a big city adventure

a little bit about our sunday adventure. well, maybe more like an epic description of our day:

1. drove to michigan city — a beautiful sunday morning drive, sunshine all the way! we were early, so drove along red arrow highway for a good distance. we saw a lot of little towns, many antique stores, and some intriguing mom and pop restaurants which we may have to go back and try.
2. took the south shore commuter train from mi city into downtown chicago, near millenium park ($26 total for both of us, both ways!)
3. ate a tasty lunch at giordano’s pizza on randolph — no wait!
4. walked off our lunch on the way to catch the redline train which would take us right to wrigley field.
5. walked off more of our lunch when the first redline station was under construction, and we continued on to the next one; it was at this point we discovered the problem — only the elevated portions of the redline were running…the other portions are ALL underconstruction. (it would have been helpful to know this ahead of time; say, when we looked up the info about chicago’s transit system on line when plottin out our route…)
6. continued walking off our lunch as we pressed onward, looking for a different train to take us to wrigley.
7. hopped in a cab when we realized how far we had to walk to catch a different train and that game time was quickly approaching — i love cab rides in big cities! what a rush as the cabbie wove in and out of traffic; we made good time to wrigley!
8. joined the masses of people as we made our way to our seats.
9. found our seats in the middle of the first inning — section 511, row 5 (upper deck with a beautiful view of the city and lake michigan!
10. enjoyed the game immensely — it was 60 degrees, with a little wind. we were in the shade, but we did alright. i, of course, had on many, many layers, and brought a blanket and gloves.
11. CUBS won! it was an exciting game, and we had a lot of fun. as usual, people watching provides entertainment as well
12. walked about a mile through wrigleyville to catch the brown line (instead of the red line).
13. rode the packed train through chicago — we loved seeing the city from above the street level. such incredible architecture throughout the city.
14. laughed hard — when we got off the train, we found ourselves one block from the south shore commuter train station on randolph.
15. waited a little while before we could board the train — i enjoyed a cinnabon
16. shared our seats on the train — the six o’clock train out of chicago proved to be a popular choice. the train was absolutely packed; not a seat in sight. when a family of five ended up standing in the aisle, ty gave his seat to the mom who was holding a little boy. it turns out, the family was from grand haven, she’s a teacher and graduated from calvin in ‘92, they go to first crc, and they’ve done youth ministry in the past. we really had a nice time getting to know them. their little guy was 2 1/2. their other kids were about 11 and 9. the little guy was quite entertaining. definitely 2, but very well behaved considering the cramped quarters.
17. drove home — thankful for the beautiful weather, our adventure, and new friends.

ty said his favorite part of the day was riding the trains. i’ve never taken the train into chicago before. i have to agree, that was a lot of fun. i’m still a bit more partial to the actual baseball game…it’s deep in my blood we both agreed that this is a trip we would love to take again. i’m amazed at how easy it is to take the trains into and around the city (even when plans go slightly awry!). plus, with the price of gas and parking, this was way cheaper!

this was the perfect adventure for a warm spring day in april.