The Windy City: Part II

So, we left off after our tour on Friday afternoon after of downtown Chicago and the Willis Tower. Once we got back to Hyde Park, Aric invited us to join him and the U Chicago D.O.G.S (Department of Geophysical Sciences) softball team who plays every Friday. It turned out they had wayy more than enough players that night, so we all turned to some cornhole and a 30 rack of Pibbers (aka PBR). Probably for the better that we didn't play...it wasn't much of a competition but it was definitely a great time and was fun to meet some of Aric's co-workers.

Little did we know, that 30 pack turned into a liquid dinner for some of us (Al). After the softball game we went to Aric's friend Ann's house, but didn't stay long since she had plans to go to a cat's birthday party (strange, I know). So, we left Ann's and wandered around until we found an appealing bar, which ended up being one where we got a free personal pizza with every beer, so that made it an easy choice. After hanging there for a while, we moved along to another spot with some pool tables and such. It was getting late, so Aric, Mara, Andy and Al made their way back to Hyde Park. But, some of the bars stay open until 4am, so Matt and I forged on and found another bar (we were also enticed by these two girls who said they lived in Hyde Park and were going to some club first, but that fizzled out real quick when they said this club was 40 blocks away). We eventually got a cab and made it back after a looonnggg day in Chi Town.

Saturday, we got some breakfast and then chilled out by Lake Michigan which is only a few blocks from Aric's apartment. Later that night, we hit the town in style and went to the John Hancock Tower downtown for drinks. Probably the classiest place we've been to on the trip, as we were 95 stories up in the Signature Room, with gorgeous views of the city on a clear night. Later on, we met up with Ann and some of her friends at this place called the Hideout, which was a bar/dance club in some strange middle of nowhere part of the city. We were waayyy overdressed but still had lots of fun. We were the last ones there around 2am, and the bartender mentioned this place down the street that was open 'till 4 or 5 so we gave it a shot. Turned out to be this biker bar, which was rather interesting but we only stayed for a beer and then crashed.

It's pretty obvious we were all in need of some R&R, so we chillaxed at the beach and then went to one of Mara's friends who was having a cookout for Memorial Day and played some 'hole. Speaking of that...even though its a little belated a special and sincere thank you goes out to all the men and women who have served or are serving our country to protect our freedom and our country.

Anyways, Matt and Alex both headed back to Boston on Monday, and Aric obviously was busy throughout the week with school and work, so things quieted down quite a bit from there.

We were back at the baseball on Tuesday with a visit to US Cellular Field in the south side. The White Sox were hosting the Texas Rangers (who we've seen twice now), but lost 9-6. We've got another post in the works just for this game, so you can all check that out shortly.

On Wednesday, Andy and I walked around the North Michigan Avenue Area and the Navy Pier, which is a really nice area of the city that runs down by the Lake. Off the charts condo buildings, a nice riverwalk, a huge Ferris wheel, and some restaraunts (including one of Harry Carry's restaraunts that we ate at and watched the Blackhawks/Flyers game.

I had been wanting to check out some museums and such, but they were all pretty pricey so we hadn't done it. Fortunately, we found out that the Field Museum of natural history and the Chicago Art Institute were free on Thursday's, so Andy and checked out both of those in the afternoon. The Field was pretty cool, its prize posession being the largest preserved skeleton of a T-Rex named Sue, and we also checked out a nice exhibit on the Ancient Americas, Africa, and then just putzed around the rest. The art museum was much more entertaining with a great mix of abstract and modern art, architecture and design works, classical pieces, and some renowned paintings including many of Picasso's art (my favorite was The Old Guitarist, a piece I studied in my high school Spanish class with Señor McNee) and Grant Woods' American Gothic, whose detail was both stunning and impeccable. All this staring at walls got us pretty tired, so we had to stop and grab a coffee so we could get going again for the Celtics/Lakers game one of the NBA Finals. We ended up at a sports bar called Mother Hubbards. They had some cool sports trivia where riddles were given and we had to decipher each sports team name...so that kept us busy for a while while we were watching the Celtcs get spanked. Later on we started talked to a woman named Melissa who was sitting next to us. She was from San Antonio and, as a Spurs fan, was rooting for whoever could beat the Lakers. She graciously bought us a beer (thanks Melissa! it was great talking with you and good luck with everything) and we chatted for a while, along with a couple other guys at the bar, one of which was from Wooobahn (Woburn, Ma) and the other from Washington, D.C. Thanks to both of them as well for the beer! After the game, we went to a couple other places that turned out to be wayyy out of our price range, so it turned out to be an expensive night.

Friday was a bit of a slow day, until we again joined up with the D.O.G.S for the weekly softball, and Andy and I both got to play a little bit so that made it fun. Afterwards, the three of us met up with Mack and Ari and we biked to Reggie's, the bar we went to before the White Sox game on Tuesday, to see some live music. We got to see three very interesting and very different bands, but it served for good entertainment for the night. We biked it back along the Lake, but not before I unfortunately blew a tire (sorry Mack!). But, luckily Mack was all over it and had a spare tube and all and changed it in a jiff on the side of the road. It was great taking the scenic route back, with one of the best views of the city we had seen all week.

The week was finally winding down, but we finished it off with great tour of Wrigley Field on Saturday afternoon. We got to walk around the bleachers, learn some history of the and field and the Cubs, check out the clubhouses, the press box, luxury suites, and even went on the field! It made for a great way to finish the trip, and afterwards we got dinner at Harry Carry's other bar across the street and then hopped around for one last night in Chi Town.

We really can't thank Aric enough for everything. We had a blast man and we hope you did too....feel free to come out to Boston anytime you want.

So that brings us to now, as I'm writing this from Edgerton, Wisconsin at Andy's cousin Steve and his wife Traci's house. Thanks so much to the both of you for having us! We'll be going to Milwaukee for the Brewers game with the both of them on Tuesday.

Well that was a pretty epic post, huh? There will be plenty of stories to come, so stick around.