Catching my breath

Whew! After one big weekend with the house party, it took me a bit to get back to my usual tranquil self. Just as I was getting to that point, we were off for another weekend, this one in Chicago!

(It’s not that I don’t enjoy the heck out of these weekends and have a blast. I do! But I’m a classic introvert who needs time to recharge. That much social interaction is definitely fun for me, but it also exhausts me.)

After driving through a torrential downpour and apparently a couple of tornado warnings in the area, we were happy to get checked in at the hotel, the Majestic. It’s an elderly beauty in the Lakeview area, close to Wrigleyville. We’ve stayed there a few times and it’s a nice, reasonable place. Not as ritzy as some places we’ve stayed, but it’s got some great amenities, a gorgeous lobby, and it is in a lovely residential area. It’s fun to walk to Wrigley Field and check out all the apartment buildings and beautiful flowers that so many people in the area seem to put out in their small yards. It’s one of our go-to hotels!

We walked a few blocks in the rain to grab a bite to eat and had some great burgers and beers at Rocks. We realized that we’d been there there year before when we went up for a Cubs game with Tom and Diana. I don’t think I had a burger last time, but I sure enjoyed this one. It was quite good!

We weren’t out late, because the next day at noon was a Cubs game! It turned out to be a perfect late summer day and was made even better with a Cubs win. They almost let it slip away, but the Cubbies prevailed and they are still doing surprisingly well this late in the season. After the game, we went back to the hotel room to watch Notre Dame take on the Ramblin’ Wreck and we won THAT game, too. Again, Georgia Tech gave us a scare, but we hung on to beat them. It was a good sports day for us!

Then we hopped in the car and headed to a Chicago suburb to our friends Joe and Maria’s house. Other friends (George and Karen) were there, too, and it was so nice of Joe and Maria to have us over! (We all met through Bob, who did the house concert.) We had some amazing deep dish pizza—nobody does deep dish pizza like Chicago—and Joe shared some of his more interesting (and potent) beers. Really delicious stuff that is more like a wine than a beer. There may or may not have been an incident where it was determined if two people can fit into the trunk of a Corvette. (Yes.) Arcade games were played and it was a very fun evening!

The next morning it was back to the Bend and trying to get back to our usual routine. As always, we had a wonderful time in Chicago and look forward to our next visit! Now I have all week to recuperate and then it’s our first Notre Dame football game of the season on Saturday. The weather looks to be beautiful all week, including for the game, and I’m trying to soak up all the sunshine and warmth possible before the cool weather sets in. Tailgating will be happening this Saturday!

I’m sorry to see summer winding down, but it’s been a great one, and I’ll look forward to the next one. As always!

I’m out of order!

I’m going back over a week, to our Chicago weekend. I’m sorry I’m so behind, but there were quite a few pictures to download, and we’ve had enough going on that I haven’t made the time to get to them.

We met in the lobby around 11:30, and headed out to Wrigleyville. The hotel was within easy walking distance of Wrigley Field, and it was a beautiful day! We kept an eye out for a place to grab a bite to eat before the game, and ended up at a place called F. O’Mahoney’s, a little Irish pub near the ballpark. Along with our food, we had a couple of beverages, and after the previous night at Buddy Guy’s, a pitcher of mimosas tasted mighty good! Gotta get that Vitamin C, you know.

Then it was off to the ballpark. Everyone seemed to be in a great mood, because it was such a nice day, and we were heading to THE greatest ballpark in the country! (I haven’t been to Fenway, but Ken has, and says Wrigley is better...prettier and more charming, or words to that effect. I think it’s the ivy-covered walls.) Our seats were fantastic, behind the Cubs bullpen and just four rows up. We proceeded to watch the Cubs lose 4-0, but you know, we really weren’t expecting much. We’re Cubs fans, after all. And I say that with great love and affection for the Cubs. It’s our lot in life to see them tank year after year, but that doesn’t mean we don’t love them or don’t have a great time at Wrigley. We were hoping that Notre Dame alum Jeff Samardzija (he played both baseball and football at ND and chose baseball for his pro career) would be pitching, but no such luck. We got Travis Wood instead, and he’s one of their better pitchers, along with Samardzija.

Speaking of Notre Dame, the guy who sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” in the 7th inning stretch was Digger Phelps, former basketball coach for the Irish and current analyst for ESPN. He did a great job, and it was fun to be there and sing along and root for the Cubbies!

We really enjoyed our day, and one of the fun parts was the usher who was covering our area, Jim. The guy was super cool, taking care of problems and putting out fires, and just generally a nice guy. Ken asked if I could come down to the wall and take a few pictures, and Jim said no problem, as long as I don’t try to chat up the players, and do it between innings. I got a nice picture of the bullpen and the field because Jim let me down there!

After the game, we started making our way back to the hotel, and stopped in at a place called Rock’s Lakeview for dinner and beverages. Noisy as hell, but the food was decent, and it was fun to enjoy the open windows and the party atmosphere of Wrigleyville on game day.

Then we went back to the hotel and crashed, because Happy Fun Party Time™ wasn’t going to be happening two nights in a row!

That was our day at Wrigley Field. At least one more Chicago post, about our visit to the Art Institute on Sunday, and I hope to get that done this week, but no promises...lots going on this week!