Another Great Day in Chicago

Sunday in Chicago was more of the same. We met Kristin, Dan, Bret and the girls for brunch. Alison found a place called Bandit that had plentiful outdoor seating. We are avoiding indoor dining on this trip because of the Delta variant surge in the US. Bandit was a fine brunch place with a nice patio seating area. The patio was actually set up in the street (which was closed to car traffic). They put down some fake turf and put up canopies and actually made it quite a nice dining area. We love how creative places have been to make their businesses work during the pandemic. 

After brunch Bret drove Kristin and Dan and the kids to pick up a car. They are headed to Nauvoo. Alison and I took a walk through Chicago. When we travel to cities we love walking around the city. It is a great way to experience and get to know a place. We walked over to the Magnificent Mile and the Tribune building. While we walked we enjoyed the sights and sounds of the city. I loved how the big glass skyscrapers would reflect the cityscape. While we walked we reminisced about our last trip to Chicago in 2012. That was actually the first big trip (get on an airplane and go somewhere new) we took after our marriage. At the time we were a little overwhelmed by the trip. We have become much more savvy travelers and we are comfortable navigating a city like Chicago. 

When we got to the Tribune building we took a few minutes to walk around. We loved this building in our last trip. It is a beautiful stone building. Inlaid in the stone all around the building are pieces of stone from significant places around the US and the World. We enjoyed walking around and see stones from many places we have visited. 

Then we took an Uber back to Wrigley for another baseball game. Like the Legend Ernie Banks used to say, Let’s play (or in this case watch) two! Because two baseball games are always better than one. It was a beautiful day for baseball. The sky was blue and it was sunny, but it wasn’t too hot. You couldn’t beat the weather. We sat a little lower down and had another great vantage point today. Bret rejoined us during the game. Alison of course kept score. 

Today was a busy game. Neither team had particularly good pitching so there was a lot action and lots of home runs. Pittsburgh struck first with a home run by Yoshi Tsutsugo. This was the second day in a row that Tsutsugo hit a home run in the first inning. Chicago retook the lead in the second with back to back home runs by Matt Duffy and Jason Heyward. Things went south for the Cubs in the 3rd when Pittsburgh loaded the bases and hit a grand slam. The Cubs answered back in the bottom of the 3rd with their own grand slam hit by none other than Matt Duffy. It was Duffy’s first multi home run game of his career and only his 3rd home run of the 2021 season. Pittsburgh would score a few more runs in the 5th and 6th to take an 8-7 lead. The Cubs would take the lead on yet another grand slam hit by Frank Schwindel in the bottom of the 7th. These 3 grand slam tied a major league record for most grand slams in a single game. The score held and the Cubs won 11-8. 

After the game we wanted to head back to the loop. We had to figure out the best way to get there. Uber would be both expensive (surge pricing) and difficult to get a driver. Taking the train right outside the stadium seemed unwise - we didn’t want to cram ourselves into a crowded train, even if masks were required. Fortunately, Bret had another option. We walked over to another train station to take the brown line to the loop. This train was not at all busy. Plus we got to walk through Bret’s old neighborhood and he showed us some of his favorite local spots. Taking the brown line was fun. It is an above ground train providing great views of the city as we headed toward the loop. 

While we were on the train we ordered a pizza from Giordano’s. While we waited for it to be ready we walked around Millennium Park. We stopped by the Bean (Cloud Gate). It is one of those things you kind of have to do if you are in Chicago. 

We also visited Bret’s office. It is a really nice office on the loop. We are so proud of him for building a great practice in Chicago. 

We picked up our deep dish pizza and found a spot for a picnic in Millennium park. Chicago deep dish pizza is so good. After pizza we walked back to our hotel. It was another great day in Chicago. 

Dinner views