Month: July 2023

Travels With Charlie Day #5? “Should We Stay In Chicago”

by reissmd, posted in Chicago

Last night it took a very long time to exit the parking lot at White Sox stadium aka Guaranteed Rate Stadium (Do you really think that should be the name of a stadium?). When we finally got back to the hotel it was late resulting in another sleep-in day this morning. When we finally got going we decided to skip breakfast and go straight to lunch. My friend Mike has repeatedly recommended we go to Al’s Italian Beef. I rarely eat beef but I didn’t think I could face Mike when I got home if I didn’t give it a try.

The trio getting ready to eat at Al’s Italian Beef.

Mike said I should order the beef and sausage combo with sweet peppers. Before getting our food I had to use the bathroom where I saw some interesting signs. See below.

Since this place was near Wrigley Field I assume they were referring to baseball
Bathroom archery?
Definitely a Los Angeles County Health Department “A” rating for cleanliness.

Outside the bathroom, I saw pictures of a number of celebrities who have dined at Al’s. This picture made me think Al is not a boxing fan or just not a great speller.

Sugar Ray Lenord?

I ordered the beef and sausage combo with sweet peppers as recommended by my Chicago food expert. See below.

Al’s Beef and Sausage Combo with Sweet Peppers. It was good but I would not go out of my way for it.

After lunch, we headed to Wrigley Field for a tour. We gave Charlie a number of choices of things to do today and Wrigley was his selection without hesitation.

In front of Wrigley with Charlie’s newly purchased Chicago Cubs hat. Hey! I thought you said you were a San Francisco Giants fan?

The tour was great. It lasted about 90 minutes and we got to see all sorts of aspects of the park. We sat in the prime seats and the bleachers. We were able to see the visiting team’s clubhouse and sit in the Cub’s dugout. Our guide told us all sorts of interesting information about the stadium, the Cubs, and the history of baseball in Chicago. But the main thing that made this a perfect outing is what Charlie said upon leaving, “Sitting in the visiting team’s clubhouse at Wrigley Field was the highlight of my summer”. Did you hear that Charlie’s Mom and Dad? Did I mention, that Grandpa is immature?

For dinner, I was lobbying to go to a Chicago landmark called the Wiener’s Circle. The place is famous for its hot dogs but is actually more famous for the attitude displayed by its employees. Rude is putting it mildly. This video convinced me that maybe we should save this for a trip when we are in Chicago without a 10-year-old.

We opted for a quiet meal at the hotel instead.

This will be the last post for this trip. I really enjoyed our “Travels With Charlie”. He is a very good travel partner. Patrice is pretty good too. Chicago is a great city but the weather is not to my liking. If asked would I ever want to live here, the sign below should give you the answer to that question.

As Randy Newman put it, “I Love L.A”

Travels With Charlie Day #4 “Play Ball!”

by reissmd, posted in Chicago

We slept in this morning because (please don’t tell Charlie’s parents) we stayed up close to midnight last night. It really is a lot of fun hanging out with this guy. For example, I asked him how does it feel to have such an immature Grandpa to which he answered, “You know evolutionary speaking you are 2 years more mature than Grandma”. That had me confused and I didn’t dare ask him to explain but I did mention that I am 3 years older than Grandma. “Oh, in that case, you are only 1 year more mature than she is”. I still don’t get it but I did make sure Patrice heard it and gave her a “So there!” for emphasis. Did I mention that Grandpa is immature?

The first thing on order for the day was to feed the little boy (I am referring to me, not Charlie). We headed downstairs to the lobby where they have “The Lobby” restaurant. The food and service were superb but the highlight of the day was when a woman approached our table and wanted to know if we were associated with the Toronto Blue Jays who are staying at our hotel. She saw Charlie’s sweatshirt which said “Reiss” on the back and figured we were somehow related to the team. Clearly, she is not a real baseball fan. To my knowledge, the only Reiss to have played MLB was Harold “Pee Wee” Reese (yes Reese, not Reiss). Charlie might someday change that. He is a very good athlete and fun to watch on the field. I have to admit when we talk about athletes in the Reiss family we are not talking about a high bar. As I recall Charlie’s father was the first Reiss who could chew gum and walk at the same time. We politely told the woman that we were not associated with the team and finished our meal

With the game starting at 7 pm we had the good part of the day to explore the city. We asked Gary the concierge for recommendations. He did not seem keen on Patrice’s idea of going on the Hop On Hop Off (HOHO) tour to get a general flavor of the city. He gave us some incredible information including an explanation of the significance of the Chicago flag. He also informed us that July 4th didn’t become a holiday until 1941. He mentioned that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on July 4th. I beat him saying that it was in 1826, 50 years to the day of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Did I mention that Grandpa is immature?

In spite of Gary’s recommendation, we did take the HOHO tour and regretted it. We got to see some nice stuff but inside the bus, it was very hot and on top, we were in the sun. I would not recommend the HOHO tour.

Tonight was all about baseball. The White Sox play in Guaranteed Rate Field. I have to tell you I am sick of all these stadiums named after companies. It is one thing if the company pays for the building of the stadium and the location carries that name forever. As you know that is not the case. For example, you can drive forever and you will no longer be able to find Staples Center in Los Angeles. We got an early start hoping to catch some batting practice at White Sox stadium (sorry, I had to change the name). In spite of arriving early, we found it difficult to get to a parking spot so we missed BP. The stadium might be poorly named but it is beautiful. We were treated to great seats and a great game. Unfortunately for the home folks, the White Sox didn’t win. But they did have a temporary lead thanks to a 3 run home run by Luis Robert Jr. It was kind of cool to see fireworks go off and the fans chanting “Robert!, Robert!, Robert!)

That is Robert between 2nd and 3rd trotting home after his blast. Just to clarify, that is not me.

Tomorrow is a free day. Any recommendations about what we should do? Adler Observatory? Shedd Aquarium? Italian Beef?

Travels With Charlie Day #3. “The Joy of Traveling With a 10-Year-Old”

by reissmd, posted in Chicago, Dallas

Today was a travel day. We left Dallas en route to Chicago for our next baseball game. We had to get up very early and in spite of that, I did not hear one complaint from Charlie. I expected him to fall asleep in the car but much to my surprise he was very vocal and inquisitive.

Charlie seemed to be a non-stop source of questions. Patrice and I were struggling to figure out how to get to DFW airport but these jewels emanated from the back seat.

“If you were going two miles an hour on the highway, would you get pulled over?”

“If you are in the middle of nowhere and there aren’t any signs, can you park there?”

“Would you rather it be daylight all the time or nighttime?”

The questions continued throughout the day:

“If you were under UV light would you get sunburned?”

“How hard do you think it is to be a publisher?”

“Is there any other way to get oxygen except for trees and plants?”

“Do you think sitting behind the world’s tallest person at a play would be annoying?”

“Grandma, what is it like being married to an incredibly handsome, smart, and funny man like Grandpa?” Okay, okay, I made up that one.

But my all-time favorite occurred just before he got ready for bed, “Do you think there are more wheels or doors in the world?” I am still trying to figure out how he came up with that thought.

By the way, Charlie informed us that he plans to be a Major League Baseball player someday. We asked what Plan B was and he said there isn’t a Plan B.

Our flight today from Dallas was uneventful (I consider that a good thing). On arrival at O’Hare Airport, I saw a sign that made me certain that the head of airport security had a 10-year-old in their family. See below.

Logic that has to have a 10-year-old lurking somewhere.

There was this sighting of a future MLB Hall of Famer:

“At shortstop, number 17, Charlie Reiss !”

Back to baseball tomorrow.

Travels With Charlie Day #2 “A Perfect Day”

by reissmd, posted in Dallas

This morning we were greeted at our hotel by the celebrity I spoke about yesterday. No, it wasn’t Dusty Baker like yesterday but rather someone much more special. It was Uncle Marc who is Charlie’s mom’s younger brother. Marc has relocated to Texas after living in LA for a while. I really miss him because he has a great laugh and he kindly laughs at all my jokes. [Patrice here, Marc is a dear person but does he really have to encourage Robert by laughing at all his dumb jokes?].

Today was a baseball day and Marc volunteered to be our chauffeur. We went to see the Houston Astros play the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field. The count is now 20 stadiums down with just 10 more to go.

Patrice, Uncle Marc, Charlie and me, waiting for the game to start.

The stadium is beautiful and the fans were great. Charlie did have a question. See below.

Charlie wanted to know why Santa Claus was singing the National Anthem.

It was a great game with the Astros winning 5-3. We had 4 Astros fans sitting in front of us. One was a gentleman who said he flew up from Houston the others were his 3 female friends who drove up for the game. They were wild. They got excited any time the Astros did anything good but the special moment was every time second baseman, Jose Altuve came to bat. They would go crazy and sing the refrain from the Ricky Martin song “La Copa de la Vida” which you might know is “Ole, Ole, Ole” but instead of Ole, they would sing “Jose, Jose, Jose”.

La Copa De La Vida (The Cup of the Life) by Ricky Martin. OLE, OLE, OLE

In the 9th inning, Altuve hit a solo home run and I thought they were going to tear the stadium down. They were jumping up and down and screaming. I finally thought I should video but by then they had calmed down a bit. I did manage to get a picture of one of their shirts. See below.,

So clever, don’t you think? But wouldn’t that be better placed lower down on the body?

After the game, Marc drove us back to the hotel and we arrived at the same time as the Astro bus. Lucky for me the team has a private entrance and enter the hotel at a different location thus avoiding my having to deal with Super-Grandma again.

Tomorrow is travel day. We head to Chicago where will see the White Sox play the Toronto Blue Jays.

Until then………. Jose! Jose! Jose!

Travels With Charlie Day #1 “Super-Grandma”

by reissmd, posted in Dallas

Those of you who are familiar with John Steinbeck might have read his book “Travels With Charley”.   In it, the author describes a road trip he took in a van with his faithful dog, Charley.  Steinbeck was ill with heart disease at the time (he shouldn’t have been a life-long smoker!) but completed the trip and wrote a very famous book about his trip around the USA.  Well, this will not be a trip around the USA and we won’t be with our dog.  No, our travel buddy for this trip will be our grandson, Charlie.  Followers of this blog might recall we took our oldest grandson on trips to Canada and Panama.  Now it’s grandson #2’s turn.  Charlie was put on this Earth for his grandpa. Unlike any other Reiss, Charlie is a baseball fan just like his grandpa.  With that in mind what better trip than to visit some more baseball parks. My current count is 19 down with 11 more to go in order to complete my quest to see a baseball game in every MLB park.  

Today we left for Dallas with plans to see the Astros vs. the Rangers on Sunday.  Those of you who follow the news are aware that our planning hasn’t been the best.  Texas is currently suffering a horrendous heat wave.  The expected high in Dallas today is 97 degrees.  That’s down from 102 a few days ago.  

Our flight here was uneventful as was the trip to the hotel. The hotel is amazing and it happens to be the same hotel where the Astros are staying. Grandma Patrice wanted to hang out in the lobby hoping to see one of the Astro players and get an autograph or two for Charlie. The thought of that made me sweat thinking how embarrassed I would be. I couldn’t let them venture out without me so I took a deep breath and headed downstairs. I was much relieved when I didn’t see any players around. Patrice asked various employees about when the Astros would return from the stadium, how can we find one or two, etc. To say I was uncomfortable is a major understatement. Lucky for me the hotel employees were, hmmmm, how do you say it…………. yes, professional. They wouldn’t even admit the Astros stayed at the hotel which convinced Patrice to give up her search.

With our Astro hunt coming to an end we decided to venture out to look at the town. We first took a trolley but then got off and walked around. Patrice was loving the warm night air while I was thinking about calling for paramedics. Upon returning to the hotel I spotted the Astros manager Dusty Baker. I whispered to Patrice, “I see the Astros manager”. Immediately she went into Grandma-Mode, “Where is he, where is he?”. We had passed the group and I told her “The guy in the flowery shirt is Dusty Baker”. She took Charlie and off they went while I looked for a hole to climb into. I was within earshot and could tell that Dusty was being quite nice to the duo. I grabbed a picture and then approached the group. Patrice introduced me (she and Dusty were pals by then) and she then asked Dusty, “What do you do with the team?” WHERE’S THAT HOLE?

Tomorrow we will see the Astros and their manager, (Good old what’s his name). We will have another celebrity joining us for the game and he will be our chauffeur. You will have to wait until tomorrow to see the celebrity but hopefully, a picture of Dusty will hold you for now. See below.

Super-Grandma, Charlie, and Dusty Baker
A boy who loves his grandma.

Hey, do I get some credit for recognizing Dusty?