Chicago road trip: Cubs, Lollapalooza, sightseeing and booze

I got my Lollapalooza ticket today, a big step in my pre-Chicago roadie planning. Being a newsie for the time being, I can make my schedule work for the first week in August but realize many on the board won't with football tabs and what not, but anybody else going?

I'll be in town up there Aug. 3-8, hoping to catch a couple of Cubs games (probably Pirates vs. Cubs, a clash of the titans to be sure). I'm going to Day 3 of Lollapalooza (acts I'll catch for sure: Wilco, RHCP, Nickel Creek), and I'm sure I'll try to catch the Science and Industry Museum among other stops. Oh yeah, I'll probably have five or 10 beers* while I'm there, too.

* -- five or 10 per hour, of course

 

Man, have fun. I was toying with the idea of going up to Chicago for Lollapalooza (this guy I used to work with is now at the Tribune...the dude is the spitting image of David Cross...so I would have had a place to stay), but I really don't want to take more vaction time after being at a job for three months.
Ask your Medill friends where to go up there...

 

Didn't go to Medill (sure as hell couldn't afford it), but I lived there for 23 years, so if you need some suggestions, PM me, DBV.

 

I will actually be visiting Chicago for that weekend to vist a friend, and since I live in Pittsburgh and we're both gluttons for punishment we're going to the Bucs-Cubs game that Saturday.

 

So, Doc, what three things should one do on a trip to Chicago?

 

Museum of Science and Industry is great, if science and industry had ceased advancement in 1973. That place is like the Land that Time Forgot.  Also, it is VERY far off the path of anything else. If you want museums, you can cover the Field, the Shedd Aquarium, and the Art Institute in about three hours and still hang out at Buckingham Fountain.

But even better, hang out on Oak Street beach, take the long walk up the lake front to Addison and cut over to Wrigley Field, and walk back through the neighborhoods.

Chicago is the greatest place to go nowhere, do nothing, and have the time of your life.

 

Thanks, Cameron Frye

I'll probably still go to Museum of Science and Industry because my folks think it's the greatest thing ever. (I don't think they've been since way before 1973, so that probably explains it.)

 

Open-ended question. Given the current time-frame, i.e. summer, I don't care if he hates the Cubs with a passion, if he's never seen Wrigley Field, that definitely should be a destination. Also offers plenty of drinking opportunities.

So that's one. The second one -- a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry -- is definitely a good plan. The place is awe-inspiring. But don't limit yourself to that. Should also visit the Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium if the opportunity presents itself.

I think his third thing should be to visit Navy Pier. It's absolutely beautiful this time of year, and there's so much to do there.

 

(1) McDonald's.

(2) Ride the bus.

(3) Two women at the same time.

 

Agreed. Just walking Michigan Ave. is enough entertainment for me in Chicago. Also, the best cheeseburger I ever had was at Hugo's Frog Bar on North Rush Street.

 

Lincoln Park Zoo is a nice way to waste a few hours too.

 

As I stated I am going to Wrigley and I am excited because I have heard such great things. However, I was appalled to hear from my friend that I would be paying 37.50 for my ticket in the upper-deck. I mean, its the Pirates-Cubs, the two worst teams in the National League. I was able to get 2 tickets in the left-field bleachers at Yankee Stadium (my first game there, too, its a landmark summer for me and seeing old ballparks, now I just need to figure out how to get to games at Fenway and Dodger Stadium) for $30 for a Yankee-Red Sox game earlier this year. Why am I paying more to see 2 horrible teams than I did to see 2 pretty good teams at the same type of historically significant ballpark? Maybe I am just spoiled because I live in Pittsburgh and can walk up to the park for basically any game and get a $9 ticket in the left field bleachers at the best ballpark in the majors. *ducking from the people who think that last statement is complete bullshit