Chicago Style

The promised recap!


Okay...you already know we survived the MegaBus to Chicago. What you don't know is that our driver was beyond sassy. I think she might be crazy. Or sleep deprived... All along the trip, she'd narrate to us now and then. (I suspect that it was to entertain herself or to help her stay awake.) We kept hitting the rumble strip, and I'd look up now and again to see her reflection in the rearview mirror, chatting away on the phone. When we finally got to Chicago, she let out this big, victorious, "Whooooooooooooooooo! Whoooooooooooooo! We made it!" It was almost like...this was some unusually large achievement...thus my concluding that she was super tired or something.

After a death defying cab ride to Fairfield Suites, we checked in. Our room was nice...and the entire hotel stay was thanks to Steinvic's well-deserverd anniversary perks he'd earned from work. So awesome! We were right off Michigan Avenue and that location couldn't have been any better. We could walk everywhere we wanted to go.

We hadn't eaten a thing besides a muffin and some snacks, so we headed off to find something good. We saw Pizzeria Due and ducked inside, scoring a table immediately. While we are typically thin crust folks, we do like the occasional deep dish, and when in Rome...

After, we walked around, checking everything out and we ducked into a couple different bars. We called it a night and got up bright and early the next day for the Reds vs. Cubs game.

We rode the L into town, stopped at the Cubby Bear for a pre-game beverage and met up with a friend of ours from Cincinnati who was also there for the game with his girlfriend and her parents. After a few beers and Cubby Bombs, Steinvic and I headed over to Wrigley and found our seats. Did I mention GREAT seats...

We spanked the Cubs, 13 - 3, and even though we were a little concerned that we'd get some crap from the Cubs fans (I had on my Mr. Redlegs shirt), everyone was very nice and friendly.

We went home, freshened up and - since it was the 4th of July and all - considered going to the fireworks, but we were just kind of done with crowds. So, on America's day of Independence, we decided to explore a different culture. It was a long, leisurely dinner and Steinvic's first real Indian restaurant, so that was kind of nice. We watched the fireworks on the HD television in our rooms, lights out, all cozy in our giant bed.

The next day, we visited Navy Pier. Navy Pier to us is what a fabric store is to my Mom. We always plan to go for a little bit, and end up making a day of it.

We spent lots of time people watching, water admiring and beer drinking. Yay! Most of the beer drinking took place at Harry Caray's. ( I should add here that we did go other places, like the phenomenal Stained Glass display and the shops. ) Since our last Chicago visit, Steinvic has wanted to eat a burger at Billy Goat Tavern. (It's the place the cheeseburger, cheeseburger, no Coke, Pepsi, no fries, chips! skit from Saturday Night Live was born.) Because it's kind of a dive, Steinvic was expecting a homemade, satisfying burger. You could barely find the burger for the bun, and it didn't have much flavor. So...he was a little disappointed in that.

And, just to make this day a total culinary bust, that night, we ate at Su Casa. Don't eat at Su Casa. It kinda sucked. It is expensive. You may think, "Mmmm...Mexican!" and you will be sad. You will wonder why you gave in to your primal impulse to eat Mexican food on vacation in the middle of Chicago. You will walk away with (even at only one drink per person) a $75 bill for an unsatisfactory meal and wonder what the hell happened. No.

We woke on Tuesday with high hopes. We thought...we will get one last deep dish pizza. We will go to the top of Hancock Tower. We will buy bath bombs for me at the Lush store at Macy's. Well, we did some of that. We got pizza at Gino's East. We walked a little. Then we went back to the room and zonked out. Between the heat, sun, drinking and walking, we were kind of overdue for some real chill time. We did go out later, just to walk and walk and see what we could get into. We ended up at a tavern called O'Leary's and had some drinks and listened to tunes on the jukebox and shared stories with the bartender. It was a low key day and that was totally fine with us.

Wednesday meant time to pack up and catch the Mega Bus home! We got to the bus stop in record time and there were tons of people waiting. We both thought, surely these people aren't all getting on our bus to Cincinnati! And this was true...there were some going to Iowa City, some going to Memphis and finally, a half hour late, our bus shows up. It was so hot...there is no "bus station"...as a cost saving measure, Mega Bus provides a sign on the sidewalk and that is where you wait! No shade, no seats. We were so happy to see that bus!

It was a different bus driver, and this one came with his own personal masseuse! Yep, this dude's girlfriend was along for the ride. She sat in the seat behind him and rubbed his shoulders, kissed his ear and basically hung on him the whole time. Uh...thanks for letting us ride along on your date!

In a nutshell, that was our trip! Totally enjoyed it. We got to spend some real, quality time together and that was the best part...