Finally On Our Way

After personally working nearly 60 hour weeks to get everything at work prepped for my temporary departure, we are finally on our way.

Last night we snagged some relatively healthy snacks from the grocery store and a 1.75 ML of Captain Morgan (it was on sale and it was a plastic bottle). My cooler looks like a tote bag. I got it from Target a couple months ago, and it is the perfect companion to this trip. It said it could fit 20 cans. We tried it once before, and I think we fit a 12-pack in it, so I don't know about the can limit, but it fit our Diet Dew, Dragonfruit Vitamin Waters, jerky, pretzels, almonds, natural granola, and bananas just fine today.

We packed last night too. I had my itinerary out, checking my selected outfits against the day's events / games. I had a flash of Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets as he is packing for the trip north with his neighbor and waitress, carefully examining every item that neatly folded and displayed on his bed. In the end, we packed a single hockey bag with all of our stuff for 9 days on the road, plus Brad's laptop bag so he can work on school work during the down time, plus my messanger bag to carry my laptop and the remaining snacks, plus the cooler tote, plus my purse. It really looked like a lot of stuff when we put it all together. We were able to travel to Costa Rica for 8 days on 2 carry ons and 2 personal items, but somehow we needed 150 lbs of "stuff" for this trip, and I thought it would be the easiest trip ever to pack for.
We are currently on the last leg of the trip from Des Moines to Chicago. Our last stop was in Utica, IL, about an hour and a half from the city. The bus is running behind schedule by about 30 min due to all of the construction. When the guys at work were making fun of my tight itinerary, I defended it and said it wasn't that agressive. However, now that we are facing a 30 minute delay, I wonder if I planned in enough down time to accommodate these unforseen issues....Slight update, we are actually at the hotel now. The bus wasn't that late and we got to the hotel exactly when I estimated we would. Freaky.
Earlier on the trip I thought I heard a cricket on the bus, however, I think it is actually someone's cell phone alert. And there is a girl that is trying to be quiet with her snack wrappers, but in her effort, she prolongs the inevidable noise past what would be acceptable and seems to have no concept of the actual noise she is creating. But that is it, the most "unusual" riders on the Megabus. This is what I love about this transportation, these are regular people, not the quesionable people you might encounter on a Greyhound.
Our first game is tonight 8/22/2012 - Yankees at White Sox, with tickets in the Upper Box 531, Row 6.
The Megabus will drop us off at Union Station. About 2 blocks from this location is a CVS that sells the Unlimited 1 Day Pass for the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority). This is good for the "L" and the Bus. They are $5.75 and is a really good deal when you consider it only takes 3 rides to see savings.
We're staying at the Silversmith Hotel & Suites. It has an amazing lobby, old mission charm, great view (assuming we get a lake side view...update, we didn't...view of a wall instead) and is literally right next to a train platform. I know they have a fridge (which is important if you want to have a few beers without having to pay ballpark prices) and they are right across from yet another CVS (which takes every corner that a Starbucks or 7-11 does not in that town.
Before the game, the plan is to hit up Schaller's Pump for a bar food dinner and a beer. After the game, the plan is to stop in Shinnick's for a tapper. If there are closer bars that look hoppin' after the game, we may stop there instead. Afterall, Shinnick's is a mile away in an area of town I don't know.

Old Comiskey Park

Being a Cubs fan, I am incredibly lucky (if you don't count the whole "not winning a Pennant or World Series in forever" thing). I am able to experience the history of my team every time I go to a game. The old park may have been built onto, "enhanced", modernized. The old field may have been "rebuilt" by the magician grounds man to deal with the rain Chicago experiences. But the old park is still there, and the old park is still named Wrigley Field. And I know that technically, the old old park, the last one to see a World Series winning team is gone, but it ceased to be in 1916.

White Sox fans, any that have been alive and going to games since before 1991 have seen their old park disappear, their old pre-game / post-game bar disappear, and all of that history disappear along with them. As the predecessor to Yankee Stadium, this field was demolished in 1991 and rebuilt right across the street.

The only thing that remains from the destruction is a single tree that used to stand outside the park's right field corner gate, and now shades the corner of the parking lot. Now, the only thing to remind fans of the old location is a patch of stained concrete. 

Even the name has changed for this field. When it was rebuilt, it was still named Comiskey, after the owner, Charles Comiskey. Not long after, in 2003, U.S. Cellular purchased the field and renamed it. While I can't be too upset about commercialization, (after all, Wrigley was named after a chewing gum manufacturer) there is something to be said about keeping the old name, even under new ownership.

McCuddy's was the tavern across the street from the old field, for which the new field stands as a gravestone. This pub was demolished in 1989 and was never rebuilt. It had a rich history itself, including famous patron Babe Ruth, who drank there between games of a doubleheader.

I wondered why it was so difficult to find a pub to visit pre and post game close to the field. Unlike Wrigleyville, which is filled with eating and drinking establishments, this field seems to be set down in the middle of a normal neighborhood that just happens to be next to the Dan Ryan Expressway and just off the Red Line. It is not a destination "area," just a single building, and when the game is done, are the fans done too? This is one thing I want to figure out in August. Do the fans really make the half mile trek to Schaller's Pump or to Shinnick's Pub before or after the game?

While I visit the field, I will keep this history in mind, pay homage to the remnants of the old field, before and after I root for the home team as they play that team I love to hate, the Yankees.