Road Trip- Day Four

We woke up on Friday, August 16th knowing that we'd be leaving Chicago in the morning.  We had one more thing to do before we left though.  We got ready and packed up all our things, checked out of the hotel and drove 1.8 miles away to the Sears Tower.  It's actually called Willis Tower but nobody calls it that. We paid our hefty price to park and headed across the street.  We saw the cutest planters in front of the building.

The view of Sears Tower from our parking ramp across the street

We got inside the building to find out that it was a minimum of 1.5 hours to go up to the sky deck.  We would have waited had we had another day in the city but it was already 10:30 am and we needed to get on the road so we skipped it.  I've been there before in 1999 but the sky deck wasn't there then. I remember there just being a small square where you could see through the floor all the way the bottom.

We left after paying $12 for less than 30 minutes of parking and we were on our way to Indiana.

We stopped at a brewery in Munster, Indiana called Three Floyd's Brewing. Three Floyd's is not distributed in Minnesota so it was a treat for M to go there.  We didn't know what to expect but it was pretty much like other breweries we've been to...industrial park area, tap room, food service and a bunch of thirsty people packing up the place at noon on a Friday.  

We stopped at a gas station after Three Floyd's and there happened to be a White Castle attached to it so we had to stop for one.  We'd never had White Castle outside of the state before.  It actually tasted different...not better, not worse, just different.  

We made it to Michigan and stopped at the first rest stop and visitor center to pick up some materials. While our route looked like we'd be able to drive the eastern coast of Lake Michigan, we were really miles off the coast with no views of the lake or all the lighthouses we had mapped out seeing.  This was my first time being in Michigan so another state to knock off the list.  (M had never been to Illinois, Indiana or Michigan before this trip.)

We stopped in South Haven, MI to take a look at the lake and beach.  It was really hot, the sand was super hard to walk in because it was deep and fine and everyone looked at us like we were crazies taking pictures of the beach.  

We drove another 30 miles to our destination, Holland. We had a specific business in mind when we decided to stop here on our trip...New Holland Brewing Company. It was a perfect Friday evening and we were able to sit out on the patio for some beer samples and food.  I was pretty sure we were in the Eastern Time Zone but I wasn't sure so I asked our server.

Me: I know this is a weird and probably obvious question but are we in Eastern time right now?

Server:  No, we're in Central time.  

Me:  Oh, OK!  So it is 5 pm right now.

Server:  No, it's 6 pm. 

Me:  Oh, so we are in Eastern time then.

Server:  Um, yeah, I guess so.  

WHOA.  I guess that turned out not to be stupid question for me and I didn't end up looking bad in that conversation.

After we figured out what time it actually was and why my phone didn't automatically update, we ordered two beer flights and some food. 

This brewpub was better than Three Floyd's in my opinion.  We get New Holland in Minnesota so maybe you've tried it.  The beer was slightly better than average to me but the location, ambiance on the patio with good music on a sunny Friday evening made it great.

The sun was starting to set when we left so we didn't get to explore Holland as much as we'd like nor did we get a chance to drive further north to Grand Haven as we wanted, we tried to go to Windmill Island Gardens but it was closed so we just got a view of the windmill in the distance. 

Our final destination for the night was to Grand Rapids, MI, where we'd stay for the night, which was about 45 minutes from Holland. We checked into our hotel and went out again for some late night eats and drink at a place called Smokey Bones.

This was our path for the day and we'd explore a lot more of Michigan the next day.

Road Trip Day Three- Chicago Part II

We had a lot of things on the agenda for Thursday, August 15th when we woke up but didn't get to everything.

The first thing we did was take the car out for the first time we had been in Chicago and drive several miles north.  I wanted to find a gas station to get gas since we made it all the way to Chicago (with about another 30+ miles to spare) on one tank of gas.  We got gas and then went to see Wrigley Field, a couple of blocks away.

I have been to Wrigley Field to see the Cubs play on four separate occasions but that day we just wanted to park, take a look and a couple of pictures and head on our way.

As the time shows on the clock in the picture, it was 20 minutes to 11 am so we didn't really have time for breakfast. Fail.  Instead, we went a mile west on Addison to a cute little neighborhood liquor store where M wanted to go.  He bought up all the beers he wanted that we can't get in Minnesota and we headed to the other liquor store he researched before we left Minnesota.  On our way to the second liquor store, we by accident passed a place I researched a couple of nights earlier and wanted to eat at so we would do that after M scored big on hard to get beer.

This guy was painted on the wall at the liquor store.  He was a precursor to lunch.  

The place we went back to for lunch was Hot Doug's.  This is what it looks like on the outside, with a line along the side of the building at lunchtime on Thursday.

We waited in line for about 30 minutes before ordering.  I have never had a Chicago hot dog before so there was no doubt what I was going to order and we split a bag of fries.  The food was ready quickly and it was delicious and cheap. $2 for my dog, $3 for M's and with fries and couple of drinks, $9.25.  There was a camera crew there filming so if there is ever a documentary or news story about Hot Doug's, chances are we're in it. 

We went back to the hotel to drop off the car, recoup a little bit in the hotel room and got back out there on foot and walked to Millennium Park, about a mile from the hotel. 

Some views on our way:

Millennium Park has a few different sections but there was one section in particular that we wanted to see.

The main attraction for us?  Cloud Gate.  Yeah, I didn't know it by it's name either until a few weeks before our trip.  I always just called it "The Bean" like everyone else does.  I had never seen this before on my previous trips to Chicago since it's only been there since 2006.   It was an amazing sculpture but it would have been fun to have seen it on a sunny day as well. 

My reflection 

Underneath the bean.  It's all crazy when you look into the reflection and it almost makes you dizzy

We continued our walk accidentally through the Chicago Institute of Arts via a bridge before we could get out the front doors and continue walking to Grant Park where we saw Buckingham Fountain.  You might remember it from the beginning of the show, Married with Children.

We were about a mile and a half from our hotel so we started walking back about half way and then due to time constraints, got a taxi for the rest of the way.  We got back to our hotel with just enough time to change, freshen up and grab a taxi outside our hotel to bring us to Soldier Field for the Bears first home preseason game against the Chargers.

The taxi ride to the stadium was scary and I was sure we were going to get into an accident due to our crazy driver but we made it to the Soldier Field in one piece.  

We didn't have tickets so we looked for a scalper.  Scalping isn't legal in Illinois but we heard that if we go the side of the stadium of the Field Museum, we'll find some.  It was a long walk over there and just walking around Soldier Field was odd.  The building is so odd and so are the entrances and landscaping.  It's just a weird building.  

We found tickets on the other side of the building and paid the max of what we said we'd pay but we were in.

I just happened to have brought my Smokin' Jay shirt on the trip (as pajamas) so I wore that to the game.  I got some looks having that shirt on and I don't know if it was hatred towards me or confusion.  

Our seats were way up in the corner and I suppose you could say were in the nosebleed section.  We stayed until halftime and decided we had our experience at Soldier Field.  The Bears ended up winning the game. 

In the stadium, there is so much space, which to me, seems wasted.  When you're leaving out on the gates, it looked like there was a bunch of storage/garbage just piled up in one area.  It was just weird there.

I hate to say this but their drum line is better than the Vikings Skol Line

There was a super long line for taxis so we hoofed it back about half way before being able to find a taxi. They made you go out a certain way so we had no idea where we were walking but ended up back in Grant Park.

We had our driver drop us off at Giordano's blocks from our hotel.  We finally were going to get our chance to try Chicago-style pizza. 

We ordered a small stuffed pizza and we each at 1.25 pieces.  It was huge and so dense and so delicious. We have pretty good appetites and couldn't even barely finish a piece.  We ate more pizza the next day for breakfast than we did the night before.  We are talking about this pizza still.  We loved it so much and can't wait to try it again someday.  I had multiple people tell me to try Gino's East or Lou Malnati's pizza but we didn't, only Giordano's. No one told me about this place beforehand but I've talked to about six people since we came back about this place, all that had been to Giordano's before.  Yum! 

  

On way back walking to our hotel to end the night, we heard and saw a bunch of commotion and sirens so we decided to see what was going on.  There were so many fire trucks and police cars at the Dana Hotel and Spa but we didn't see what was going on.  We stood there 20-30 minutes and nothing happened and finally, they all just drove away.  A little non-drama drama to end our last night in Chicago.