Category: Chicago

One More Ballpark Day #3 “Second City? How About Some Chinese Food?” 

by reissmd, posted in Chicago

Chicago is known as “Second City” because for close to a century it was the second most populous city in the USA.  It always seemed odd that they would be proud of being second because American culture is fixated on being first.  Americans want to strive to be first or a champion.  I am sure if you ask Chicago Bears fans they will gladly tell you about the Super Bowl their team won but fail to mention the one they lost.  I’m not sure why there’s this fascination with being #2 in population but welcome to the 21st century, Chicago has been passed by Los Angeles making them third. If you want to include the greater Los Angeles area (i.e. Los Angeles county), LA dwarfs both Chicago and New York. 

That being said Chicago does house an improv venue called “Second City” which is famous for the talent they have produced (Stephen Colbert, Dan Ackroyd, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, well you get the picture ).  So tonight we decided to go there.  

But before night time comedy we had a whole day of activities planned.  Patrice is great at giving us things to do on our trips and this was no exception.  This morning we left the hotel and went for a walk along the Chicago River.  The Riverwalk is a major city attraction and we had a good time checking things out.   

We saw this interesting building. 

An experienced blogger would tell you the name of this building. I don’t have a clue what it is called.
But on closer inspeciton there are cars parked on the lower levels. I can’t imagine these being coveted spots in the winter.

We saw this sobering memorial honoring locals who died as a result of the Vietnamese conflict.   

So hard to imagine that each name represents a life lost and family changed forever.

After the walk we needed to fill our tummies.  Loyal followers of the blog are aware that we love food tours. Without trying very hard, I can remember food tours in Memphis, New Orleans, Denver, and London.  

Today we went on a Chicago Chinese food tour sponsored by Bobby’s Bike, Hike, and Food tours.  Valerie was our guide and she did a wonderful job.  Sorry no pictures of food but trust me when I say the tour and food were fun and tasty. 

My favorite part of the food tour was seeing two gorgeous macaws in Chinatown prior to the tour even starting.  Check them out (see below). 

You don’t need me to tell you that these are 2 gorgeous birds.

Macaws are a type of parrot.  Two of the things that make them very different from humans are, like all parrots they have their first and fourth toes pointing backward.  In addition they are also unlike most humans in that they mate forever 

After the food tour it was off to Second City.  I am sure you realize making people laugh is a very hard thing to do.  I like to think that I am relatively funny but to get up on a stage and make a group of people laugh seems like it would be terrifying.  We saw 6 young comics and although they didn’t knock our socks off they did give us some laughs.  It was a fun night at a very welcoming venue. 

Tomorrow we head for home.  I hope you had as much fun on this trip as we did.  We don’t have any additional trips planned but when we do you will get an email telling you to check us out. 

Ciao

One More Ballpark Day #1 “Jeremiah the Savior”

by reissmd, posted in Chicago, Milwaukee

Today we are on our way to Milwaukee via Chicago to visit our 28th of the 30 MLB parks.  But it was a trip that almost had us traveling to Milwaukee for naught. Yes, in my brilliance I had planned to travel to Milwaukee on Saturday, attend the game on Sunday, tour the city on Monday, and fly home on Tuesday.  Lucky for us (well actually lucky for me, because I don’t think Patrice in her wildest dreams would have ever cared if she saw a game at one MLB park let alone all 30) we had a visit from our friend Jeremiah.  The most important thing to realize about Jeremiah is he is a loyal follower of the blog.  Of secondary importance is that he is very savvy when it comes to Major League Baseball. During Jeremiah’s visit we discussed Patrice and my upcoming trip to Milwaukee. Jeremiah informed me that the Sunday game will not be played in Milwaukee but rather in Williamsport, Pennsylvania the home of the Little League World Series.  Upon hearing this I immediately went into panic mode.  I would not be able to make it to Milwaukee on Friday without taking the day off from work.  Not that missing work would be horrible but I have missed a lot of work due to our Spain trip so there’s a huge number of my patients who need to be seen. Once more Jeremiah came to the rescue. He suggested we take a direct flight to Chicago and just drive to Milwaukee for the game. He felt Chicago would be much more fun than Milwaukee so here we are in Chi-town ready to drive to American Family Field (yes, that is the name of the Milwaukee Brewers ballpark) tomorrow. 

The flight here was pretty smooth but it started off with something I’d never seen on a flight.  The pilot came out and talked to the passengers about a variety of topics. He apologized and explained the reason for the delay. He talked about our route and how he planned to go in a curved rather than straight pattern to avoid bad weather. He also told us that we were flying on a new plane and mentioned some of its advantages. It was really interesting.  I’m not sure if this is something this pilot does or if it is the policy of United Airlines.  I guess we will find out on the way home. 

Our pilot giving us the low down of what to expect on our way to Chicago.

Thanks for following us to Illinois and see you in Wisconsin tomorrow. 

Ciao,

Robert 

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.