- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
Chicago Trip Journal
Posted on 7/19/16 at 1:58 pm
Posted on 7/19/16 at 1:58 pm
Did a trip to Chicago with my dad and brother this past weekend and figured I'd post about our experiences. We went into the trip with our main agenda being to see a game in Wrigley.
Dates: arrived Thursday evening; departed Sunday morning
Transportation: flew round trip NOLA to CHI via Spirit Airlines. Hotel was in downtown Chicago so we rotated between Uber, the subway red line, and walking as we saw fit.
----------
Girl and the Goat
We booked a 10:45 PM slot for Thursday, July 14th on June 26th. They had very little availability when we called so that kind of gives you an idea of how in demand reservations are. The food was SUPERB and definitely met expectations. We used Uber both ways.
Menu with prices.
Top: corn bread w/ cherry relish + honey mustard butter
Bottom: miso hungry w/ miso butter + kimchi relish
I loved the kimchi relish.
Pan roasted halibut
Right: goat empanadas
Left: crisp braised pork shank
All dishes were exceptional, and the pork was heavenly.
-----------------
Walked to Millennium Park from the hotel after an afternoon Cubs game. Park includes The Bean, a live orchestra, and the fountain pictured below. No park fees or anything.
Don't know how one goes about getting their photo on this fountain...
----------------------
Architectural Boat Tour
We booked a 9 AM tour through Chicago's First Lady. Lasted 1.5 hours. Thoroughly enjoyed the tour. Great view of the city that gave a good amount of the area's history. Took us near the Lake Michigan harbor and views included Navy Pier, Sears/Willis Tower, Hancock tower, Trump Tower, and tons of other buildings and parks. We walked there from our hotel.
--------------------
We ubered to the United Center (Chicago Bulls arena) for a quick look at the Michael Jordan statue
-----------------
We walked to The Hancock Center and rode up to a bar on the 96th floor to check out the view. Pretty crazy to be looking down at helicopters in the area. We didn't eat or drink, so this was free. We did wait in line for an hour or so to ride the elevator up though. Went during busy Saturday evening. Afterward, we ate at The Cheesecake Factory located in the bottom of the tower.
A few OT ballers posted up at the Bentley place nearby
---------------------
Attended Friday and Saturday afternoon games between the Cubs and Rangers. This has forever been a bucket list for my brother and I and I wish we could have frozen in time. Beautiful ballpark, perfect weather (I welcomed the cold chill bumps in July), great fans and tradition. They've done a great job disguising new renovations within the old ballpark theme. One of my favorite things was such a strong focus on the actual baseball games -- no on-field game promotions, limited corporate advertising, no gimmicks, just baseball.
Next post...
Dates: arrived Thursday evening; departed Sunday morning
Transportation: flew round trip NOLA to CHI via Spirit Airlines. Hotel was in downtown Chicago so we rotated between Uber, the subway red line, and walking as we saw fit.
----------
Girl and the Goat
We booked a 10:45 PM slot for Thursday, July 14th on June 26th. They had very little availability when we called so that kind of gives you an idea of how in demand reservations are. The food was SUPERB and definitely met expectations. We used Uber both ways.
Menu with prices.
Top: corn bread w/ cherry relish + honey mustard butter
Bottom: miso hungry w/ miso butter + kimchi relish
I loved the kimchi relish.
Pan roasted halibut
Right: goat empanadas
Left: crisp braised pork shank
All dishes were exceptional, and the pork was heavenly.
-----------------
Walked to Millennium Park from the hotel after an afternoon Cubs game. Park includes The Bean, a live orchestra, and the fountain pictured below. No park fees or anything.
Don't know how one goes about getting their photo on this fountain...
----------------------
Architectural Boat Tour
We booked a 9 AM tour through Chicago's First Lady. Lasted 1.5 hours. Thoroughly enjoyed the tour. Great view of the city that gave a good amount of the area's history. Took us near the Lake Michigan harbor and views included Navy Pier, Sears/Willis Tower, Hancock tower, Trump Tower, and tons of other buildings and parks. We walked there from our hotel.
--------------------
We ubered to the United Center (Chicago Bulls arena) for a quick look at the Michael Jordan statue
-----------------
We walked to The Hancock Center and rode up to a bar on the 96th floor to check out the view. Pretty crazy to be looking down at helicopters in the area. We didn't eat or drink, so this was free. We did wait in line for an hour or so to ride the elevator up though. Went during busy Saturday evening. Afterward, we ate at The Cheesecake Factory located in the bottom of the tower.
A few OT ballers posted up at the Bentley place nearby
---------------------
Attended Friday and Saturday afternoon games between the Cubs and Rangers. This has forever been a bucket list for my brother and I and I wish we could have frozen in time. Beautiful ballpark, perfect weather (I welcomed the cold chill bumps in July), great fans and tradition. They've done a great job disguising new renovations within the old ballpark theme. One of my favorite things was such a strong focus on the actual baseball games -- no on-field game promotions, limited corporate advertising, no gimmicks, just baseball.
Next post...
This post was edited on 7/19/16 at 2:20 pm
5
Posted on 7/19/16 at 1:58 pm to kadillak
Wrigley continued...
The Cubs won both games! "Go Cubs Go" and the rise of the "W" flag at the end of the games are a cool touch. Ryan Dempster did a great Harry Caray impersonation for one of the 7th inning stretches.
--------------------------------
Our flight got delayed Sunday morning so that gave me time to uber down to Ohio Street Beach and jog back to the hotel.
------------------------
There's so much stuff to do in Chicago. A lot of different things to experience and see. Uber was really convenient. Supposedly there's 30k Uber drivers in the area, and our longest wait time was about 10 minutes which was at the airport. It seems like I see a thread every week with questions about Chicago so my hope is that this helps you visualize just a few of the activities available to the area. Let me know if you have any questions.
The Cubs won both games! "Go Cubs Go" and the rise of the "W" flag at the end of the games are a cool touch. Ryan Dempster did a great Harry Caray impersonation for one of the 7th inning stretches.
--------------------------------
Our flight got delayed Sunday morning so that gave me time to uber down to Ohio Street Beach and jog back to the hotel.
------------------------
There's so much stuff to do in Chicago. A lot of different things to experience and see. Uber was really convenient. Supposedly there's 30k Uber drivers in the area, and our longest wait time was about 10 minutes which was at the airport. It seems like I see a thread every week with questions about Chicago so my hope is that this helps you visualize just a few of the activities available to the area. Let me know if you have any questions.
This post was edited on 7/19/16 at 2:17 pm
Posted on 7/19/16 at 2:01 pm to kadillak
Nice. I was talking with my daughter about future trip possibility and she said CALIFORNIA. I was thinking Chicago would be easier to navigate! Nice pics!!!
Posted on 7/19/16 at 2:48 pm to kadillak
You picked a great weekend to visit! The weather was amazing (and living in LA I can only imagine how much you appreciated the cooler temps) and perfect for being outside. Looks like you hit a lot of the major sites. For whatever reason the fountains with the faces on them really creep me out and I don't like them at all.
Yet they still try to hit me with surge charges regularly SMH
quote:
Supposedly there's 30k Uber drivers in the area
Yet they still try to hit me with surge charges regularly SMH
Posted on 7/19/16 at 2:50 pm to tiger91
Yeah, I was surprised how easy it was to navigate. The drive from the airport to the hotel Thursday night and the drive from the United Center to Wrigley Saturday at noon were our two longest transportation treks and both were only 30-40 mins. Uber picked us up within 5 minutes of our request in most of our occasions. The subway was a 5-10 minute walk from the hotel and the subway ride was about 15 minutes to and from Wrigley. The subways were PACKED on the way back from Wrigley though as can be expected.
Posted on 7/19/16 at 2:56 pm to foreverLSU
Yeah, it really was so ideal. Definitely a harsh reality when we arrived to muggy New Orleans weather Sunday afternoon 
The surge prices were pretty annoying. I think we got hit with a surge price every single time, including my 6 AM Sunday morning adventure.
The surge prices were pretty annoying. I think we got hit with a surge price every single time, including my 6 AM Sunday morning adventure.
Posted on 7/19/16 at 4:30 pm to kadillak
Didn't make it past your photos of The Girl and The Goat, but I didn't have to in order to know you had a good trip.
That was the best meal of my life. That pork shank is the GOAT dish (pun intended).
That was the best meal of my life. That pork shank is the GOAT dish (pun intended).
This post was edited on 7/19/16 at 4:31 pm
Posted on 7/19/16 at 5:50 pm to kadillak
How was the trip on Spirit?
Posted on 7/19/16 at 7:04 pm to fatboydave
Great post trip report. Chicago is a great city to visit, I've had many great trips there. It really is crazy all the violence on the south side that is many miles away from the downtown area that steals the news from the rest of the city.
Posted on 7/20/16 at 9:55 am to fatboydave
quote:
Didn't make it past your photos of The Girl and The Goat, but I didn't have to in order to know you had a good trip. That was the best meal of my life. That pork shank is the GOAT dish (pun intended)
Agreed on the best meal I've had as well. The only downside to it is that every meal I eat for the next few weeks will be a disappointment because it can't compare to G&TG quote:
How was the trip on Spirit?
It was my first time flying Spirit, and I didn't really have any complaints. Flight out of NOLA was smooth sailing. We were supposed to fly out of Chicago around 8:30 AM on Sunday but we got delayed for nearly 3 hours. They said our plane had a huge detour before arriving in CHI, but I don't know what that was all about. Didn't really both us because we weren't in a rush to get home or anything. They did keep us updated via email about the delay, projected departure, and gate changes. My dad purchased a carry-on suit case or duffle bag and knapsack for each one of us. I'm not sure the exact price numbers, but Spirit tries to get you with luggage prices.
It really is crazy how you don't notice the violence problems when you're in the downtown area. We didn't really come across anything sketchy or anything other than maybe the area around the United Center. I'm curious what the area around the White Sox and Bears stadiums is like?
Posted on 7/20/16 at 10:16 am to kadillak
quote:Not sure about US Cellular, but the immediate area around Soldier Field isn't bad. It is really close to the Shedd Aquarium and Field Museum. When we were there (10 years ago now, damn it doesn't seem that long ago) we were very comfortable and felt very safe in the museum campus area.
I'm curious what the area around the White Sox and Bears stadiums is like?
Not sure where the dangerous areas of "southside" starts. I would guess south of Chinatown, but not sure if begins just south of there, or if you have to go further south (Washington Park/U of Chicago area).
Posted on 7/20/16 at 1:19 pm to kadillak
quote:
I'm curious what the area around the White Sox and Bears stadiums is like?
I wouldn't hang around outside of US Cellular Field at night if the Sox aren't playing, but walking to the stadium from the CTA on a game day won't be an issue.
Soldier Field is in a good part of town right by the lake (from what I understand the south loop area was just gentrified in the late 90s/early 00s and used to not be as great as it is now)
Posted on 7/20/16 at 1:20 pm to kadillak
awesome. Im going later this fall.
This post was edited on 7/20/16 at 1:27 pm
Posted on 8/2/16 at 10:20 pm to kadillak
I want to do the architecture tour on the boat
Posted on 8/2/16 at 10:55 pm to AbitaFan08
GF got us reservations at Girl and the Goat in late September. What are the must get dishes? I've gathered the halibut so far.
Posted on 8/3/16 at 7:27 am to kadillak
quote:
I'm curious what the area around the White Sox and Bears stadiums is like?
Bears stadium is right downtown it's a nice part of town. US cellular isn't bad, but it's not great. Ive walked to the L stops that are one closer to the city than the one designated for the field and it was safe. It's mostly the areas well south of even there.
Posted on 8/3/16 at 8:21 am to kadillak
Nice review looks awesome. Please link this post in the pinned thread above so we can get it added.
Posted on 8/3/16 at 3:36 pm to REG861
quote:
GF got us reservations at Girl and the Goat in late September. What are the must get dishes? I've gathered the halibut so far.
in for answers, as well as any other fun destinations.
Posted on 8/3/16 at 3:41 pm to austin2015
quote:
I want to do the architecture tour on the boat
Even for people that live in Chicago, the architecture tour is a fantastic experience.
Posted on 8/3/16 at 3:58 pm to hoopsgalore
I've done the architectural boat tour at least five times with various friends and family. Never gets old.
For Girl and the Goat- Halibut was my absolute favorite. If you need something green, the wood roasted broccoli is awesome. Pig face is a very popular dish, as are the goat choices. The empanadas didn't blow me away, but they have a carpaccio that looks fantastic. Pork shank is a winner as well.
For Girl and the Goat- Halibut was my absolute favorite. If you need something green, the wood roasted broccoli is awesome. Pig face is a very popular dish, as are the goat choices. The empanadas didn't blow me away, but they have a carpaccio that looks fantastic. Pork shank is a winner as well.
Page 1 of 2
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News