This past weekend my dad made his second trip to visit us in the Windy City. Last time it was around Halloween, before it got as cold as it is now. You see, my dad actually enjoys the cold weather. And while we did get some cool temperatures, nothing like the single digit lows this week. Anyway, I digress.
My dad rolled up in his pickup around 3 o’clock in the afternoon. After settling in, I drove my dad around a few of the neighborhoods near us, including Logan Square, Wicker Park, Ukrainian Village, Lakeview, Wrigleyville, and Lincoln Park. He seemed to be amazed at how they all seem to flow into each other yet are all unique to themselves.
That first night we stayed in our neighborhood and walked over to Nick’s Pit Stop for some tasty charbroiled chicken dishes. Evidence below:
After we stuffed our bellies, Apryl and I continued to overload with some desserts from Margie’s Candies. Yummy!
On Sunday, my dad and I had tickets for the Chicago Blackhawks hockey game. But before, we took the train over to the sub shop Bari Foods on the Near West Side. My dad had heard about the wonderful subs here and wanted to try them out. We were both surprised to find that the sub shop was in the back of a small grocery store. A small sub is a 9 inch, and they wrap it in white paper. Both of us got the Italian Sub, and I believe we were both satisfied.
After giving up on the bus, we decided to walk over to the United Center. It wasn’t that bad of a walk and probably helped us walk off our lunch a bit. Below, the stadium:
Wikipedia, we attended the United Center’s largest crowd for a hockey game (21, 715). Amazing!
Other observations of note: 1) Even with a lousy team, fans of the Blackhawks are very passionate about their home team 2) Fights are more celebrated than goals 3) Hockey is far more exciting in person than on the tube
Above, John Stirratt (bass player of Wilco) attempts a goal during the 2nd Period break. He missed.
Below, my dad poses outside with a Blackhawks statue:
We took the bus back to Wicker Park where we stopped in at Myopic Books, which is one of Chicago’s oldest bookstores. My dad picked up a copy of the Chicago Tribune to take back to my nephew Jackson who was writing a school report about Chicago weather. Good luck, Jackson!
Later that day, I drove my dad around to a few more neighborhoods such as Lincoln Square and Chicago’s Indian district, West Rogers Park. During the sight tour, we shopped for some DVD’s which we watched later that night. For dinner we walked a few blocks from our apartment at John’s Pizza and Lounge (home of the “football pizza”) where we all enjoyed some pasta dishes in this 51 year old restaurant.
On our last night, we hung out at the apartment watching a couple of episodes from my DVD purchase of The Very Best of One Step Beyond and my dad’s pick, Los Gavilanes (The Sparrowhawks), an old Mexican western completely in Spanish. Yes, we went to bed very confused.
My dad left Monday morning around 6 o’clock. I got up to tell him goodbye and then went back to rest up for a shoot later that day with the Oprah show (this time it wasn’t with Oprah herself but with Valerie Bertinelli for an upcoming episode). As with the last time, the weekend went too fast. It was so fantastic getting to see my dad in Chicago. It certainly means a lot to me that he was able to visit. I only wish we had had more time together.
Eva checking out Sampaw.