Wednesday 7/30/03

Flew into Chicago O'Hare, caught a cab into town, in rush hour, and checked into the City Suites Hotel. This was a pretty strange place, tiny elevator, creaking floors, etc but it was a block from Clark and a 15 minute walk away from Wrigley so... Then went to a local hole-in-the-wall bar recommended by the hotel desk and discovered that they were having a special on Merry whiskey (yes, Merry). The rest is easy to imagine. For dinner we tried to get to Carsons for ribs and got waylaid several times by Chicagoans who thought they knew a better place. Ended up at a diner, the Twin Anchors on N. Sedgwick, with a couple of guys we'd met at the Old Town Tavern, a bar that John Belushi used to drink at while performing at Second City. Good ribs and really good beer, but still not Carsons.

Thursday 7/31/03

Woke up slightly fuzzy and headed up Clark towards Wrigley. Stopped off for a bagel and a PowerAde for breakfast and then hit a couple of bars (the Cubby Bear etc.) and strolled around the park soaking up the atmosphere. Then wandered into the park and found our seats. Thank god they were in the shade ! We immediately hailed a beer man and sat back and waited for the game to begin. Nigel and Sheila, a couple of friends of ours from SF had the 2 seats next to us and they finally turned up. As the game wore on this huge guy five or six rows rows in front of us kept standing up while the game was in progress. We gave him the standard "Down in front" and "Sit down" and he turns around barks back "You sit down." "I am you idiot" I responded, to much laughter, because I was indeed sitting down ! Highly observant these Cubby fans. More on this goof later. The game itself didn't go that well, the Cubs eventually won 9-4, so we started wandering around the place. Went down the left field line (be alert !) and then, after the last out, decided to head out to the local bars. Hit a couple around Wrigley, had our pictures taken with Harry, and then headed down Clark towards the hotel. We'd gone about a block and a half when Pete yelled "Orange Bar!" And there it was, the Spot Six, and it was an orange bar. The walls, the floor, even the pool table ! We just had to go in. After a couple of drinks or six and some really nice comped appetizers (we were the only customers) we headed back down Clark to the bar by the hotel that we had hit the night before. We ordered a round, whiskey and a beer each, and then a strange thing happened. We looked at each other and said "I don't really want this, do you ?" With that we left most of the drinks on the bar and headed back to the hotel for an early night. Damndest thing.

Friday 8/1/03

We checked out of the hotel and caught a cab to O'Hare for the flight Cincinnati. On the way to the airport we hapened to drive past Wrigley and there, standing at the light on Clark waiting to cross the street, was the "You sit down" guy ! I pointed him out to Pete and said "I've got this one." As we passed him I rolled down the window and yelled "Hey pal, sit down !" The look on his face was priceless ! Had us laughing for several blocks. For the story of the 3 games in Cinci click here or click on the Reds logo on the Road Trips page.