Chicago Exploring Day 2 by Kenny

We woke up on Saturday to some great views of the Chicago River! We loaded up on some free hotel breakfast and then headed out to expo for the Rock n' Roll half marathon that we were running the next day. We had some mishaps trying to figure out the transit system... but eventually we bought an unlimited one day pass. Pro tip: these are only good for the buses and trains, NOT for the Metra. We stocked up on a bunch of free samples and snacks at the expo - Kenny downed a few too many energy drink samples and ended up bouncing around like a crazy person and pulling a Will Ferrel from Elf on the escalators.  Then it was time for the Cubs game! We headed down to Wrigleyville (the addison stop) on the train. It was really neat because as soon as you stepped out of the train station you could see Wrigley Field. The whole place was a flood of royal blue cubs hats and shirts. We grabbed a Chicago Style Hot Dog from Wrigleyville Dogs before heading into the field. Pro tip: You're allowed to bring in bottled water(non-broken seal) and your own snacks into the Cubs game. It will save you a BUNCH OF money as water bottles are $5.50 inside. It was technically 96 degres that day, but felt like 104 according to the news. There are also water fountain on the main concourse so that was a ton of help too.  This was my (Kenny)first MLB game and it was honestly much better than I was counting on. The whole stadium was packed and the fans were really involved in the game. We chanted, we clapped, we cheered, we boo'd and it was a great (hot!!) time. Its also neat because this feild is smack dab in the middle of all the other buildings downtown and those buildings were smart and put bleachers on their roof so people could watch from outside the field.  One really cool part of the game that i thought was really unique was that right during the hotter part of the game (somewhere near the 6th inning) this massive breeze blew in and all of a sudden the whole crowd started cheering. I was looking at the field but nothing was going on - what were they going on about?? Then it hit me, a chilly breeze probably 20 degrees colder blew over me and it felt amazing. the crowd was going nuts over this and luckily for the rest of the game we were sitting pretty with a much more comfortable temperature situation. As the game ended (Cubs win!) we walked out chanting "Go Cubs Go! Hey Chicago what'dya say, Cubs are going to win today!". As we left wrigely field, there was a band playing some good music so we stopped and relaxed and listend for a bit - that is until the rain came in ( which was only about three songs in to the bad). So we headed back to the CTA (Chicago Transit Athourity) addison stop to head back to our hotel. We knew it would be a wait after the game - but we were surprised at how long. Pro-Tip - make sure you leave ahead of the crowd or have some other plans -with a roof - when you leave. Once we got back on our side of town we grabbed a nothing special dinner with pasta to load up on the race. We wanted to walk around a bit still as one of our other goals was to go to the navy pier and see the fireworks. We were a bit sad though because the fireworks were moved back until 10:15 and if we watched those we wouldnt get back till midnight or so and then have to get up early to get ready for the run. So we didnt quite make the fireworks. The Pier was a cool place to walk around though and gave magnificent views of the skyline. After this we headed back to get some rest for our race!

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