So we're currently sitting in Elgin, Illinios, a rural area full of horse crossing signs. Unfortunately, this isn't because we wanted to go horseback riding but because of a leaky tire. Luckily, the Toyota Service Center I brought it into (probably the only one in a 50 mile radius) already has a lot of appointments so we're looking at 1-2 hours hanging out here. Thank God for WiFi.
We headed out of Rolling Meadows (a suburb outside Chicago where Laura lives) and into Chicago around noon. We were looking forward to being tourists, which started right away when we were trying to figure out which entrance to pass our tickets through to the 'L' (the train into the city). The worker asked us, "Where are you all headed?" and Allie answered "Chicago" which he responded, "Yea, where it's a big place". I later tried to reason with her that responding like that was like saying you were going to "New York City" but not specifying where. I had to bite my tongue anyway when a few moments later I was a tourist when I panicked when we were getting on the train and just ran into the closest car (that was filled to capacity even though there were like, 25 free seats in the car they were trying to get into) almost leaving Allie and Jess out on the side because they didn't know where I went.
Once we got down to Millennium Park, everything ran smoothly. Our first mission: Deep dish pizza. We found a Giordano's right near the park to eat. We were starving, and looking forward to food - but for those of you who don't know - deep dish pizza takes 40 minutes to cook! (Chicago Pizza : 0 , NY Pizza :1). We ordered a medium ( we were afraid the small that served 2-3 wouldn't be big enough. When it finally came we were in food heaven. First off, the pie was probably filled with about 5 lbs of cheese (Chicago:1, NY:1) and had a nice thick crust (Chicago:2,NY:1) . Unfortunately the thick crust tasted a bit like pie crust (Chicago:2, NY:2) and the massiveness of the pizza didn't sit well in Allie's stomach for the rest of the day (Chicago:2,NY:3,Allie:-5). So while these New Yorkers enjoyed the pizza thoroughly (and I could have eaten it for every meal) New York pizza still trumps all.
For the rest of the day we were as thrifty (or cheap) exploring the city as possible. Instead of taking the bus tour to drop us off at locations we saved our 25 bucks each and walked around the park (checking out the bean). Then we walked to Navy Pier which is probably 400 times cooler than the St. Petersburg pier and almost has ourselves killed taking a cab over to the John Hancock building (but hey, he got us there fast!) 15 dollars to see the city in the observatory? No thanks, we can see the skyline from below fine. Finally we hopped back on the L to meet Laura at the Cubs game. The train was as full as the subways over to Yankee stadium, but lacked the inappropriate groping felt on crowded NY subways.
Wrigley field was something else - pure baseball without trashy dancers in little skirts, t-shirt shooters, or giant electronic billboards with the players pictures on them. If you go to games for the entertainment side of things and not to actually watch the game, this may not be the place for you. I loved the old fashioned scoreboard - with people hanging out of little windows to put up numbers for all the games (too bad the Rays couldn't pull through with the win). The game was a little slow at first and the Cubs were getting smacked. Finally many home runs later, the Cubs pulled through with a 14-7 win. What makes the field even cooler is the nightlife around it. There are no giant parking lots surrounding it like so many ballparks of today. Instead there were streets of bars, where we celebrated the win with a few beers (15 miller lights?) and some newly made up dance moves.
Okay - I'll add pictures later, but I have to go cut short to pay for the two new tires I have to get (apparently the Car service I got before I left was useless). Good thing we saved so much money yesterday by not buying into all of the tourists traps!!!
We headed out of Rolling Meadows (a suburb outside Chicago where Laura lives) and into Chicago around noon. We were looking forward to being tourists, which started right away when we were trying to figure out which entrance to pass our tickets through to the 'L' (the train into the city). The worker asked us, "Where are you all headed?" and Allie answered "Chicago" which he responded, "Yea, where it's a big place". I later tried to reason with her that responding like that was like saying you were going to "New York City" but not specifying where. I had to bite my tongue anyway when a few moments later I was a tourist when I panicked when we were getting on the train and just ran into the closest car (that was filled to capacity even though there were like, 25 free seats in the car they were trying to get into) almost leaving Allie and Jess out on the side because they didn't know where I went.
Once we got down to Millennium Park, everything ran smoothly. Our first mission: Deep dish pizza. We found a Giordano's right near the park to eat. We were starving, and looking forward to food - but for those of you who don't know - deep dish pizza takes 40 minutes to cook! (Chicago Pizza : 0 , NY Pizza :1). We ordered a medium ( we were afraid the small that served 2-3 wouldn't be big enough. When it finally came we were in food heaven. First off, the pie was probably filled with about 5 lbs of cheese (Chicago:1, NY:1) and had a nice thick crust (Chicago:2,NY:1) . Unfortunately the thick crust tasted a bit like pie crust (Chicago:2, NY:2) and the massiveness of the pizza didn't sit well in Allie's stomach for the rest of the day (Chicago:2,NY:3,Allie:-5). So while these New Yorkers enjoyed the pizza thoroughly (and I could have eaten it for every meal) New York pizza still trumps all.
For the rest of the day we were as thrifty (or cheap) exploring the city as possible. Instead of taking the bus tour to drop us off at locations we saved our 25 bucks each and walked around the park (checking out the bean). Then we walked to Navy Pier which is probably 400 times cooler than the St. Petersburg pier and almost has ourselves killed taking a cab over to the John Hancock building (but hey, he got us there fast!) 15 dollars to see the city in the observatory? No thanks, we can see the skyline from below fine. Finally we hopped back on the L to meet Laura at the Cubs game. The train was as full as the subways over to Yankee stadium, but lacked the inappropriate groping felt on crowded NY subways.
Wrigley field was something else - pure baseball without trashy dancers in little skirts, t-shirt shooters, or giant electronic billboards with the players pictures on them. If you go to games for the entertainment side of things and not to actually watch the game, this may not be the place for you. I loved the old fashioned scoreboard - with people hanging out of little windows to put up numbers for all the games (too bad the Rays couldn't pull through with the win). The game was a little slow at first and the Cubs were getting smacked. Finally many home runs later, the Cubs pulled through with a 14-7 win. What makes the field even cooler is the nightlife around it. There are no giant parking lots surrounding it like so many ballparks of today. Instead there were streets of bars, where we celebrated the win with a few beers (15 miller lights?) and some newly made up dance moves.
Okay - I'll add pictures later, but I have to go cut short to pay for the two new tires I have to get (apparently the Car service I got before I left was useless). Good thing we saved so much money yesterday by not buying into all of the tourists traps!!!
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