So, this past weekend we did Insane Roadtrip 2009, take 2. Around 10:30pm on Friday, Dylan, Katie, Cory, Kirsten and I left Blacksburg bound for Milwaukee via Chicago. Dylan drove through West Virginia and Kentucky, pointing out to me (the only conscious one at the time) places he knew, where he lived, and so on. About 20 miles into Indiana, I took over and drove for a couple hours until we were a bit North of Indianapolis and had to stop for gas. I bought gas and then got to pass out in the back for a couple hours as dawn broke and Katie drove us into Chicago.
We parked downtown after a brief journey through the rougher South-side of Chicago thanks to some faulty direction by yours truly. Little sidenote, the garage we parked in happens to be the one used in the opening scene of Dark Knight. Just so you know... moving on. After we parked we walked down towards Lake Michigan and through Millennium Park. From there we went wandering for some Pizza. There's a chain of places called Giordano's, and Kirst and Cory wanted to check that place out since it bears the same name as a family friend. We made our way toward the closest one that showed up on my GPS to learn that it was no longer in that location.
So we made our way back to a different pizza place we had passed that looked pretty good: Pizzano's. We got a sausage, green pepper and buttercrust pizza. It was pretty fantastic. There wasn't as much sauce as there was on the pizza from D'agostino's, which I actually liked: It allowed me to taste the really good sausage and the crust, which was delicious.
After lunch, we made our way out of the city (which was remarkably less painful than last time), and headed for Milwaukee, WI. I napped a bit more on the way up. We proceeded to get slightly lost in first a rich neighborhood, then a very poor one. Eventually we made our way toward the stadium and stopped at a Best Western a few blocks away. We got an executive suite for $140, which was pretty sweet (no pun intended). We relaxed for a while and then walked over to the game.
It was kind of weird at first to be going to a baseball game indoors. However, the atmosphere was incredible. It was just very fun and family friendly. The food was good and relatively cheap ($4.50 for a sausage of any sort you could desire). The game was a lot of fun, there were plenty of little things to keep fans involved. All in all I had a great time, and it was undoubtedly my favorite ballpark of the few I've been to.
After the game, we made our way back to the hotel and promptly zonked out. It added a bit to our trip cost (about $30 a person), but it definitely helped with our sanity and general health. We could have gotten a hotel for much cheaper outside the city, but the convenience was invaluable, and the room was nice.
The next morning we checked out around 9:30 and jumped back in the truck and headed back to Chicago. Sadly, we were unable to take the time to go by the custard place that we had planned to visit. That's my only real regret from this trip. As crazy as it sounds though, I think I'd be willing to go back to Milwaukee. The city seemed really nice from the little I saw of it, and I really enjoyed the Brewers game.
We got off the highway right on to West Addison and parked about a mile and a half from the park. We took a shuttle that was included in our $6 parking that took us right to Wrigley. We took our touristy pictures and went shopping for hats for everyone.
Foolishly, when we parked, we left our sweaters and jackets because it was sunny and we were warm. When we got to our seats, we were decidedly chilly. We were up high, and in the shade. Game-time temperature was 58 degrees. I had never been so cold in August.
Regardless though, I think we all had a pretty good time (though Kirsten and Katie had to buy sweatshirts to do so, and I think Dylan might have been on the verge of hypothermia). The Italian beef sandwiches were quite good. This time I also got a Chicago-dog, which included nacho cheese and hot peppers on a very large hot-dog on a poppy-seed bun. Delicious.
After the game, we decided to walk back to the cars and get a to-go pizza from Dags on the way. Thus, we walked about a mile with a quite heavy pizza before eating it in the bed of Dylan's truck. I love Chicago pizza, but I think I gained ten pounds this weekend.
After that it was a long drive home, which didn't end until 6:30 am on Monday. Just a bit painful on my first day of classes. But, that said, I had a great time, and I think everyone else did as well. Sorry that this was a bit superficial, but I didn't want to write a novel... yet... about this.
All the best to you and yours,
-TES
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