Trippin’ it

It’s been one of the busiest weeks I’ve had in a very long time! Long hours at work, minimal sleep, sewing up a lot of faces, and not much else in between. Good thing Abe and I took a weekend vacation last week to prepare. And yes, having a full weekend off, especially if you leave home (and all of the tasks behind) is a VACATION in my book.
We left right after work for Chicago Friday evening. We usually stay downtown but we decided to be a little more adventurous (and cheap) and stay closer to the airport.
The next morning we took the metra and bus to Wrigley. We were starving so decided to get some Chicago style dogs before the game. Maybe a little unconventional timing but also about half price! And a few things I like about Chicago are their hot dogs and their pizza.
   
We made our way to the stadium. Did you know Wrigley is located on Sheffield street? This is the less picturesque side of the stadium, unfortunately.


Want to go to Montana? A saw a lot of billboards and busses advertising Montana.
 
Here I am with “The Sheffield.” I may have to start referring to him this way, on this blog and in person.
Our friend shared his season tickets with us and we were able to sit in the bleachers which were actually great seats. Although I’m not fond of watching baseball on TV, I really enjoy attending games in person. Wrigley is a really cool place to visit, even if you aren’t huge on baseball. The field def has preserved that historic feel with the old fashioned scoreboard changed by hand and the ivy covered wall.


The Cubs pulled it out with a 5-1 victory over the Reds. We stayed until the end to be sure we got to hear the awesome “Go Cubs go” song which is still stuck in my head.

Did you know they have rooftop bleachers on all of the buildings surrounding the field? I’d be curious in seeing what this is like.
We decided to start walking from the stadium towards downtown after the game. We stopped for some frozen yogurt. In the meantime, Abe (now AKA THE SHEFFIELD) kept talking about how his hat didn’t fit because his hair was too long. We happened upon a corner barber shop and decided we couldn’t pass it up. While watching I realized one thing, The Sheffield has a lot of hair (and this picture if only half way through). And then I realized a very wonderful thing, this guy does not have a problem with thinning hair or male pattern baldness. At least not yet. I hope our future children get his full locks.

We continued our happy walk with The Sheffield’s much shorter ‘do and my happy realization as stated above. And we continued and continued and continued about 4-5 miles. Until we reached our destination:
Grand Lux Cafe –we’ve been adding this into our list of Chicago traditions

Beignets! Which if you are unfamiliar are extremely yummy N’Orleans style donuts. If you’ve been following me for awhile, you’ll appreciate when I say “Don’t worry, we ate them all,” –that’s right, just the two of us, and after dinner. (One of my pet peeves is when (always skinny) people feel the necessity to give the disclaimer that they didn’t eat all of their food. Yes, I was worried until you told me otherwise that you ate the whole cupcake yourself.)

I think the beignets did us in so we made our way back to our hotel ready for bed. We had a lazy morning, a nice breakfast buffet at the hotel, and made our way home.
And to show you how nerdy we are, we studied almost the entire way to and from Chicago. I’m lucky The Sheffield and I will have so much overlap in our fields because it makes studying so much easier and more fun to do. And it is great have a physician who can explain all of the medical terms and details I never learned.
Abe thought I looked like a teacher in this first picture. I was getting serious about mitral valve stenosis.
 
The only bad thing about vacation is that it makes going back to work that much harder. Can’t wait until May!