So I got up this morning and decided I was just going to drive straight through to Chicago from St. Louis. No detours or stops or anything. It was only a 4 hour and 20 minute drive so it would be no big deal.
For what felt like the entirety of the 4 hour and 20 minute drive I saw nothing but cornfields. Cornfields as far as the eye could see. I played with Snapchat and made quips about it being entirely too rural for my liking, but I survived it and got to Chicago in good time.
Still too early to check in, I went over to the Skydeck. I parked (which cost more like it would in Boston as opposed to the $4 I spent to park in Pittsburgh) and got my ticket.
Quick aside, walking the streets of Chicago I can safely tell you that it more than lives up to it’s Windy City moniker. That was some of the silliest wind I’ve ever been in. I’m by no means huge but I am also by no means this little wisp of a man either and I was having trouble keeping my balance. But I survived and got up to the Skydeck and it was magnificent. During the elevator ride up to the top they had a screen that showed what historical structures we were surpassing as the elevator went up and up. One of which was the Gateway Arch. Looking out the window of the Skydeck, 1,353 feet up, suddenly the 630 foot Gateway Arch seemed like child’s play. I took pictures galore and even ventured out onto The Ledge. The Ledge, as you will see from the pictures, is a glass box that juts out from the side of the Skydeck. Being entirely glass, The Ledge gives you the opportunity to stand and look down through the clear floor to the Earth some 1300 feet below. I assumed I’d have no problem on it, but let me tell you it was freaky. Taking that first step onto something that it completely see through like that was very weird.
After taking as many pictures as I could take I got some lunch at Giordano’s. I had to find out if this Deep Dish Pizza thing was really worth it. Still not entirely hungry after engorging myself the night before, I decided for a simple individual pepperoni deep dish pizza. The verdict? It was all right. I wasn’t blown away by it but it was definitely tasty. The best way to describe it is that the crust is basically a shell like a cupcake tin. they layer cheese and pepperoni inside the crust shell and then the sauce is put on last. Like I said it was certainly tasty but it wasn’t anything mind blowing.
My last adventure in Chicago was seeing if I could get a ticket to the Cubs game again the Reds. Thanks to some great advice from the valet at the hotel, I took the train over to the stadium and was able to get a ticket. Let me tell you, it was an experience. I had my first Chicago dog and it was delicious. A perfect dog smothered in sweet onions and tomato slices yellow mustard and more toppings that I’m not even sure what they were all stuffed into a poppy seed roll. I could have eaten 4 or 5 but refrained. My biggest takeaway from this whole experience however, was not a hot dog, it was the people.
Coming off of just going to the Cardinals stadium last night it was easy to see just how different of en environment a Cubs game is. The passion that these fans have is electric. At the Cardinals game it was easy to hear pockets of Red Sox fans mixed in with the Cardinal fans. At the Cubs game I did not hear one Cincinnati Red fan the entire night. These fans cheered from inning 1 all the way to inning 9. That’s not to say they were obnoxious though. On the contrary. These fans were just passionate. They were excited to be out watching their home team play. They made fans like myself, someone who was just there for the game without any real stakes tied to either team, want to join in the traditions. I sang Take Me Out to the Ball Game with a video of Harry Caray during the seventh inning stretch. And when the Cubs wrapped it up in the 9th you can be sure I was singing Go Cubs Go with the rest of the Wrigley Faithful. For one night I was a Chicago Cubs fan. I feel like sports fans could learn something by going to a game at Wrigely. Too often you hear about violent brawls happening between opposing fans, or you go to games and the stadium is filled with fair weather fans who will turn on the team the minute something goes awry. Cubs fans are different I feel like. From my experience anyway. They just want to go out to the stadium and have fun and in the end, isn’t that the whole point of sports anyway? To give us as fans an escape, a respite, from the monotony that is every day life? So yeah you can shake your head and guffaw about some traditions they have, like raising the W flag after each win, but they’re the ones still having fun every time they go to the ballpark. Can you say that about your hometown fans?
So after completing my authentic Wrigley experience I shuffled onto the train shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the Cubs fans. Tired and ready for bed. I got off at my stop and promptly walked 5 minutes in the wrong direction before realizing my error and turning around. Finally making it back to the hotel I got in the elevator and went up to my room…or what I thought was my room. After I got off the elevator I immediately realized I had not one clue what my room number was. I’m pretty sure, the room number I was remembering was the room number I had in St. Louis. I got back in the elevator and went back down to the lobby and sheepishly told the attendant at the front desk I couldn’t remember my room number. She looked it up and I had been off by an entire floor.
And now here we are, 1:53 am Central Time (2:53 Eastern Time) and it’s time for bed. Minnesota is next up, about 6 and a half hours. I’m only planning on seeing the mall though so maybe I’ll turn the alarm off for one night so I can get some sleep. If I’m already mixing up room numbers now how am I going to handle another month of this?
Guess we’re going to find out aren’t we?
Joey's Great American Adventure 
Leave a comment