I had a Cinnamon Toast Crunch breakfast bar this morning before my flight left for Chicago. I arrived at O'Hare in the early afternoon and found my rental car from Enterprise. I used to live in suburban Chicago and wanted to check out some of my old haunts before seeing a minor-league Chicago Wolves hockey game at Allstate Arena in Rosemont in the evening.
The first order of business was to find a place to eat, I chose a Brown's Chicken as they don't have these in the Twin Cities and I did eat there sometimes when living in the area. I found one in Elk Grove Village, close to where I once worked, and had eaten there for this reason. I had chicken tenders as this is what I saw being advertised well as a value meal. I had been used to the fried chicken. Then it was on to Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, as I wanted some postcards and a pair of Bears socks. Lucked out and found both at the same store. I will be sending one card to myself and another to a friend. I recalled seeing a street named for football star Walter Payton near the mall, in front of a hotel, and I got a picture of the sign. Next was Des Plaines, where I had lived for most of my time there. I had a shamrock shake at the McDonald's which is near the museum, remembering Ray Kroc's first McDonald's. Memorable to me was how an old man kept bothering me, wanting to keep talking to me, while I was taking pictures of the historical displays there. Eventually, he was ejected as he was just loitering. I found a nice souvenir at a place called Gift Depot which was nearby, a die cast model Ford Mustang. I like collecting these as I already had a few, but the style on each is different. A friend called me while at this store and I gave out my schedule for the weekend, hopefully we will be able to meet up tomorrow. Then I needed to check into my hotel, the Motel 6 in Elk Grove Village. I often stay at this one while in the area. I rested up a little in my room, but not too long as I wanted to get on the road again for the Wolves game.
Before entering the arena, I went over to the adjacent Target store in hopes of seeing their snack bar, which is cheaper to eat at than the arena's food. But it had been replaced by a Starbucks, and I don't drink coffee much. So I got a 3 Musketeers candy bar and left. I ended up getting a soft drink and a hot dog at the arena. I walked around the arena to see what all was happening, it was an 'Adopt a dog' night. I got a picture of a pitbull, but many dogs were available. I bought 3 souvenirs, the priority one was a Wolves shirt to replace the one I had back when I lived in the area. It had 3 small holes in it by one shoulder, and I usually rip up shirts when this happens. The other 2 items were a puck and a die cast model Zamboni celebrating 3 of their league titles. Now they have 4.
There was a dedication ceremony before the game, a former general manager was being honored and the ceremony ended with a banner honoring him being raised to the rafters. The Wolves beat the Lake Erie Monsters 3-1. I liked being able to meet Wayne Messmer, who sings the National Anthem at these games, as he happened to be sitting nearby. And I did end up getting both giveaway items, one was a game program and the other was a plastic wristband sponsored by the Shedd Aquarium. The aquarium did have a table at the game, and there was an inflated penguin next to it. I did see somebody with a Minnesota Gopher hockey sweater on the video board, as there is a hockey doubleheader at Soldier Field this weekend. I am attending this as well.
After the game I went to a Jewel Osco grocery store to get a bottle of beer and same peanuts. I've found this to be a good combination while writing about the days' events in my hotel room. I got a beer from Poland called Lech and kept the bottlecap. I was tired and I ended up falling asleep before I wrote as much as I had hoped, while I was watching 'Saturday Night Live'. Liked hearing the story of the self-checkout clerk at the grocery store who had to scan my ID for the beer. He said he was studying accounting at DePaul. In the postcard to myself I said 'Remember this guy'.
The first order of business was to find a place to eat, I chose a Brown's Chicken as they don't have these in the Twin Cities and I did eat there sometimes when living in the area. I found one in Elk Grove Village, close to where I once worked, and had eaten there for this reason. I had chicken tenders as this is what I saw being advertised well as a value meal. I had been used to the fried chicken. Then it was on to Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, as I wanted some postcards and a pair of Bears socks. Lucked out and found both at the same store. I will be sending one card to myself and another to a friend. I recalled seeing a street named for football star Walter Payton near the mall, in front of a hotel, and I got a picture of the sign. Next was Des Plaines, where I had lived for most of my time there. I had a shamrock shake at the McDonald's which is near the museum, remembering Ray Kroc's first McDonald's. Memorable to me was how an old man kept bothering me, wanting to keep talking to me, while I was taking pictures of the historical displays there. Eventually, he was ejected as he was just loitering. I found a nice souvenir at a place called Gift Depot which was nearby, a die cast model Ford Mustang. I like collecting these as I already had a few, but the style on each is different. A friend called me while at this store and I gave out my schedule for the weekend, hopefully we will be able to meet up tomorrow. Then I needed to check into my hotel, the Motel 6 in Elk Grove Village. I often stay at this one while in the area. I rested up a little in my room, but not too long as I wanted to get on the road again for the Wolves game.
Before entering the arena, I went over to the adjacent Target store in hopes of seeing their snack bar, which is cheaper to eat at than the arena's food. But it had been replaced by a Starbucks, and I don't drink coffee much. So I got a 3 Musketeers candy bar and left. I ended up getting a soft drink and a hot dog at the arena. I walked around the arena to see what all was happening, it was an 'Adopt a dog' night. I got a picture of a pitbull, but many dogs were available. I bought 3 souvenirs, the priority one was a Wolves shirt to replace the one I had back when I lived in the area. It had 3 small holes in it by one shoulder, and I usually rip up shirts when this happens. The other 2 items were a puck and a die cast model Zamboni celebrating 3 of their league titles. Now they have 4.
There was a dedication ceremony before the game, a former general manager was being honored and the ceremony ended with a banner honoring him being raised to the rafters. The Wolves beat the Lake Erie Monsters 3-1. I liked being able to meet Wayne Messmer, who sings the National Anthem at these games, as he happened to be sitting nearby. And I did end up getting both giveaway items, one was a game program and the other was a plastic wristband sponsored by the Shedd Aquarium. The aquarium did have a table at the game, and there was an inflated penguin next to it. I did see somebody with a Minnesota Gopher hockey sweater on the video board, as there is a hockey doubleheader at Soldier Field this weekend. I am attending this as well.
After the game I went to a Jewel Osco grocery store to get a bottle of beer and same peanuts. I've found this to be a good combination while writing about the days' events in my hotel room. I got a beer from Poland called Lech and kept the bottlecap. I was tired and I ended up falling asleep before I wrote as much as I had hoped, while I was watching 'Saturday Night Live'. Liked hearing the story of the self-checkout clerk at the grocery store who had to scan my ID for the beer. He said he was studying accounting at DePaul. In the postcard to myself I said 'Remember this guy'.
No comments:
Post a Comment