A nice break away

Chicago was such a fun time.  It was a nice break away from everything.

Friday

I woke up at 4:45 in the morning to finish up some last minute stuff around the house and make sure I was out of the house by 6:30.  I had to drop our dog off at the Pets Hotel right at 7.  I got there a few minutes before and thankfully they were already open.  It didn't take long to get her checked in and I was on my way to the airport. Picked J up at work and we headed through security.  Our flight was supposed to leave at 8:45 am but it didn't end up leaving until 10:30. We were delayed for mechanical issues. We were supposed to land in Chicago at 2:40 and with the delay we landed at 3:05 I believe.  The pilot was hauling ass! We quickly got our bags and headed on the L downtown to the hotel.

The Palmer House Hilton was amazing.   It is an older hotel but it had so much charm.  When we checked in they had rooms available on the executive level that included breakfast every morning and appetizers in the evening for an additional $25 a day.  We jumped on it.  It was a great savings for us because we took advantage of the breakfast every morning.  We dropped our bags off in our room and got a few appetizers to tide us over until dinner.  We jumped on a bus and headed to Navy Pier.  It was so humid the entire time we were there but at least it was sunny. :)  We went up on the ferris wheel and walked all over Navy Pier.  Went to Billy Goat Tavern and had our first old style of the trip. That night we had dinner at Harry Carays. Oh man the steak was so good.  We ended up getting back to the hotel about 11.

Saturday

Our first day at Wrigley! Game was at 12:05 and we got to Wrigley a little before 10.  It was nice to walk around before it got too crowded. We headed to the Cubby Bear and had a beer.  We walked around outside the stadium taking a bunch of pictures.  Went to Murphy's for an Old Style.  The area started to get packed with fans. It was amazing to see all the Cubs fans.  Everyone was pumped for the game.  We met up with my cousins and headed in.  For this game we had seats right behind home plate under the overhang. It worked out perfectly because we were in the shade and there was a nice breeze coming in.  For dinner we went to an amazing pizza place.  J says Chicago pizza ruined him.  He'll never be able to eat mediocre pizza again.  We headed to the Willis (Sears) tower and enjoyed the view.  The sky deck is crazy! I can't believe you're standing on plexiglass 103 stories up. Unbelievable.

Sunday

Game 2.  We got to the stadium right as it opened so we could watch batting practice. Unfortunately due to the rain earlier in the morning there was no bp.  We were happy to see the tarp coming off.  J was worried the game would be rained out. We had seats 10 rows behind the Cubs dugout. They were amazing seats.  Such an awesome view. The game went into extra innings and the Cubs won. We got to sing Go Cubs Go twice in a row this trip!  After the game we went to my cousins house for a bbq.  It was nice to sit out and chat with everyone.  About 7 the humidity finally started to calm down.

Monday

Our last day in Chicago.  We had a tour of Wrigley at 10am. So awesome. We went in the visitors clubhouse, on the field, in the bleachers, got our picture taken in front of the ivy, sat in the Cubs dugout.  It was a great hour and a half.  We got so many great pictures of the stadium.  Our trip was coming to an end and it was pretty sad.  We had so much fun. J fell in love with the city. He was already planning our next trip back.  We went to the Cubby bear and had another beer then headed to Goose Island Brewery in search of Cubby Bear Blue.  Unfortunately they didn't have it.  Before getting on the L and heading back to the hotel to get our stuff...we had a Chicago dog. Pretty sure J enjoyed it because he ate it in less than 30 seconds. We took the L back to OHare and checked in for our flight home. We lucked out and we upgraded to first class. It was so nice having the extra leg room for the flight.