Leah and Pete Go to White Castle

Yay, Chicago!

The weather looked bad. Thunderstorms, flood warnings, etc. - the usual June weather patterns in Chicago. Considering that O'Hare ranked second worst in U.S. News and World Reports' "Misery Index," we prepared for the worst.

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But alas, the clouds parted, or at least relaxed their wrath, and allowed us to take off and land, only an hour later than scheduled. Our visit to Chicago (and Tinley Park, IL) had begun.

We were visiting Leah's Aunt, Uncle, and Grandmother in the outskirts of the city, but also had plans to kick around downtown and catch a White Sox game. I had prepared for the trip by reading The Devil in the White City, and studying up on the goings-on in the AL's Central Division.

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We got off to a slow start on Friday--spending a few hours wandering around Chicago, in search of deep-dish pizza. Inexplicably, we got off of the free trolley at Navy Pier--which has the biggest collection of restaurants and food stands in the city--then wandered away through various neighborhoods looking for a place to eat, before settling on Pizzeria Due, which as the name suggests, is the 2nd restaurant opened by the Pizzeria Uno guy.

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On Saturday afternoon, we headed to the Southside, or more specifically, the "Cell," to catch the White Sox/Rockies game. We had great seats, right behind the home dugout (and the masses of kids who would spill into the aisles after every inning to beg Paul Konerko for baseballs).

The Cell

In spite of all of the efforts of the management to entertain--cheerleaders in tight t-shirts and tiny shorts dancing on the dugouts between innings, loud music blaring at every possible opportunity, firework displays after each homerun hit by the home team (there were none) and at the end of the game (there was one), vendors with Margarita backpacks wandering the stands, and an attempt by an airforce skydiver to drop unto the field that was foiled by the wind (damn you, Chicago!)--the game was pretty boring. Very low scoring, but without the mound-mastery and usual intensity that would characterize a "pitchers dual." Probably the most impressive part of the experience was the pre-game tailgate scene. In the walk from the car to the ballpark, we passed buffets, elaborate grilling equipment, and full bar set-ups (complete with several different types of rum and blenders).

Homeplate from the famous Comisky Park-ing lot

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Our post-game activities started with my admission that I had never been to White Castle before (which later prompted an amazed friend to comment, "Has the man never been drunk?"). Luckily, there was a WC (interesting abbreviation, considering...) on the way home and I experienced my first authentic Slyder.