Follow up on Chi-Town, Minneapolis and out to Iowa

CHICAGO




Great city. In fact, awesome city. Nice people, great nightlife, solid sports fans, good public transportation, large waterfront, interesting history and a wide selection of food. The only place where I hear it loses marks is the traffic in the morning which is to be expected in any major city. A few other thoughts on Chi-Town:

- Wrigley is a great park. I am old school when it comes to ball parks and love the antiquated feel of being at a game. Whether or not the bathrooms have automatic flushers or the scoreboard has an HD Jumbotron really doesn’t matter if you feel like you’re a part of something historic and special, not to mention right on top of the action instead of in a 300 section. Like Fenway in Boston, Wrigley is nestled just outside the heart of the city in an area with great bars, crazy street vendors and rabid fans. It’s the way baseball, or any sport really, should be experienced.
- About thirty years ago, Chicago reversed the flow of the river going through the heart of the city by digging deep trenches and creating a number of strategically placed explosions. The whole process took about 10 years. I find this amazing.
- My wallet did make an audible sigh of relief on the way out of New York and then again on the way out of Chicago. You do get what you pay for though.
- I know Greg Smith will think less of me, but I shaved my beard when I got here. The plan was to let it grow until we got to San Fran but that got nixed. I can’t handle facial hair for more than 10 days. It’s official. I feel like I’m covered in hairy chocolate or something. It’s weird.
- After playing football with Andy and his buddies, it was nice to see that five years from now, I can expect much of the same from my guy friends when it comes to pickup sports. You pick a time and place and usually only about half the guys end up showing. The excuses from those that are absent range from the suspect to the very suspect. Hear that Garber?
- Anyone looking to have a fun weekend in a new city should do Chi-Town if they haven’t before.

MINNEAPOLIS

When I worked at Silverlink my friend and co-worker at the time, Seth Ravine, coined a new word called “Calebration.” This term was spawned from my ability to grossly misgauge the amount of time it would take to get from one location to another when on business trips. There were a few instances over the years where I, and whoever I was with, found ourselves speeding along the highway or rushing through cities because I had incorrectly remembered the time that Google Maps had told me it would take to get to our destination.

Anyway, in an instance of true irony, I “remembered” that the drive from Chicago to Minneapolis, where we were visiting Seth and his family, would take about four hours. So we prepared to leave at noon in order to get there well before dinner, pulled the directions from Google and found to my surprise that the trip was actually going to take closer to seven hours. I’m retarded. Luckily Seth and Tammy have two small children so they were planning on an evening on the couch watching football anyway, so we didn’t blow up any dinner reservations or anything.

There really isn’t much to say about the drive from Chicago to Minneapolis other than we got caught in an AMAZING thunderstorm that had me with hands at ten and two on the wheel and my face pressed up against the windshield so I could see what the heck was going on. Our 18 wheeled friends kept up their duschbaggery by blowing by us and showering the car with tidal waves of water. Anyway, it only lasted about fifteen minutes and then we were back to looking at cornfields.

We arrived at the Ravine residence around seven, disposed of two pizzas and watched some football. Both my fantasy football teams were taking a loss at this point so I really had no interest in watching the pathetic Saints or the are-you-for-real Titans. Seeing Duece McAllister tear his ACL for the second time in his career was a little disappointing since he was on the roster of my west coast league. Seth (who had Duece in one of his leagues) broke out the good Scotch and we had a few glasses before plugging in Blades of Glory. Good flick. Not Will Ferrell’s best movie (weak supporting cast) but it was entertaining.

The next morning we hung out for a bit in Seth’s office (the living room). Ellie earned serious points by giving Seth and Tammy a break from Marit and Maggie, their two bundles of energy, by helping Maggie draw dresses on construction paper and holding/bouncing Marit (until she finally urped up baby puke all over her which was funny). It was great to see a happy, healthy family in action. You’ve got something special going there Ravines. Keep it up.

We eventually said our goodbyes and hit the road for Charles City, Iowa. The drive looked, um, very similar to the one from Chicago to Minneapolis. Who wants corn? We did pass Diamond Jo’s Casino near Manly, Iowa where I swear I saw Moroney, Greg, Pete and Yoni in the parking lot…

Here is our probable schedule for the next week:
Charles City, Iowa- Sept 25-26
Drive to Denver- Sept 27 (HAPPY BIRTHDAY WHIT)
Boulder, Co- Sept 28-30
Breckenridge/Vail- Sept 31- not sure…
After that Santa Fe/Taos and the Grand Canyon