Chibloggo: The Windy City Chronicles (Part 1)

You ever have expectations for something become so large that there's almost no way they can possibly live up to the fantastical images your mind has created? I single- handedly ruined the movie Training Day for Ben before he saw it by building the hype to a point where no matter how much he enjoyed it, it would fall short of the lofty expectations I set. I think for me, many trips are the same way. Rarely does everything go as smoothly as planned, and it's not realistic to think that there won't be at least some logistical issues to subtly change one's mood through the duration of their travels. My trip to Chi-town this past weekend was the exception to the expectation rule. Allow me to share with you a 2-part diary of my time with Tommy Boy and company, which exceeded the unreasonably high hopes for it I had going in...

Thursday

11:15am - I decided to go into work for a few hours since my flight wasn't leaving till 2:15pm. It was pretty cool to see my coworkers excitement for my trip, which I had been beaming about for weeks. They knew how much of a big deal it was, and that it became an even bigger deal before when I purchased the Stanley Cup Game 1 tickets. There were points where I was visibly giddy, and they seemed to feed off that energy. Very cool stuff, and I believe a natural part of having great coworker chemistry which we have. I told Desmond that I was leaving for lunch, and that I would see him on Tuesday. I found out later, and not surprisingly, that he just heard the "lunch" part and apparently was talking about me the next day as if I was absent from work because I was still on my lunchbreak from the day before.

11:53am - Arrived home, where my sis was waiting to drive me to the airport. 2 hours before, she had signed for the Flyers tickets, which were overnighted to me just in the nick of time. She agreed to stop and let me treat her to some Philly Flavors Ikeem while en route to Philly International. Needless to say, a ride to the airport, Stanley Cup tickets in hand, and some ikeem to get us on our way was a recipe for a perfect start to a trip.

12:55pm - Got to the port, snagged my carry-on bags, and started the process of getting to the actual gate. The process was far more painless than I imagined, and I was sitting for a mere hour before the 2:20 departure time.

2:12pm - Began to board the plane, with the LOST finale fresh in my mind, sparking a train of convoluted thoughts regarding planes, death, tropical islands, and whether or not I was an in-closet science fiction fan. (I decided on no, because outside of Star Wars and some LOST episodes, I really think the genre is painful. That, and I already filled my nerdiness quota with fantasy sports)

2:37pm - Aaaaaaaaaaaaand Liftoff. A few minutes in I convince myself there is no shot of me sleeping, so I opted for reading and playing a game I call, "Guess what's on the stranger's Ipod, and creepily try to glance over and find out when they're looking the other way or sleeping." This game, and all its many variances, is eventually going to get me into a VERY awkward situation.

3:35pm (Central Time) - The Southwest Airlines Flying Jawn touches down in Chi-Town while 2 babies, a black boy and a white girl, curiously stare each other down. Meanwhile, their fathers are holding them like ventriloquist dummies, speaking to each other from the baby's perspective. Dad 1: "Hey girl, what are you doing this weekend? We should hang out" Dad 2: "Well you know I am just super busy. Eat, sleep, poop, eat, sleep, poop." ....and so on, back and forth....absolutely dynamite moment even before setting a foot on the Illinois ground.

3:46pm - After finding out that Tom is caught up in some traffic, I take the time to grab a bag of pretzels and a dollar lottery scratch-off ticket. My thinking with the ticket was simple: If I hit big, not only do I cover the price of the Flyers tickets but also have a fantastic story to start my trip. Alas, it was a dud, but it was a chance worth taking. I try to take huge risks like buying buck lotto tickets, if for no other reason than to live on the edge. I am such a baller sometimes.


4:45pm - Tom eventually gets to Midway and we head back to his work & residence, while agreeing that the trip sneaked up on us. Arriving at the Mercy Home, I instantly feel comfortable. Tom hooked the room up with a welcome sign, as is the tradition with every guest that stays. He went far past the usual guest welcome though, adding a liberty bell-shaped Phillies banner, some bottled water, a tastykake and a "doll" with a Phillies Jersey to the room's decor. Finding an old acoustic guitar proved to be the final piece to the puzzle, and I ended up rocking out in a rocking chair in my room in brief moments of down time throughout my stay.

5:32pm - Tom introduces me to Binny's, the Wal-Mart of alcoholic beverage purchases. I have to take a few minutes, overwhelmed by the beer selection and the equally outstanding prices. Tom and I grab a 6-pack of 312, a Windy City special, and head back to my new home away from home.

6:03pm - Still in shock that we actually are going to be in attendance for the Flyers game, we get on the topic of the Broad Street Bullies special on HBO. Sure enough, we turn to HBO and it's on, and only 3 minutes in. I can get on board with any well-made documentary, so you can imagine my thoughts on a well made documentary on a subject that interests me. We stay mesmerized by the tube for the next hour, enjoying some quality brews while we lounge.

7:09pm - Out we go to Giordano's for some deep dish pizza. I had heard mixed reviews about the whole deep dish scene, but this is the conclusion I came to: It may be called pizza, but it has to be evaluated by its own rating system. It's like comparing a golden retriever with a wolf. And best believe, I wolfed down my fair share of the delectable local favorite.

11:35pm - After getting to meet a good handful of Tom's 13 roomates, we went out with 2 of them, Erin and Rachel, to a local watering hole owned by a couple of diehard Blackhawks fans. Beautiful night, as a cool Chicago breeze blew through the open windows in the front of the building where we sat. Just a perfect end to the first night, totally laid back and relaxed before the schedule began to pick up in the days to follow.

Friday

9:51am - Wake up up after a comfortable night's sleep, cop a shower, and it's off to a coffee shop for some breakfast. The place was excellent, think Starbucks but with better coffee and without the pretentious names of drink sizes. So it was the Fennario of Chicago more or less.

11:25am - Hop on the El to Wrigleyville. Chicago's transit system makes Philly look like they are still in the horse and buggy days. Maybe I'm overstating the point, but at very least, I never felt my life was in danger from the potential communicable disease that lurked on any of their modes of transportation. Septa is really a sad organization.

11:55am - We arrive in Wrigleyville. Totally overwhelmed by finally reaching a location of this sports/cultural magnitude, I take the above picture of the street the El stop runs over. One of the transit workers who can clearly tell that I'm out of my element calls me out on taking the dumbest picture ever. This is followed by me cracking up and him giving me and Tom some great pointers to fully enjoy the experience. Everyone in Chicago is super nice. This was a reoccurring theme throughout my exchanges with the locals.

1:06pm - After wandering around Wrigley and taking a sufficient amount of pics, we made our way to our seats. It's important to note that the temperature during my time in the 312 was as inconsistent as my verb tenses in this very blog post. With that in mind, it was a gorgeous 73degrees in the sun and a blustery 18 below in our shaded seats. There were people with blankets and hoodies on, the true veterans attendees of the historic ballpark. We were literally in the top row of the place, but the view was still great and we watched the first few innings in our nosebleeds before finding a new spots to watch the remainder of the game from.

4:22pm - Postgame, we head out to get a first hand look at Chicago's version of Mardi Gras, which happens before, during and after every Cubbies home game. After peeking in a few places we walked down a few blocks to catch the El back. A much quieter, laid back pub caught our eyes as we walked, so we decided to make one last stop before saying goodbye to Wrigleyville. After playing a few games of pool with some locals on a crooked table, we were ready to leave, just had to take a quick leak. The problem was, two St.Louis Cardinals fans thought it would be super classy to consummate their love/beastly urges in a public bathroom, so we debated whether it was worth it to venture in at all. Bottom line we came to: they didn't own the bathroom, and any awkwardness we felt as we beelined it to and from the urinal was surpassed by our desire to make them feel they were not, in fact, entitled to that space. On that note, let's exit Wrigleyville.

7:25pm - Grabbed some much needed grub in the form of a Chi-town hot dog and polish sausage combo. Both incredible, although I definitely understood the special appeal of the deep dish far more than the dog. I'm just coming to the realization that the majority of the weekend was spent heavily immersed in food and sports, surrounded by good company. It's really no wonder it was such a fantastic weekend.

9:04pm - After spending the entire day out, and anticipating a packed day and night on Saturday, we made the executive decision to stay in. I got to know the roomates a bit more and a few other Philly transplants we knew stopped in to visit and have a cold one with us. Great times for sure, as we physically and mentally prepared ourselves for the main event on Saturday night...