Arrived in Chicago today for the 2017 Cubs Convention – World Series Edition and I can not wait to get things rolling tomorrow afternoon.
Had an 11am flight out of LGA to Chicago O’Hare. I love the Delta Shuttle airport. It’s like a little baby junior airport. You avoid the crowds and chaos of the larger terminals and the coffee and blueberry muffins are delicious. That’s not to say it couldn’t do with a Dunkin Donuts, but what is there is a very good start to the trip.
I arrived at the Shuttle terminal at 830a and noticed there was a 915am flight to Chicago that started boarding and looked light. I don’t mind airports but decided to see if I could get on the 915a. The lady working the little baby junior airport counter for Delta was very nice and waived the $50 change fee (score!). I was getting to land of my people (Cubs fans) 2 hours sooner than expected! Holy cow.
No, wait…not so fast. Weather in Chicago caused a delay in receiving flights from anywhere at O’Hare so after boarding the flight and settling in for my warm winter’s nap aboard this gloriously empty Delta flight (2 seats to myself? Yes please – and yeah, still have the holidays on the brain) we were asked to get off the plane and wait until nearly 11am anyway. Fine by me – as long as I get to Chicago. Travel day the day before was a great decision. Got my plane nap on for an hour or so and woke up landing at O’Hare.
Yes.
The hotel is great – same place I stayed at with my family on our Sept 2015 trip to Wrigley the weekend the Cubs clinched the Central. Free breakfast in the mornings leaving just lunch and dinner to sort out this weekend. No idea what to expect for convention food or convention anything for that matter. This will be my first Cubs Convention as I was lucky enough to buy a convention pass in the Mastercard presale. I can’t wait to take in all the panels and signings, the opening night events, the games, the players – current, legend and future – all of it.
After I checked in I made it out to Wrigley to get the first thing I wanted to do on this trip – a picture of the Wrigley marquee with ‘World Series Champions’. Wrigleyville looked like how it’d be represented at the end of some apocalypse movie where you could tell something used to happen here and it was a big deal considering the statues of players, the giant stadium and all the closed bars, restaurants and souvenir shops. The stadium aside from the marquee is in shambles being worked on in so many ways but I got what I wanted – the pic of the beautiful marquee featuring ‘World Series Champions’.
So. Cool.
After that I checked out the Cubby Bear but they didn’t open until 5p – so off to Harry Caray’s for some much needed food after only eating some cookies and O.J. on the plane.
I love Harry Caray’s. Big Harry fan and the food and drink never disappoint. Had a great meal, checked out the shops, sights and sounds – made my way down to the Chicago Theater and took a pic outside the marquee there (another cool sight not far from my hotel) and now logging notes from today looking ahead to tomorrow.
You won’t see me harassing any players for autographs this weekend in the lobby, etc but when the time is right and the opportunities come about, I’ll be ready. I brought a few baseballs with me and already tested out which pen works best. Can’t wait to see what the convention is like and can’t wait to be among so many excited Cubs fans this weekend. What’s not to love? The Cubs are World Series Champions.
(Pics and more to come this weekend!) Go Cubs Go! #Cubscon
Prose and Ivy 