Day 22

Yay we are in Chicago! Today began VERY early (I know that we said that 8:30 was early for us...). Our alarm went off at 4am (we didn't snooze either!). The goal was to be on the road by 4:30ish to get to Chicago by 10am and snag some Cubs tickets for today's game. The scenery through Ohio and Indiana was different from what we have seen in the past. It was pretty flat, green, and there was an occasional barn (having a silo was a bonus). We drove into downtown Indianapolis for a quick Starbucks pick-me-up, then next thing you know, we are in Chicago (dealing with traffic!).

Heading straight to Wrigley Field we picked up $15 SR tickets (lingo that we learned stands for Standing Room Only). Going into the game, we just followed the flow of people and ended up in a prized spot! We thought for sure that we would be bumped out and have to go back to where all of the Standing Room Only ticket-holders were... but three minor seating changes in the same area was all we had to do! So, just to show you how BLESSED we were with a good seat (right behind the handicap seating, section 122!), the seating chart is below with the black arrow pointing to where we sat the ENTIRE game (remember, we only paid $15 dollars for standing tickets!). One of the fellows around us said we must be flying under the radar—we saw many people being ushered away from incorrect seats! Whew!

This is a picture from where we sat. (and you can see how packed the stands were!)

The start of the game was quite hot. We loved the unexpected score on the seats we got, but there was no wind to refresh us! Donna used a newspaper that she had completed half of a medium-level sudoku game on (and she was stuck) to fan her and Corey. 

Little did we know that we would soon be using that same newspaper to shelter us from the rain(and give a section to the man in front of us)! It was pouring down rain. Yet, many people decided to stick it out and get soaked (as we did). It was well worth it. Unfortunately the Reds (not Red Socks... how could I mess that up?!)  really kicked bootie and won (having hit 7 home runs this game). The pictures below show an nice action shot that Corey took and the fun old-guy band that played right in front of us (we still could barely hear them!).

After a nice day at the park, we headed 3 miles over to our friend, Lisa's home. She unfortunately wasn't able to be here this weekend (boo), but loaned us her roomie to make us feel welcome (yay, thanks Dena!). Dena happens to be an architect here in Chicago, which has been great for Corey to pick her brain about heading into a masters program. I guess we are just bringing the stormy weather to each of our locations. Tonight has been an especially intense storm—with the works, hard rain, wind, thunder, lightening (even fork lightening!). Our plans changed for the night—instead of walking leisurely around the neighborhood and eating in lincoln square, we ended up driving, trying to dodge as much of the wind and rain as possible as we ran into the restaurant. Thankfully we have had Dena to help us out and be enjoyable company for the evening (Lisa, you have a pretty cool roommate!).

You guys know how early we were up this morning, we should not still be up at 10:30pm and having to wake up at 7:30am.  : (     It is going to be a fun-filled and PACKED day tomorrow. Goodnight!