Urban Adventurers

We've been quite fortunate to have highs in the 70's in the last few days. We got a big thunderstorm last night, and were quite surprised to wake up to 40's with highs in the 50's today. Grace didn't have any pants, and Nora didn't have any shoes and socks. We soldiered on with shorts and sandals.

The day started out by fueling up at my favorite breakfast joint, Grandma Sally's. Who ever knew that Italian sausage, onions, hash browns, and eggs over easy could taste so good together? We did a little shopping at Target, then hit the city. My new thing is driving to Forest Park and taking the blue line into the city. Maggie is the only one to be on the "trains in the air", so the other 2 were looking forward to it. The plan was to take the train down to Jackson, transfer to the red line, and head to Wrigley. Those plans didn't exactly pan out as there was a little oops in Chinatown yesterday, and the red line was being detoured. We made our connection at an alternate station and headed north for the Friendly Confines. Grace and Nora haven't been to a game yet, but they like to go up there and walk around the park. It's right in the middle of a residential neighborhood, and there's always something neat to see. I think they just like seeing something that they've seen on TV in person. The 10,000 wins flag was atop the scoreboard today, so I had to take a picture. We made the block around the park, went in a couple of souvenir shops and only managed to spend $15 on some little Cubs pins. They like'em, so I'm happy. We also checked out the new statue of Mr. Cub.


We got back on the train and headed back toward the loop, changed trains, and got off at Chicago Ave. From there, we walked about 3 blocks to Ed DeBevic's. It's average food as above average prices, but the foot long chili dog is to die for.....or from depending on your point of view. After that, we walked over a couple of blocks to Dearborn. The blue line that would take us back to the car runs under Dearborn. Little did I realize that, we were still quite a way from where the blue line comes back under Dearborn. We walked and walked, well Nora rode on my shoulders, but the other 2 were quite the troopers. After the big gust of wind blew sand from a construction site into everyone's eyes, I threw in the towel and hailed a cab. On a side note, our cabbie was of some kind of Asian descent. Usually, they're more middle eastern. His cab was very clean, no funny smells, and not overly accessorized as some of the others are. We were at the Clark St. station and headed to our train in about 5 minutes. It was the best $5 I've ever spent. As indicated by the picture to the left, the girls were no worse for the wear and still enjoyed their train ride.


I'm a fan of public transportation. I enjoy learning my way around, and I usually learn something new each time I go to Chicago. I'm glad that my girls are getting to see some of it at a young age. Maybe they won't be scared of it when they get older. As much as we all enjoy our little trips, it's always nice to be back in our car and back in control. Grace and I were the only ones to stay awake, and I know if I lived a few miles farther away, she would've passed out as well. I can't wait until Maggie is old enough to drive us home from this stuff.