Back from the Windy City

I'm back from Chicago. Lisa and I headed there Wednesday morning, and returned home Monday morning. All 5 nights were great. As I stated in my last entry, I am a big Chicago Bears fan. So we flew up for the Bears v.s. Saints game Thursday night. As you know, the Bears whopped that ass(OK they only won by 3 in overtime). That's 4 years in a row. Including a NFC Championship win. The game was AWESOME. We had possibly the best seats in the house. 50 yard line. One section up, row 2. They were amazing. The game was exciting from the first play. Chicago returned the opening kickoff for a TD. The game couldn't be any better, literally. Saints/Bears.. overtime... Bears win... Just awesome. Even the halftime show was great. Some little local Pee-Wee team played against some college and professional mascots. I should note, the Denver Bronco's mascot nailed a 30-40 yard field goal. With a giant horse thing on your head, that's quite an accomplishment. Anyway, the experience was UNREAL(as Sam Bradford might say). The best birthday present possible.

The rest of the trip was great too. Though I don't do it as much as I'd like, I love to travel. This was my first trip to Chicago. I loved it. Everything went very smooth. Our departing and return flights were both on time and went perfectly. We arrived at our hotel at approximately 10:45AM and were able to get our room. Despite check-in time being at 3PM. We stayed at the Double Tree Magnificent Mile. It was great choice. When we checked-in, they gave us some delicious chocolate chip cookies. I think you're only supposed to get them when you arrive, but that didn't stop Lisa from asking them twice for a cookie during our stay. They gave us each one every time w/o a problem. Every time we requested to bring something to our room(i.e., fridge, ice bucket, etc.), they brought it promptly. Then the front desk would call 3 minutes later to make sure we received it. It was a classy, professional place that I give a great recommendation.

Our first day there, we asked the concierge what was a good place to eat within walking distance. She recommended a few places, including one place named Boston's Blackies. I'm glad we chose this place. Upon walking in, Lisa asked a customer who was leaving, what would he recommend? He said, "Well they have some great burgers." PERFECT!! If you know me, I am a big fan of a great burger. That sounds pretty boring, but give me a burger, and I'm fine. Well we each had a burger and they were great. Lisa is not a huge fan of burgers, but she agreed that they were awesome. We ate there 3 or 4 times during our stay. We ordered a chili once. It was great too and Lisa started ordering those on each visit. Big thumbs up.

We visited the ESPN Zone twice. I love these places. There are only 8 or 9 of them in the country. It's a big sports bar/grill/arcade. But over-the-top. I got the steakhouse burger, which turned out to be good. Downstairs is a restaurant, while upstairs is a huge gaming floor. The typical race car games, basketball shooting games, snowmobile stuff, etc. was there. That had a big baseball spot where you picked from some MLB players and pitched a ball to the catcher. It clocked your speed and called balls and strikes. There was a football throwing game. Boxing.. bowling... you name it. All games you actually threw/bowled balls.. as apposed to pressing buttons. BUT, pressing buttons is not always bad. I was able to play Madden on a huge 15 foot screen. That was sweet. But my favorite was the hockey arena thing. You were able to get in a closed in room and try to score goals against a moving, wooden goalie. That was fun! I've always wanted to give hockey a shot, and this is as close as I'll come. My back is a little sore from patting myself on it, but I didn't see anyone all afternoon score as high as I did. I'm looking for an agent. ;)

One night we went a comedy club named Zanie's. Before we left for Chicago I researched the place, and the comedian who was preforming while we were there. I saw a couple of things on YouTube on him, and I didn't care for his act. But we ended up going anyway, and I was surprised. He had me laughing a lot. I enjoyed it very much. And the younger guy who opened for him was just as good, if not better.

Our last night there, we went ice skating. That was a blast. I had only been ice skating once before, when I was around 12 years old. But this was very fun. It was great to share it with Lisa. She loved it. She also enjoyed watching me bust my ass. In my opinion, I skate pretty well. That is until I try to get fancy. Weaving in & out of people, skating on one leg, etc. I busted my ass and she got a kick out of it. We went skating in Millennium Park. A park full of famous architecture. Including Cloud Gate. Which is a huge, shiny thing that stands over the rink. I didn't really think is was anything spectacular. That is until I saw it at night. The point of Cloud Gate is it's night-time view. Chicago's famous skyline is reflected on it. It looks incredible.

One day we visited the Field Museum. It's a huge history museum filled with all kind of stuff. One of my favorites was "Sue". It was a skeleton of the world's largest, most complete, and best preserved Tyrannosaurus Rex. It must have sucked being a caveman, being chased by one of those bad boys. I'm too lazy to build my own fire, catch my own food, and stay free of 40-foot, man eating beasts. At least they've got that Geico thing going for them. The museum was cool. I found myself most attracted to the temporary exhibit of natural disasters. Especially the Hurricane Katrina section. I get to look at artifacts from across the globe. Bones from millions of years ago. And I am attracted to a Hurricane I witnessed a couple of years ago. The only knock against it was the ridiculously priced gift shops. But I guess you kinda expect that.

All in all, the trip was one of the best of my life. A great game, a great girl, great food. What more could you ask for? Thanks again Lisa for the tickets and experience. Chicago.... Awesome