Trip to Chicago

Back in Jackson, there is definitely a lot of things to remark on, such as my recent trip to Chicago. Here is the abridged version of what happened this past week: ad

Friday: Left Minneapolis after lunch and headed to Chicago to stay with a friend from the Pacific Rim 2K4 trip. However, I decided to make a detour when I figured out that I should be able to make it to Milwaukee in time for the Brewers-Giants game. From my estimate I should have been able to make it to Miller Park by 6:30, which would give me plenty of time to find a parking space and scalp a ticket. However, about 50 miles outside of Milwaukee traffic all but stopped on the interstate. I didn't know if it was rush hour traffic or traffic to the game, but I couldn't believe this was happening so far outside of Milwaukee. 2 hours later I was finally able to see that the delay was caused by an accident. Anyway, I made it to the ballpark a little past 8:30. See the review of the park for more information. After the game I drove to Chicago and was able to make it Allison's place by midnight.

Saturday: Woke up and went to Wrigley with Allison. See the review of the park. After the game AD and I went on a walking tour of downtown Chicago. It was great seeing the Bean, Millinium Park, Lake Michigan, etc. After all of that we went to a burger place and promptly traded stories of the Pac Rim adventure of 2004.

Sunday: AD had to leave to go see her boyfriend, so I went to get a breakfast sandwich and read the Chicago Tribune. After that I went back to Wrigley for the final game between the Cubs and Dbacks. After the game I then met up with Laurie, Ben, and Wan. It was great seeing all of my college friends and enjoying a few cold ones. We went to a fancy Mexican restruant for dinner. While it was good, we all agreed that Mexican is usually better when it is cheap. It definitely made me miss the Nachos al carbon at Fiesta Charra in Oxford.

Monday: Woke up late and after moving my car, I met Ben downtown for lunch. We went to a famouse place called the Berghoff for lunch after I rejected Ben's idea of Chipotle or Quiznos. Despite my love for both of those places, I felt that it was important to get something uniquily Chicago. Anyway, I got the corned hash with toast and two eggs. It was nothing short of amazing. After that I went on a tour of the city on the Chicago river. I highly recommend the tour for anybody visiting Chicago. See below for links that include pictuers and information:

http://www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com/bigmap/outoftown/chicago/rivertour/index.htm

http://www.architecture.org/tour_view.aspx?TourID=8

Anyway, after the tour Ben and I went to the only bar in Downtown where we could find reasonably priced drinks. We think it was called Beef and Beer and it would definitely would be worth another visit. After that we made our way to the Cell and watched the White Sox/Tigers. A rewiew will be coming up.

Some notes (disregarding all things baseball):

1. Calculus, Learning Chinise, Climbing Mt. Everest, and teaching my Mom how to use Snapfish. Yep, I think that is a fair order in degree of difficulty.
2. In a bar in Chicago the drinks didn't have prices, which led Ben, Laurie and I to remark on the infamous Mark Bernheim observation that "if you have to ask, you can't afford it." Only a few select people (Paige Firestone, Julie Johnson) will understand that, but still.
3. I went on a trip to China, Korea, Japan, and Hawaii in 2004 through Miami University. All 28 of us on the trip became extremly close based on our shared experiances. I find it fasinating that 6 weeks could produce friendships that are going strong 3 years later. It wil be interesting to see who is able to make to the Pac Rim 2K14 trip to Beijing.
4. It was great seeing Allison, Ben, Laurie, and Wan. You can tell who is a good friend by how natural the conversations are and I was extremly happy to see all 4 of them.
5. I finished the book Tip Off about the 1984 draft. The good news is that it is an extremly easy book to read. I finished it in less than a week and there was never a time I really wanted to put it down. It was also good finding out more information about Hakeem, Bowie, Jordan, Perkins, Barkley, and Stockton. Especially for me, the Stockton chapters were classic. The bad news is that it is short (281 pages) and doesn't really bring much new to the table. Also, if you don't have a rooting interest on the 6 players above then it will leave much to be desired. Overall I thought that Bondy provided a really good retelling of a story, but it defintiely wasn't a groundbreaking or really memorable book. I probably won't remember that much from the book or care to read it again. I would recommend buying the paperback or checking out at the library if you are a basketball fan, but other than that it is probably best to pass on the book.
6. I am about to start Loose Balls (a book on the Aba) and I am somewhat nervous about starting it. I am afraid we are going to have another Fab Five incident where I don't want to talk to anybody until I finish the book. I basically am afraid I am going to lock myself in the room until I finish the book. With those type of expectatins, I hope the book won't disappoint.
7. Chicago is a great food city. There is the perfect mix between chain restruanants and independent restruants. I do feel like my life expectancy would drop about 10-15 years living in the city because of the great (mostly unhealthy) food, but it would probably be worth it.
8. The Saints are practicing at Millsaps College in downtown Jackson. I think my Dad and are going to make the short trip to go see Drew Brees, Reggie Bush, and hopefully the future 2007 Nfc champion. For me it is just shocking to think of the Saints as actually being a decent football team.
9. I would defintely recommend a trip to Chicago. As long as you don't plan to use your car much (the traffic and parking are awful) then it is definitely worth a trip to see. As for living there, everyone I talked to really likes it even though it makes Minneapolis look like a cheap place to live.
   

When I get some time I will review the individual parks.