The trip began late in the evening of Tuesday July 20th. Dustin and I were taking a redeye out of San Francisco, stopping in Houston, and then continuing up to Milwaukee, our airport of choice for this trip (because it was a good 200 bones cheaper than anything else). This put us into Milwaukee at around 10:30am CST, and I had gotten maybe 30 minutes of actual sleep. I don't sleep well on planes.
Anyways, since we were in Milwaukee, we figured we might as well see Milwaukee. So, what is there to see in Milwaukee? Um, well, drink beer, and see the art museum...and the Brewers, but we did that another day. So today we ate at a german restaurant in downtown, then headed over to the Milwaukee Art Museum. The MAM was ok. I'm mostly an impressionism fan, and this art museum had very little impressionism (and way more modern than should really be considered art). But it was air conditioned, and I was exhausted, so it was a good choice of things to do.
Then I drew the short straw and had to find my way to Evanston, IL, to where we were staying, while Dustin slept. I'm amazed we are not dead...I was that tired.
In Evanston, we found Dustin's friend Jackie's appartment, and this would be our home base for the next three days, and then one final day at the end of the trip. Jackie was super clutch in this. Without being able to crash with her for half of the nights of the trip, the extent and magnitude of our trip would have had to have been greatly reduced. And Jackie is cool people, even if we didn't see much of her (busy, busy!)...and it was an easy train ride from there into Chicago...so it really was perfect!
After sleeping in on Thursday the 22nd, Dustin and I finally made it into Chicago around 12:30, and headed straight to Giordano's. Giordano's is, without a doubt, the best pizza I've ever had. I cannot adequately describe it's cheesy goodness, you just have to go to Chicago and have it yourself. Seriously, do yourself a favor and go, and then thank me afterwards.
After Giordano's, we headed to the Shedd Acquarium, over on the museum campus. We also walked around Soldier Field (a monument to all that is Bears Football), and then meandered down the lakeside towards Millenium Park and the Bean. I say meandered, but really it felt like we were swimming there. Humidity in the Midwest is no joke. I was sweating like none other. Not fun.
At this point we met up with long lost friend Kyle Hoover, and the three of us had dinner at the Tilted Kilt. Kyle was my bestest friend when we were kiddos, because he lived right across the street. We would hang out all the time! And then he moved to Pleasanton, and we saw each other less. And then he moved to Michigan, and I hadn't seen him sense. It had been like 15 years! Ridiculous. Anyways, it was awesome so see my buddy again, and it was very relaxing to chill at the Tilted Kilt and have dinner and catch up with my friend (and enjoy the AC).
The next day, Friday the 23rd, began the most epic baseball roadtrip in history...with the most epic day of baseball in history. Over the next 6 days we would see 6 baseball games in 6 different ballparks in 5 different states. We started this part of the trip off with two games in two states in one day. The first game was a day game at Wrigley Field. Wrigley has always been right at the top of my list of ballparks I wanted to catch a game at. I mean, it's so picturesque, and steeped in history. How could I not want to go there?
And it lived up to my hopes and expectations! We get off the train at Addison, head down to the street, and even though its 2 hours before the game, the streets are hopping. I mean, there's people everywhere. It's awesome. We circumnavigate the stadium, get our tickets, and then head inside the friendly confines.
Wow, what an awesome experience. The ivy on the walls, the center field scoreboard, the seats on top of the buildings across the street in the outfield. The whole thing just feels like baseball, and I love it. Our seats are somewhat behind home plate, about 30 rows or so up...putting us in the shade, which is very comfortable. The game is quick, with the Cubs winning 5-0 over their hated rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals. Awesome. But no time to sit and enjoy the victory. After the last out is recorded, and the victory song is sung, it's back to the train, back to Evanston, and into the car for our treck to Miller Park in Milwaukee, WI.
Our second baseball game in our second state of the day was an exciting tilt between the Brewers and the Washington Nationals. We get to the parking lot about 10 minutes before first pitch, are walking across the bridge from the lots to the park during the National Anthem, and finally get to where our seats are supposed to be shortly after the first pitch. But our section is roped off when we get there. The usher tells us that there is a cracked pane of glass in the roof over our section and it is closed. We are being reseated...in the club section! Boo-yah!
The club section was pretty swank. All indoor, AC'd hallways. Carpeted. And then the food was very nice. There was a good BBQ place, and a good seafood buffet, and then a bar with anything you could want to drink. Very nice. Upon getting food and whatnot, we returned to our seats, which were 4th row from the front of the section (300 level). So, yeah, pretty sweet. Miller Park is a very interesting park. There's a slide in left field. I think it's for the mascot, although I never saw it in use. It has the ability to be closed, but tonight it was open. And the sky up there around sunset was gorgeous. All in all, a good ballpark experience.
After Jim Edmonds hit the home run (Milwaukee shoots off fireworks for home team home runs...woot!), and the Brewers held on to win (more fireworks), we jumped back into the car and drove back towards Evanston. As we're driving along, ahead of us is nothing but a wall of thunderstorms. Looking into a thunderstorm from the side is pretty awesome. Flashes of lightning happening at various levels in the clouds, punctuating the sky's ominous blackness ahead. Pretty awesome.
When we get closer to Evanston, well, we had caught up with the storm. It was now on top of us. I had heard rumors of awesome midwest storms, but this was unreal. Lightning was flashing constantly. Tons of bolts hitting the ground. And the rain, oh my the rain. Final totals had between 3 and 5 inches of rain falling around Chicago overnight that night. Oh, and the thunder. When the lightning was right above you, the thunder clap was loud enough to wake me up from even my deepest slumber.
The storm was pretty awesome to experience as a Californian, being as we don't get weather out here. But it was annoying to not get a full night's sleep, and the aftermath of the storm the next morning led to more challenges as we were set to embark on our trek eastward to more baseball games!
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