I should note round trip flights between Houston and Chicago are typically cheap because both are United hub cities. I bought my plane ticket in April for less than $250 round trip. And yes, I paid for it myself without miles because at that price, your miles are best used on a more expensive trip (like Columbus). I also found a great deal using a combination of points plus cash at the Four Points by Sheraton for $75/night (pre-tax). Four Points hotels aren't the greatest on the planet. They're probably the lowest on the totem pole of the Starwood Preferred Guest program (Sheraton, Westin, etc), but they're decent and clean. We did get upgraded to a handicapped room (means that it's larger) with a sofa bed, so that's good. There's free wifi, bottled water, and typically a microwave and fridge (except the Seattle downtown location). They don't have free breakfast, which is why I don't rank them as high as some Hilton chain hotels, but their beds and pillows tend to be more comfortable. In any case, one cannot complain too much about a hotel that is literally one short block from Michigan Avenue and about midpoint between Magnificent Mile and Millennium Park.
Of all cities, Chicago's public transportation system is the best I've experienced. While I don't take public transportation most of the time, my motivation was the cost of overnight parking at the hotel at $50/night. While you may think this price is excessive for parking, it's standard in Chicago downtown area hotels. No matter what rank you are with whatever hotel program, NO hotel will waive the parking fee. Even overnight parking lots or garages in the downtown area are typically $40/night. A shuttle to/from the downtown area is around $30 one-way, and takes about an hour according to Go Airport Express' online booking system. The trains to/from O'Hare to my hotel cost $2.25 and only took 15 minutes extra, including walking time to the train station.
If you're going to visit Chicago, definitely familiarize yourself with their Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) maps. I'd highly advise downloading the PDF documents to your phone, especially the map with all the different L train lines. Sometimes you may be in a train car that doesn't have the full map (they'll always have the colored line's map), and you may need to connect to a different line. Sometimes you may be underground in the system and won't have good cell phone reception. So, it's best to have the map handy, so you can look whenever needed. To leave O'Hare (only airport I know of that has an actual train station in the airport), it costs $5 cash. To return to O'Hare, it costs anywhere from $2.25 to $2.50 (depending on if you need to transfer), so don't think it's $5 round trip. There's also a day pass available; I'm told it's $10 for 24 hours of use. This might be an option for those traveling as a couple, but for a single person, that's too much money to put on your CTA card (vended at O'Hare). No refunds are given, so it's best to load the card with exact amounts if at all possible. Once you're in the city and out of the airport, it's $2.25 for the first ride on the L train, $.25 to transfer, and free for a second transfer. This will make sense later as I discuss how to get to Toyota Park.
My hotel was closest to a red line station. I took the blue line out of O'Hare and transferred to the red line at the Washington station. The Washington stations are connected by a mall, which I found interesting. I had to pay $0.25 for a transfer fee, but I was on my merry way to the hotel, located next to Grand station on the red line. This means the hour ride cost $2.50 to ride all the way from the airport to downtown. In normal traffic, if you were to drive, it takes about 30 minutes to reach downtown from the airport. In rush hour traffic, the L train is just as fast, if not faster, compared to driving.
Saturday evening I met Scott and his friend from dinner at Gino's East. Scott is a Houston Dynamo fan (met at a Texian Army tailgate a couple of games ago) who is going to school in the midwest area. Of course I had to go for deep dish pizza at my favorite place! It was scrumptious, and surprisingly, there was no line. I guess the guys showed up at the right time! When we left, the line was wrapped around the building. No matter where you go in Chicago, a good deep dish pizza place typically is a 45 minute wait and another 45-60 minutes for the pizza to arrive. This is definitely not the kind of place you eat if in a hurry. The wait though, is worth it.
After pizza, we walked to Navy Pier, since I hadn't been there in ages. The last time I was there sometime 2004-2006, I was in the Odyssey yacht with unlimited drinks and food (including filet mignon) for a meeting. It was definitely a fun night! This time though, we actually walked along the pier. Although this is a famous Chicago landmark, I am not sure what the fuss is all about. It's a carnival-like atmosphere with inflated food prices, loud music, and not much to do except walk around. People were sitting on the steps shoulder to shoulder when we started leaving around 9PM on Saturday, so I suppose they were awaiting fireworks.
The walk from Michigan Avenue to Navy Pier appears short because a sign on Michigan Avenue at Illinois Street that says, "Walk four blocks to Navy Pier." The sign doesn't tell you which direction to take, but you need to walk on Illinois Street away from Michigan Avenue. We walked a good 20 minutes or so before reaching Navy Pier and definitely went through more than four intersections. So, you've been warned.
From Navy Pier I took a cab back to the hotel. The walk would've probably taken 45 minutes or more to return to my hotel; the guys had parked near Millennium Park, and Google maps also estimated a 45-minute walk to give you an idea of distance. Paying a cab driver $8 (including tip) to reach the hotel was worth it. My roommate (an OLD Texian Army member nicknamed "Zero" who has moved to Iowa until November) said you could take the bus from our hotel to Navy Pier, but I didn't have anymore money on my CTA card. Oh well.
Yesterday on Sunday morning I woke up late, watched some EPL, and decided to eat a Chicago-style hot dog for brunch. Portillo's was only a few blocks away, so I headed there since a Texian Army member (from Michigan) recommended the place. I wasn't too impressed with the hot dog itself. I was hoping for more of a brat, given the region of the country; the hot dog was more like an Oscar Meyer hot dog (unlike what they advertise on their website), so I was disappointed. The fixings were good, the fries were pre-frozen, and the strawberry shake hit the spot.
From Portillo's, I walked to the Clark/Lake station, the closest orange line location. I suppose I could've taken a bus, but I needed to walk. Crossing the Chicago River is always a pretty sight. I should note the Clark/Lake station entrance is pretty tricky. There's a sign above some stairs saying the entrance is location off of La Salle street. The CTA signs at street level don't tell you how to enter the station. It turns out there's a HUGE entrance right outside one of the signs on Lake street, and this station seems to have all the different colored lines you need except red (of course the one line near my hotel!).
No matter how many times I've visited Chicago, I've always gotten a kick that you take the orange line to get to Toyota Park. You take the orange line until it ends at Midway. Once you exit the station, there will be several buses waiting with signs above the bus to let you know where the bus is going. You want to look for the "Toyota Park Express Bus" sign which is in small letters underneath the normal bus number. Do not let Google maps tell you otherwise, because this bus isn't in the Google maps system. In fact, Google maps will tell you to take a bus that drops you off so that you have to walk another 20 minutes to the stadium. The express bus runs every 20 minutes (according to the Chicago Fire website) starting 2 hours prior to kickoff (arrived shortly within this window and bus was waiting) and drops you off inside the parking lot of Toyota Park. This is considered a transfer, so I was deducted $0.25 (first transfer after getting off of the orange line), costing a total of $2.50. Not bad at all, considering the stadium's in Bridgeview, not Chicago.
The game itself was pretty uneventful, and it ended in a tie. There were probably about 15 of us there to support the Dynamo. About 5 of Bruin's high school classmates came to the game, but since they didn't wear orange, you couldn't tell who they were supporting. It was hot since the clouds didn't arrive until the 70th minute or so; it's a good thing I've started carrying Propel's water enhancer. I should also note the stadium doesn't have water fountains, so you really do pay $4/bottled water (caps taken off). Post game, Bruin, Moffat, and Driver came over to sign autographs. I always find it classy of a player to do so after a game. I know they're tired and hot, but people really do appreciate it, especially when you've traveled a distance to see the team (not to mention all the money that's spent).
After the game, I went back to the hotel to drop off my game gear and headed to Water Tower Place. I was shocked (along with others) to learn that even on Labor Day Weekend, the mall closed at 6PM, per their usual on Sundays. The poor security guard stood at the bottom of the escalator, constantly repeating himself. I wanted to visit the Adidas performance store, but I guess the money Gods were telling me to save money. Chicago is the only city I've visited that has two Adidas stores within walking distance of each other. The Adidas original store is four blocks from the performance store (yes, a true 4 blocks unlike Michigan Ave to Navy Pier). I haven't been to either on the last few trips and need to make it a point to go next time.
With Water Tower Place closed, I headed south on Michigan Avenue to Millennium Park. The annual Chicago Jazz Festival was going on, and best of all, it's a free event. It was PACKED. People had brought their tailgate chairs, picnic blankets, alcoholic beverages, and food. I managed to snag a sideline standing spot right before the penultimate group performed, a quartet. Their definition of jazz was interesting, adding a fusion of electronic sounds and rap. Nevertheless, I hadn't been to a jazz concert in forever. The last was probably around 2008 when Dave Brubeck (one of my favorite American composers) performed at Beth Yeshurun in Houston. If you ever want a fun night and have dressy clothes, go to a jazz club in Chicago. It is unlike any experience you will have. I've been to the Green Dolphin (around 2005-2007), now called The Dolphin, and the jazz band was amazing. Chicagoans don't really start partying until maybe 11PM-12AM, and they'll keep going until 4AM. I had an absolute blast.
This morning I basically got up and went to the airport. I started on the red line at the Grand station and transferred to the blue line at the Jackson station. Because I didn't have to enter my CTA card again, it only cost $2.25 to go to the airport, instead of $2.50 like I was anticipating. When you look at the CTA map, the open bubbles between colored lines means you don't have to pay a transfer fee. If you have to walk between stations (like Washington when I was going to the hotel from the airport), then you have to pay a $.25 transfer fee. These are things to keep in mind when you go to Chicago. I now have $.25 left on my CTA card. The card doesn't expire until 01-Apr-2014, so hopefully I'll be back before then to use my twenty five cents.
So, that completes now my 4th regular season Dynamo game at Toyota Park. Chicago's an amazing city, and I will definitely keep my eye out for when we play them at home next year. Whenever the MLS schedule's released in January, I always look for Chicago! I'll write again in a couple of weeks, since USMNT vs Mexico is next!
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