Day 5: A Sea of Corn

Chicago, IL to Sioux Falls, SD

After a great few days in Chicago, Carl and I began the 575 mile drive to Sioux Falls, SD. Quickly, the giant metropolis turned into a sea of corn fields as we made our way through rural Illinois. It was picturesque, only interrupted by the occasional farmhouse... but those were cool too. 

Eventually, we made it to our first stop of the day: Dyersville, IA. Don't worry -- Dyersville didn't mean anything to me either. So for the first two hours of the drive, Carl had me watch Field of Dreams. "If you build it, he will come," he whispered repeatedly. For those of you who haven't seen the movie, it's about baseball. That's all I'll say. (Go watch it.)

Field of Dreams Movie Site

Before leaving this small country town, Carl and I grabbed lunch at the local Country Junction Restaurant. It was essentially a barn outfitted to be a restaurant. French onion soup, chicken strips, and to top it all off, blueberry pie. I've never been a fan, but that pie was incredible.

We drove for another couple hundred miles and stopped for dinner in Sioux City, IA. Thanks to our handy guidebook Roadfood, we knew to stop at Tastee Inn & Out. It's really a misnomer since the restaurant only has drive-through and a takeout window. Still, Carl and I had an excellent dinner at the picnic table nearby. After some onion rings, a milkshake, and our Tastee sandwiches we were on our way.

Drew at Tastee Inn & Out

Sioux Falls was much bigger than Carl and I thought it would be. We drove through so many small country towns during the day and expected Sioux Falls to be the same. With more than 150,000 residents, it's South Dakota's largest city and home to the impressive Falls of the Big Sioux River. Sitting by the water was a relaxing way to end the day. Tomorrow we go camping.

Drew & Carl at Falls Park

Day 4: Wrigley, Sears, and Mormons: A Perfect Combination

Chicago, IL

Today we took our first form of public transportation in Chicago. The "L" train system is very clean and got us where we needed to go with no hassle. Taking the Red Line towards Howard, Drew and I exited at Addison, right next to Wrigley Field. We walked down Addison until we saw the famous red Wrigley Field sign, which we learned is now a protected Chicago landmark. We entered the stadium directly under the sign to begin our tour of the ball park. 

Wrigley Field is awesome. Built in 1914, it is the second oldest park only behind Fenway Park in Boston. We learned all about the history of how the Cubs came to occupy the park and how rowdy Chicagoans can become during baseball season. Apparently, the "Bleacher Bums" caused quite a scene back in the sixties and seventies. The rooftop bleachers are also a staple of Wrigley, and may cause a problem when the Cubs finally try to install a Jumbotron in the near future because this may obscure the view from the roofs. After sitting in the bleachers in center field, we walked into the old, tiny visitors clubhouse, sat in the tiny pressbox, strolled through the less tiny Cubs clubhouse, and finally stepped onto the field. I took a few pretend practice swings in the on-deck circle to get my money's worth, and then Drew and I got back on the "L" and headed downtown. 

Entering Wrigley Field

Drew and I outside the Cubs' dugout

After getting off the subway, we got some lunch at Portillo's Hotdogs. The hotdogs had hot peppers, a pickle spear, relish, mustard, and tomato. It was probably the best hotdog I've ever had. Amazingly delicious. Extremely full, we walked to Merchandise Mart to check out Tech Week. I felt very out of place, but at least Drew enjoyed it a bit. Basically, a bunch of startup tech companies had booths and they just explained their products. We were there for about a half hour before we'd had enough.

We then decided to check out the line to the Sky Deck in the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower. The line was surprisingly short considering the 25,000 people each day who zoom up the elevators to floor 103. We learned that the Willis Tower was the tallest building in the world for twenty-three years. Recently, the architects added four enclosed glass ledges in which visitors can stand and look straight down 1353 feet to the streets below. This made waiting in the line worth it and we got some neat photos.

Panoramic View from the Sky Deck in the Willis Tower

Drew and I in the glass box on the Sky Deck of Willis Tower

Our nighttime activity consisted of a nice Italian meal at Trattoria No. 10 and seeing The Book of Mormon musical, which was absolutely terrific. This was the funniest musical I have ever seen and, even though we were in the highest part of the theater, way up in the balcony, I am certain that the actors and actresses could hear our laughter. Our phones both dead, Drew and I walked back to the apartment to get a good night's rest before leaving early Friday morning to beat the traffic from the Blackhawks championship parade.

Day 3: Improvised Fun

Chicago, IL

Today we explored the city. Chicago is known for its architecture and we saw it all during our Chicago Architecture Foundation River Cruise. I was impressed by the Trump Tower, the Willis Tower, and some of Chicago's finest ingenuity. Did you know that engineers reversed the Chicago River so that the city could send its sewage to St. Louis? Brilliant. Let Missouri have all the radioactive fish.

Carl and Drew cruise the Chicago River

For lunch, Carl and I went to the Billy Goat Tavern. The place is known for being one of the first fast food restaurants in Chicago. It wasn't a chain or anything, and the inside was pretty dumpy, but those hamburgers were delicious.

After our $6.50 combo lunches, Carl and I set off to explore the city. We planned to visit the Field Columbian Museum but got distracted along the way. First, we stopped at the Cloud Gateway. This metallic bean showed the Chicago skyline and all sort of angles. So, of course, Carl proceeded to take 9 million photos. We went to the Clarence F. Buckingham Memorial Fountain and then the marina. It was sunny and nice... never quite made it to the museum.

Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate

Finally, it was time for Second City. Since I had seen their Toronto troupe perform last summer (and really enjoyed it), I had high expectations. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at Wells on Wells and made our way to the theater. 

It was a blast. The show was broken into 3 acts. The first and second were rehearsed but third was entirely improvised. We laughed, we cringed and had a few drinks. In one skit, the actors pretended to be in the future, studying archives from 2013. Apparently 90% of recorded history consisted of cat videos and pictures of food "right before being eaten". It was very funny show. Hope to see the actors and actresses on SNL some day.

Day 2: Cleveland to Chi City

After watching the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup in grand fashion, we slept quite well in our Cleveland hotel. We woke up at a respectable hour of 8:30, got breakfast and walked through the surprisingly clean streets of Cleveland to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Located on the shore of Lake Erie, next to the Cleveland Brown's First Energy Stadium, the Hall of Fame is a mostly glass building. We got there right when it opened and promptly received our red wristbands allowing us to peruse the thousands and thousands of artifacts of musical geniuses. We could have spent at least an entire day in the museum learning about Elvis and his philanthropic achievements, or watching endless videos of American Bandstand, but we could only stay for three hours before grabbing lunch at Al's Deli in Downtown Cleveland and starting our journey to Chicago. 

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland, OH

We stopped just short of Chicago at Lakeshore Dunes National Park in Indiana, which is a popular beach destination. Even though the weather looked very ominous, we sat on the beach for a few minutes before getting eaten alive by flies. Then we climbed a large sand dune with a great view of the lake and incoming storm. The lightning began to strike and we scurried into the car, closing the door as the rain drops started to fall. Drew and I then high-fived to celebrate our amazing timing. We drove another hour before fireworks from the Chicago White Sox game welcomed our arrival. 

Rain over Lake Erie at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

Dinner was some classic deep dish pizza. After that we met up with Dan Klein who brought us to a live band karaoke bar called Bub City. Fifteen minutes after we arrived, people started piling into the bar, standing on seats, looking anxiously towards the door. Before long, the Stanley Cup and entire Blackhawks team entered to a huge applause. It was awesome, and was a fitting end to our second day on the road.

NHL playoffs MVP Patrick Kane holding the Stanley Cup. 

Day 1: Farewell Nueva Jersey

Voorhees, NJ to Cleveland, OH

First day on the road was a great success! Carl B and I began our journey at 10 AM and quickly got in the groove. We drove through Philadelphia, waved to Harrisburg, and made it to our very first destination, Popeye's Chicken. But don't worry -- the day wasn't all fastfood and bathroom stops.

Just south of Pittsburgh is the small town of Mill Run, PA and home to Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece, Fallingwater. Designed for the Kaufmann family, this "cabin in the woods" was quite literally built on top of a waterfall. Carl B had a field day, asking all the right questions and sharing a fun fact here and there.

Carl B at Fallingwater

After our brief pitstop in southwestern PA, we continued on to Cleveland. The drive was easy with Stephen Fry narrating Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. If you're like us and haven't actually read the books, don't. It's a lot more fun when a british guy reads it to you.

We arrived in Cleveland around 8:30 PM and enjoyed dinner at the Winking Lizard. 12 hours ago I was nervous about how much driving we'd be doing but after today, I'm confident our trip will be a great time.