Travel Time - Germantown, WI to Chicago

After a great day of baseball in Milwaukee, we packed up the van to follow the Brewers to Wrigley Field in Chicago. Thankfully, the drive was significantly shorter than the day before, so we were able to leave at the more reasonable time of 8:00 am. As we drove south, the clouds completely obscured the sun. It started sprinkling as we crossed into Illinois where we encountered our first toll road of the trip. As we journeyed on, the rain got harder, and it was even snowing lightly for a time. Fortunately it lighted up a little by the time we reached Wrigley, which meant the game when on as planned.

The night before, the class had discussed whether we should park outside the city and ride the train in or whether we should drive right into Chicago and try to park as close to the park as possible. In order to (hopefully) expedite leaving the park, we ended up choosing the second option.  We drove past the ballpark and begun our search for a spot to leave the van. Our first try was just down the street, but a native Chicagoan told us that the sign saying weekend parking was prohibited included Friday. Not how we understood it, but we decided to move the van rather than risking a ticket. We drove around a little while longer before finding a spot farther into the neighborhood, though still quite close to the field. We ventured to the ballpark to watch the game. (See Ryan A.'s post about the game for more details there.)

After the game finished, we went back to the van to search for food. Our Illinoisians strongly recommended that we find a Portillo's to satisfy our hunger. As we slowly made our way through typical Chicago Friday afternoon traffic, there were stories told of the wonders of the chili dogs, Italian beef, and chocolate cake shakes that would be available for dinner. We were all famished by the time we got to the restaurant in Lombard. Once inside, we all ordered, and Hailley made contact with a former Kohawk in the area who came a visited with us while we ate. The food was delicious and just what I needed after a long day of travelling and sitting outside in the cold. 

We gassed up in Dekalb shortly after dinner and drove into the sunset as we headed back to Cedar Rapids for the weekend. The drive seemed to stretch on as most of us were exhausted from the three day whirlwind trip we just had. Fortunately, we have two days to rest, relax, and pack before heading off on our longer west coast adventure on Monday. I can't wait for the rest of adventures we'll all have together!

Rachel