Wrigley Field

With the Cubs back in town, it was time to go to a game.  From the door of my brothers apartment, I can be inside Wrigley within 20 minutes.  No excuse not to go.

Wrigley is definitely old school.  No jumbo trons.  Plenty of steal beams.  People mostly stay in their seats.  The atmosphere here was far more sociable and many more appeared to be interested in the game.  This is what I remember about the Old Yankee Stadium and Shea.  

Swallow Cliff Woods

The mighty stairs at Swallow Cliff Woods 

Located south and west of downtown Chicago, Swallow Cliff Woods provides a little relief from the city life.    When I found about this place online, I read about the stair climb at one of its entrances.  I somehow (despite these steps being located in Illinois) imagined these steps rising into the sky.  In reality they ascended  about 100 feet.

Lots of people getting in a workout

This park is clearly very popular, especially on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.  Many people used those steps as a stair master.  There seemed to be an endless amount of trails.  But like most parks, if you find a trail less traveled, the crowds drift away.

The crowds were out, taking advantage of the weather

A small "gorge"

Lots of downed trees due to flooding

The snakes even thought it would be nice to get out

I chose the path less taken

When approaching Swallow Cliff Woods, one can see the bluff that runs through the park.  The terrain reminded me some of Harriman State Park with less rocks.  One of the less traveled trails took me into a small gorge.  I probably could have wandered along this trail for a few hours, but eventually made my way back to the crowds.

This is definitely a great trail running park

This looked so refreshing

Before heading back, I passed a couple ponds where people were out fishing.  The weather was quite warm and the pond looked really appealing for a little swim.  Soon enough that time will be upon us!    

Millennium Park, Chicago

Spring is finally setting in

A fountain to make a wish

Not sure what these were

Millennium Park holds concerts here 

A view of the surrounding buildings

The Bean.  Always attracting a crowd

The view south and west

The Sears Tower

Clarence Buckingham Memorial Fountain

The view north.  Some of the more modern buildings

The Navy Pier

A lighthouse on Lake Michigan

"Flamenco Revisited"

Millennium Park is more like a public square than a park.  It does have an area that has some greenery and it appears the area they are renovating will also be devoted to greenery.  Still this is a pretty cool place to wander around and check out some of the architecture and art.  Or to just chill out.

Moonshots Over Lake Michigan

Whenever I get the chance, I love watching the moon rise.  Here in Chicago, you get a moon rising over a large body of water that we cannot get in the Hudson Valley.  I still have not taken any great shots of the moon yet.  But these are some of the best I've taken and if my tripod was not broken they would have been better.  Still it was an awesome night out and I enjoyed it with others who were out to enjoy the spectacle.  

Comiskey Park

Moon rising over center field

StubHub is the place to get cheap tickets to a game.  While in Chicago I decided to take advantage and go to a baseball game.  Since the Whitesox were in town, the Whitesox it would be.

The new park is modeled similarly to the old one

We Yankee fans are spoiled

Again this is not much of a hike, although it's not nature, baseball stadiums can be works of art and a site to admire.  Having said this, I most certainly would have rather gone to the original Comiskey which was the oldest park at the time of demolition.  Now Fenway has that honor and only Fenway and Wrigley predate WWII.

I really hope the people of Chicago realize how lucky they've got it.  Both of their baseball parks and Soldier Field (home of the Bears) are located near subway stops.  All of them are about 20 minutes from downtown.  This would be the equivalent of having stadiums in uptown Manhattan or Downtown Brooklyn, instead of having to chug all the way up to the Bronx or Queens for a game.

The view from left

As you can see, it was cold

Right Field.  You can walk around stadium and watch game from just about anywhere.

Tonight for $6 I had great seats in left field near the bullpen.  Sitting there it took me a while to remember the last game I had been to.  It was 1998 at Yankee Stadium.  So it was quite exciting to be at a game after all this time.  It also didn't hurt that the game was exciting with quite a few balls hit into left field and a homerun that was hit into the bullpen.    

I'd like to see those jumbo trons go.  But the moon was nice.

I doubt there were 15,000 there. Even the good seats were half empty