Bob was just getting set to relax and watch the
PGA Championship on DirecTV outside when Connie says: "Hey, the Boat Drunks are at Navy Pier today at 5:30!"
The
Boat Drunks are a Trop Rock band that can be heard on
Radio Margaritaville and are often featured at
Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville's around the country, but especially the
Key West restaurant when the
Meeting of the Minds is being held.
This was at 1:25p on a Saturday when the trains leave every two hours and the next train was going out at 2:25p which was a half hour away, not dressed to go into town and no showers done. We caught a big break when Bob got an email alert that the train was going to be late because, as it turns out, the earliest we could have gotten there was 2:28p.
Train left at 2:55 and we were off to
Navy Pier (again!)
Maybe one of the few things we dislike about Chicago is it's cash only, or it's not, or it's exact change, or it's..... you get the picture. Part of the hustle to get ready was having $1.25 exact change to park at the train terminal, $7.00 per person exactly for the weekend METRA pass, and $2.25 per person per ride exactly for the CTA busses. Got lucky that there's no charge to park on the weekend. Got unlucky when we got to the METRA station and the CTA card vender wouldn't take bills or credit cards. Walked over to Union Station, and there machine wouldn't add more credit to our CTA cards. Just such a pain. We like the old school of the conductors and trains, but their system for paying just sucks and is so inconsistent!
We got to Navy Pier just as the Boat Drunks were starting, had a few Landsharks, met some great people who were just back from the Cubs game, and was a nice little Parrothead getaway, plus a bonus,
Mike Miller rejoined the band for this set.
It was a great night, but since we bought weekend passes for the METRA, we decided on the way back to head back in on Sunday and just hang around Wrigleyville since the Cubs were in town for a day game against the Reds -- double bonus.
We had driven around Wrigley on a couple of our trips to Chicago, Bob had been to a game. Bob's game was probably 20 years ago on a baseball trip: drove in, parked, did the game and left. We both wanted to experience the bars and the OUTSIDE of Wrigley Field without having to worry about getting into the game, out on time, etc.
Got a few tips the night before from the girls we met, so we were kind of prepared. No issues with the trains and we decided to take a nice walk from the METRA station over to the Red Line through downtown. The Red Line drops you off right at Addison and the right field bleachers. Headed down to
Murphy's Bleachers bar, met some nice Reds fans. Great place to start your day.
Went down the left field outfield to
Bernie's which is down the 3rd base line for lunch. Some gift shops highlighted our walk down to
the Cubby Bear, which was our least favorite with no outside space.
Came back around the corner (where you could actually look in on the game from a double fence in the Right Field wall) and had a couple more beers at Murphy's before we hopped the Red Line back to downtown.
Took a different route to walk to the METRA station and found them blocking off a street and filming down by the
Chicago Board of Trade building. Couldn't tell what/when/how was going on, but it was drawing a crowd.
Wednesday we headed to the General RV store north of us to look at RV's and see the outlet stores that are located next door. Connie had made a list over the last few weeks of models and brands that were appealing at least via the pictures, layouts, etc. General RV had a few of them, so we thought we'd touch and feel.
