Friday, April 8, 2011

Cubs Opening Day


Tim and I were lucky enough to be invited to Cubs Opening Day this past weekend in Chicago! Except for the cold and rainy weather and the fact that the Cubs lost, it was a great day.  We started at Goose Island Pub for lunch and a few delicious Goose Island beers. Lots of happy partying people at 11:30 in the morning, including us!

Because of the rain, we decided to spend the first half of the game in the bar. Yes, I did miss Robert Redford throwing out the first pitch, but I got this picture from the huge megatron size TV in the bar.  My apologies to Mr. Redford…..






Here you can get an idea of the weather – see how empty the stands were? See how hard the groundskeepers had to work to keep the puddles off the infield? See how many ponchos there are in the stands?









After the game we walked back to our hotel. It was a long hike, but it felt good to warm up and dry out a tiny bit. A highlight of the weekend was stumbling upon the MOST interesting used book store on the east side of Clark, about half way between Wrigley Field and The Loop. I snapped this picture. There were maybe 4 or 5 aisles just like this – all jammed and crooked and practically tipping over with every kind of book imaginable.




I did manage to find a few old cookbooks. It was the kind of place you could spend hours in….. except for the strange smell in the place. I think there were rodents living in the shelves…. A once-in-a-lifetime-experience, that’s for sure.


Dinner was at Gibson’s Steak house. We shared a fantastic crab and avocado appetizer. Tim had a petit tenderloin, which was heavenly. I had salmon, which I must admit was a bit overcooked. (Just last week, we ate out and again I ordered salmon, which was also overcooked. This confirms what I already knew – I prefer to cook and eat at home. )


The view from our hotel window. What can I say? I love Chicago.



Tim having some fun.

4 comments:

  1. Sounds like fun...I LOVE Chicago!! We're going back over July 4th for the rescheduled U2 concert at Soldier Field. We're having dinner at one of Rick Bayless's restaurants again since we've had such good luck. Did you get a Chicago hotdog or stuffed pizza?

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  2. @Wendy - I've had my fair share of Chicago pizza! Love it! The U2 concert is fantastic - we were actually at opening night at Soldier Field last summer (June? July?) AWESOME. We sat in the nose bleed section, but still - AWESOME! Too many great restaurants in Chicago to name - we usually do sushi.

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  3. As soon as I read you found a funky old bookstore I wondered if you found some cookbooks. And you did! That would be exactly what I would go in search of too :) And believe it or not, I love the smell of crazy old bookstores!

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  4. Do you want to hear something totally crazy? My family and I were in Wrigglyville on opening game day too! We didn't go to the game but we were there! I absolutely love Chicago! Oh and I saw U2 when they were at Soldier field Sept 13,2009. AWESOME!!!! Oysy Sushi! Great Place!

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