TRAVEL1 - Chicago, My Kind of Town

Pat and I try to travel a lot, under the theory that “do it while we still can.”  In May we reached deep into our “bucket list” and selected a trip to Chicago.  Neither of us had ever been to the windy city before, having only stopped briefly at O’Hare or Midway airports on cross country trips. 

We scheduled this trip so that we could attend an afternoon Cubs baseball game.  Other top-of-the-list objectives included taking Chicago’s famous Architecture Tour and sampling Chicago’s classic food, including deep-dish pizza, hot dogs, Italian beef, and steak. 

So we set out on a three-day trip from Tucson, plus travel days on each end.  We took the easy-to-use and inexpensive public transit elevated railway from Midway Airport to the downtown area. We stayed at the Wyndam Grand Hotel, mitigating the cost of the trip somewhat using time-share points.   Our hotel was along the Chicago River, across from the Trump Tower, Chicago’s glass-covered second tallest building at 98 floors. 

We got off to a great start at dinner the first night by finding a deep-dish pizza place right next to the hotel.  Yum!

The next morning we got on a boat right outside the hotel and took the two-hour Architecture Tour of Chicago’s majestic, historic, and beautiful skyscrapers - as seen from the Chicago River.  Along the way, we passed under more than half a dozen of Chicago’s famous draw bridges that only open a few times a year for sailboat extravaganzas or maintenance.  Very impressive tour!

Bob on Architecture Tour.

Note:  Originally the Chicago River flowed sluggishly from Chicago’s flat plane into Lake Michigan.  As Chicago grew, this allowed sewage and other pollution into the Lake that was the “clean-water” source for the city.  Between 1887 and 1900, the Sanitary District of Chicago completely reversed the flow of the Chicago River using a series of canal locks, increasing the river’s flow from Lake Michigan and causing it to empty into the newly completed Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.

On Day 2, we discovered the “Hop-on, Hop-off” buses that take you all around town on a proscribed path, passing most of the attractions of the city.  You can get off the bus at any of the stops, and get back on another bus later, at the same or a different station.  When we did the “Big Loop,” we got off to visit the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower), Chicago’s tallest skyscraper at 110 floors. We “elevatored” to the observation deck on the 102^nd floor, to see fantastic 360-degree views of Chicago, and where they have glass pods extending off the side of the building, with a clear glass floor to view the ground between your feet, more than a thousand feet below.  Now that was exciting!

Our third day was Chicago Cubs baseball at the famous old ballpark, Wrigley Field.  We’ve seen it a hundred times on TV, but being there was really special.  Before the game, we stopped at nearby Wrigleysville for a Chicago style hot dog (an all-beef hot dog on a poppy seed bun piled high with mustard, sweet pickle relish, onion, tomato, a dill pickle spear, sport peppers, and a dash of celery salt.)  We toured around outside the stadium and had our photo taken beside the famous statue of Cubs-great Ernie Banks, with the inscription, “Let play two.”  We also walk around inside the historic ballpark and joined a line to receive a “First-time-at-Wrigley” certificate with our names on it, along with date of the visit.  The game was great too and the “cubbies” won, so we left as happy campers.

Pat with Chicago-style hot dog.

Bob and Pat beside Ernie Banks stature at Wrigley Field.

Bob and Pat at Cubs game in Wrigley Field.

Other than these excursions, we filled our time with walks within a half-mile of our centrally-located hotel.  We took the River Walk to a very nice steak house and Italian beef place on two of our four nights.  We walked to Millennium Park and saw beautiful flowers and the whimsical reflective sculpture, the Bean.

Overall, we were impressed with Chicago.  The areas we visited were clean and well kept, the locals friendly and helpful, and public transportation was easy and efficient.  And surprise, surprise the weather was perfect.  As Frank Sinatra sings, “Chicago is my kind of town.”