Our last day in Chicago

                                                                                                                      

Hey Everyone! 

Yesterday was our last full day in Chicago.  My desire was to go to church out here somewhere, but the kids slept until 10:30 because we were out last night on the train until 11:15, so the church plans didn’t materialize.  However, the kids did finally awaken, and we did get out of the room.

The kids felt like we needed to go to the Billy Goat Tavern or else the trip would not be complete, so that was part of our task for today.  The Billy Goat Tavern is the inspiration for the early Saturday Night Live sketch where Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, and John Belushi worked in a diner where they would keep saying, “Cheezborger, cheezborger, cheezborger...”  and “Pepsi, no Coke.”  It is located below theWrigley  building right next to the Chicago River.  Apparently, the owner of the Billy Goat Tavern was the guy that put the curse on Chicago Cubs.  The story goes that he wanted to get into a Cubs game, but he had his goat with him, so they would not let him in.  When his admission was refused, he put a curse on the team.  As we all know, the Cubs haven’t won the World Championship since then.  Another interesting note...a few years ago when the Cubs were in the National League Championship Series, they were leading the Florida Marlins late in the game.  A Marlin hit a foul ball that was playable.  When the Cubs’ left fielder reached into the stands to catch the ball, the infamous Steve Bartman reached out and caught it first.  Everyone went nuts, and Bartman had to be escorted from the “Friendly Confines.”  Later, Keith Olbermann had the ball destroyed (blown up)  on his show, Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

How did I get here???  Anyway, we rode the train into the city.  

Here are a couple of photos that show how close the "El" runs to people's houses.           

We found out that the CTA has not dropped two lines at the same time (as they did this weekend) in over 47 years.  So normally, the train would take 30-45 minutes to get to the city instead of 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours.  The trip only took an hour, which was great.  However, it was raining when we got off of the train.  Fortunately, the rain stopped within 10 minutes. 

The kids and I all had triple cheezborgers at the Billy Goat, no fries-chips, and three pink lemonades.  The food was good, but he attitude was better.  

After eating, we walked back up to the street level and looked at the Chicago Tribune building.  It has bits of famous building from around the world placed around the front and sides of the edifice.  It was a unique tribute to historical places.                                           

After photographing the bits of rock from around the world, we went back to the train.  However, we went to Garrett’s Popcorn (I can't get the link to work, but it's www.garrettpopcorn.com) first.  Garrett’s is a Chicago mainstay (it is one of Oprah’s “favorite things”).  We got a commemorative tin for Lou, a popcorn ball for Joe, and a giant bag of buttered popcorn for all of us to share.  Now you might think that popcorn is just popcorn, but this stuff is different.  The buttered popcorn leaked through the wax bag, the first paper bag, and the second paper bag.  That’s some good popcorn!  

When we got back to the hotel, Lou the principal, and assistant principal were ready to go out to Lou Malnati’s for authentic Chicago-style deep dish pizza.  It was terrific!  The food was great, and the company was great, too.  

That was a great way to cap off the stay in Chicago.  Tomorrow, we will be heading out for points east.

-Dave