So without further ado...the Chicago 2014 rundown.
Thursday:
Typically Thursdays are the low key days. And this one was as well. Last time we went to Chicago, we introduced golf for the first time on the trip. We decided to play Hickory Woods before heading up. This time we decided to try a course in Chicago, so we drove up first. Drive was easy. Checked in. Headed for the lunch and the course. On our way, Paul popped a tire. One thing you do not want to do in a strange city. Luckily there was a tire store close by and somehow, someway Paul was able to get a new tire on in about 30 minutes and he was able to join us for the latter part of lunch.
On to golf. We were able to get in at this old country club called Oak Meadow. Not great, not terrible. Looked like they were in the process of cleaning the place up. Apparently it had gone out of business and went public but the transition wasn't yet complete. Anyway, the team of Keith, Fish, Matt, and Joe beat Shane, Paul, Jason, and myself by a -3 to -1 score, but it really wasn't that close.
The rest of Thursday was laid back. Dinner at the Bar Louie in our hotel, beers, and cigars followed outside.
Friday:
Golf round #2 began a long day. Due to Joe's shoulder injury he decided he couldn't play two days in a row so we had our buddy Goody take his place since he lives in Chicago and we hadn't seen him in a while. We only play one scramble round so this one was everyone playing their own ball, thus no team score kept. Had a great time playing and catching up at a course called White Pines - East Course.
Hi, Keith!
Following golf we headed downtown to see what we could get into. Tried to go to Giordano's but when you get downtown on a Friday night at 6:00 your wait is going to be substantial...which it was. Instead, back to the Tilted Kilt, which had immediate seating and we could enjoy the atmosphere (yeah, that's it).
After that, we headed to a bar district that had some really cool places. Visited a few places like Harry Caray's, Public House, and (the place we spent the most time at) Theory, which was an awesome time. Bartenders were cool, people were nice, and we had a great time. When you don't get back to your hotel until around 3:00am you know it was a good time.
Saturday:
Yes, it's true half of us slept in pretty late because well it was a late night. But this still gave us plenty of time to get to Wrigleyville, have lunch, then get to the park for a 3:00 game in enough time to catch batting practice and walk around the park taking it all in. Right? Well, not all plans work out. Due to track maintenance and other snags, we finally arrived at the park around 2:00. Not enough time to, yes, go to Giordano's or any other cool bar around the stadium. Instead, straight inside and we ate in the park. Not bad food, just as you'd expect it was overpriced. But, Shane got his Giordano's inside the park and he finally shut up about it (love you, Shane!).
Some random pics and the only group shot we got all weekend. Sad but true...
After the game, we headed over to O'Malley's (which was Harry Caray's in 2010) in Wrigleyville. Ate and had some drinks then attempted to hit the night life in the area. Unfortunately, it just wasn't happening. As a collective group our old asses were just too tired to do anymore "partying". So we limped back to the hotel and crashed. It was good in a way. Sometimes when you try and push the issue things go bad. We didn't push it and nothing went wrong. It was kind of boring, but when your best partying days are behind you that's not necessarily a bad thing. We did get to recapture a golden moment of past trips when Keith and Matt got to take pretty much the exact same picture four year apart. The first one was taken in 2010 with the other one taken Saturday night atop the Sports Corner bar.
Sunday:
Home. The End.
It was a good trip. Lots of fun and laughs. Lots of ripping on each other, which means you know we had a good time. Can't wait for next year when we'll likely be visiting New York City again. Since we haven't seen either of the new parks in NYC it really doesn't matter which one we visit. Only three hundred some days left!!
