"A Day at Wrigley; An Evening on the Lakefront"


Wednesday was an excellent day spent down in Chicago. My friend Dave had invited me to join him for a Cubs game. So, Wednesday morning, he came up to Milwaukee, picked me up, and we returned to his home just to the north of the Windy City. The plan was to join up with some of his friends and spend a day out at historic Wrigley Field.

When those that were meeting at his house were gathered, we hopped into his family's mini-van and drove into the city. To avoid the parking hassles (of which there are many in Chicago), we found a park-and-ride along the interstate freeway, parked, and crossed over the fast moving lanes of traffic to the nearby "El" transit station (which for those of you unfamiliar with Chicago, is the abreviation for "elevated train", a recognizable transportation feature in the city of Chicago).

See, the cool thing about the "El" (at least for myself, a non-citizen of Chicago), is that it's both a subway train, as well as an elevated train that runs above the city at about the second or third floor level. When I was a kid, I would always marvel at the many transit stations I would see just outside the car window as we drove through the city. I had always thought it would be cool to ride the "El", but until Wednesday, I had never had the chance.

The ride on the "El" itself was quite enjoyable. The first few miles into the city were in the center median of the freeway and above ground. However, after a few transit station stops, the "El" became the subway as we went underground for most of the remaining trip. I was intruiged to experience the 'subway experience', watching too as we paused briefly at the below-ground transit stations. After a good distance traveling under the city of Chicago (including a transfer to another line), we then rose above ground and began traveling the rest of the trip at the second and third floor level, looking down upon the streets. For someone such as myself, it was quite an experience.... But then again, I am amused by the simple things. :)

When we arrived at the Wrigley Field station, the now packed train emptied out, and our little group of six friends made our way down to Wrigley. We already had tickets, so we entered the ballpark and made our way through the crowded concrete pedestrian ramps up to the upper deck third base side. Here, we had an excellent view of the the field and the game.

I did have to marvel though at the historic feel of the ballpark. Here we were, watching the Cubs play in their 90 year old home stadium -- the same stadium baseball legend Babe Ruth had called his famous homerun shot in the 1932 world series! There was a lot of history and charm to the experience. Most modern baseball stadiums capitalize on advertisments all over the place.... Wrigley does not. Nearly all modern stadiums have huge state of the art color video scoreboards.... Wrigley does not. (In fact, Wrigley still has the old *original* scoreboard -- the one with the guy inside who changes the scores on the board manually! That, though certainly not 'high-tech', was very cool to watch!) And many modern stadiums have retractable roofs.... Wrigley does not, rather retaining the original 1914 construction.

I will have to admit though, I think I am a little spoiled by the modern ballpark of my favorite (hometown) team -- Miller Park. I'm still in awe of the butterfly retractable dome, the large expansiveness of the place, and the general state-of-the-art features of this massive ballpark. When I was at Wrigley, everything felt extremely cramped, walkways were narrow, everything was concrete and compact, seats were closer together, and smoking was allowed in the stadium (something that greatly annoyed the non-smoker in me). But, on the opposite side of the coin, seeing the ivy-covered outfield wall framing the *original* field Babe Ruth played on, or the rooftop bleachers of the old apartment buildings just beyond the outfield walls, made the whole experience worth it! I still think the new Miller Park in Milwaukee is my favorite stadium, but, nothing beats a visit to the past -- a past when baseball was a much simpler experience!

The other cool thing about the game was the win awarded to the Cubs! Yes, the Chicago Cubs are doing very well this year. Following their marvelous win on Wednesday, they moved within 1.5 games of the first place Houston Astros (whom they just happened to be playing)! Yes, it was a wonderful win, witnessed by nearly 40,000 fans... (I still don't know *how* that many people fit into a one-block ballpark, but somehow it worked.).... and I was there to cheer on perhaps my second favorite MLB team of late -- the Chicago Cubs. It was a day well spent. :)

After the game, and a crowded exit from the ballpark, our little group eventually made our way to our original blue line "El" transit station (our original transfer station. We decided to forgo boarding the crowded train at the Wrigley station). After our return to the park-and-ride outside downtown Chicago, we all returned to Dave's house via minivan. It had been a wonderful visit to the expansive, somewhat compacted city of Chicago, and we were all begining to yawn from a long day of excitement.

That evening, I stayed at Dave's family's house, rather than have him return me to Milwaukee two hours to the north. I appreciated his family's kind hospitality. They're very nice folks!

Thursday afternoon, after sleeping in, and then returning to Milwaukee, Dave and I met up with Jessica, another wonderful friend from filming in Milwaukee, and we had dinner at a Texas-themed restaurant. The dinner experience was somewhat marred a bit by less than exciting food, but it was a wonderful time for the three of us to enjoy each other's company nonetheless.

After dinner, and a period of discussion over what we should do next, we decided on a genius suggestion by Jessica -- we would visit a classy coffee shop/cafe on the Milwaukee lakefront....

"Alterra", as the place was called, turned out to be a very lovely and trendy little cafe just along the beautiful Brady Street that runs down the attractive Milwaukee lakefront. The building itself that housed this coffee shop seems to have been converted from an old brick power house (mill) from historic Milwaukee. It was a beautiful little building, and on the outside was surrounded by a cafe patio, beautiful trellis', paths and park benches. Being that it was at night now, the garden lights lit the cafe area up quite attractively. For an hour or two, Dave, Jessica, and I sat on one of those park benches, enjoying our beverages and chatting. It was a very serene atmosphere, and one that I enjoyed greatly. I can also say this, I think I certainly will make an effort to get down to the that area of the lakefront more often.... especially now that I know of good friends who enjoy it as much as I do!

A little later, after a thoroughly enjoyable evening walk along the lakefront, the three of us returned to our cars, bid each other a fond good evening, and returned home. Dave dropped me off in Milwaukee, and then drove down back down to the Chicago area.

I will say this though, I really enjoy Dave's company. He and I have a lot in common. We'll have to make a point of keeping in touch. Although there is almost a two hour drive between us, when it comes to frienships, where there's a will, there is certainly a way. I am blessed to have run into him that day at filming in Miller Park. I find it ironic that we didn't really know each other in college, yet, since graduation, we both have become great friends. It's interesting how things work like that! :)

Likewise of great interest to me is staying in touch with Jessica. I greatly enjoy her company. Conversations including her also tend to be highly enjoyable, and something I really look forward to! And, since she does live here in Milwaukee as well, opportunities to get together certainly exist. Surprisingly I find she and I have a lot in common.... Perhaps sometime some of those common interests may turn into even more enjoyable activities. :)

I am definitely blessed to have met both Dave and Jessica out at Miller Park. In more ways than one, working on the film, "Mr. 3000" has become an opportunity providing wonderful memories and even better friendships. It's an experience I am likely not going to forget!

But, the day is now Friday. I've had my fun (!).... now it's time to get back to work, run a few errands, and take care of some less than exciting tasks. Considering the enjoyable nature of the last two days though, I think I can handle a little less fun.... [grin].

Take care all, and have a wonderfully blessed weekend.

Your happily blogging, and always musing unusually-unusual friend,
-Jon
posted by Jon at 10:41 AM  I   I  0 comments