Day 5 - Chicago

Tuesday, July 7th. Today was the long trek across flat farm land and wine country in the great State of Michigan. We hit the road at 9:30 am after a free breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express. The sausage egg and cheese is highly recommended! Along the way we passed through Kalamazoo and Marshall. Then in Indiana we drove past South Bend and Gary - Gary is the biggest dump we've seen so far!

Marshall thought this was the greatest picture in the world --- Michelle, not so much:


Gary looked like an old shipping and manufacturing port. From the interstate, it looked like nothing but rust and pollution. See below for beautiful Gary, Indiana:


We reached Chicago by 2:30, and the best part was, we gained an hour by crossing into the Central Time Zone. After a quick stop at US Cellular Field to pick up tickets for tonight's White Sox/Indians game, we headed to the hotel. Thank God for Expedia.com! Just a reminder - you can save hundreds of dollars on hotels, flights, and car rentals by booking your vacation on Expedia - actually, all kidding aside, expedia did get us a great deal on this hotel!

So we're in Chicago for 3 nights - which is a much needed reprieve from all the driving - and we're really lucky to be staying right next to Millenium Park. This place seems convenient to all the touristy spots. A big thanks to Zebro for recommending this hotel and letting us park the Honda Pilot at his place in Wrigleyville.

After dropping off the car, we took the subway and headed to US Cellular Field. Here's a few pictures from around the stadium:





Marshall convinced the Miller Lite girls to give him a free White Sox tee-shirt, so now he looks like a local White Sox fan:




Final analysis of US Cellular Field - unimpressive. The stadium seems misplaced. It's obviously in south Chicago, which isn't necessarily a problem, but it's all by itself, with no bars, restaurants or any other attractions in close proximity. Basically, there's nothing to do before the game.

There's another downfall after you enter the stadium. If you buy tickets for the upper deck (like we did), you can't access any other part of the ballpark. We went in a little early to watch batting practice, but we could only walk around the upper deck. Tickets were $23, which seems a little pricey after paying $5 in Detroit.

The game itself was great. The memorable moments included Paul Konerko jacking 3 home runs, including a grand slam. Grady Sizemore hit two home runs and Marshall's man-crush Sexy Alexi Ramirez hit a home run as well. Final Score: White Sox 10 / Indians 6; Mark Buerhle got the win. Konerko had 6 RBIs.