Several years ago my daughter went with some girl friends on vacation to Chicago. She met a young man who is now her husband, so now my wife and I make at least one trip a year to the windy city area.
My son-in-law is a Cubs fan, so we follow the Cubs along with the Giants. Even though the Cubs were not in town during our little girl's wedding week, we went on the Wrigley Field Tour. This was the beginning of our Wrigley Experience.
I was intrigued by the history of the ball park. What a tribute to Americas' Pastime. Our docent was a young man coming from his own line of Cubby history. He explained that his grandfather sold the property across the street from the Wrigley Field main entrance to Ray Croc for a McDonalds. This young man's father would sneak into the ballpark as a kid with his buddies to play ball until the security guard would throw them out.
Last summer (July, 2010) we went to a ballgame. We got to the Wrigley Field area between nine and ten o'clock in the morning. We shopped for sports apparel in several of the stores surrounding the park. As we strolled past the parking lot where the ball players parked, we spotted Rolls-Royces, Porches, Corvettes, Hummers and Land Cruisers. Across the street was a neighborhood fire department with firemen watching the festivities?
We had drinks in one of the bars by Wrigley then continued our exploration of Wrigliville. At 11:30 am we had lunch at Harry Carey's Tavern across from the ballpark. The Cubs played the St. Louis Cardinals that gorgeous July afternoon winning the ballgame 5-0. We ended the day with dinner at Smokey a B-B-Q restaurant in the area made famous by its great food and the popular Food Network show "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" with Guy Fieri.
On Wednesday April 29th, 2011 my daughter, her husband and her friend and husband just live another Wrigley Experience. I wasn't there but my wife and I followed the game via ESPN on our phones and continuously texted the kids at the game.
Matt Garza started the game for the Cubs against the San Diego Padres; Matt pitched six innings, struck out nine batters and scored a run himself. The game went elevens innings and the Cubs won the game in the bottom of the eleventh inning with a home run by Reed Johnson. Matt played in our hometown Easter baseball tournament when he was in high school.
After the game to complete the experience, the kids went to dinner at Smokey to have some terrific B-B-Q.
If you have never been to Wrigley Field and lived the "Wrigley Experience" put this on your list and enjoy a wonderful part of Americana.
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