, for the day, anyway, were firmly with the Cubs, it was exciting to see our new acquaintance Brandon Moss hit a home run in his first at bat. After that, the game remained pretty exciting, with the Pirates tying the game in the top of the 8th, only to see the Cubs rally in their half with 3 runs. Final result – Cubs, 8, Pirates 5.
Matthew had one more “major event” in store for us, as the capstone to the birthday bonanza weekend – dinner at Kuma Burger. He has described this unique heavy metal hamburger restaurant/biker bar/tattoo parlor elsewhere – let’s just say it was an interesting place, with really good food and beer. I can’t say I heard a lot of music that was already on my iPod, but it was definitely a dine-again kind of place.
The Wrigley Field Experience
Home Runs
The Weather
The City
The Crowd – attendance was 41,200, always outstanding at Wrigley, and always into the game
The Seats – excellent, although I was disappointed that there was not one foul ball within three sections of us – this should have been souvenir territory
The Company – having the whole family together is always great – a perfect end to a perfect trip
The Passed Balls
Hey, with a glow like this, what could I say that would be negative?
OK, Wrigley is showing its age, but a beautiful day in Chicago makes even old facilities enjoyable.
Oh, and we didn’t really eat or drink anything memorable here – tried a “true” Chicago hot dog and I still don’t get green relish and all the other stuff. With apologies to aficionados everywhere
