Days 3 &4 – Chicago Beach...who knew?

So we woke up in Chicago at Travis’ “cousins” house, the Benchell Family and their dog Asta. After a good night sleep, we went to Chicago’s famous AL’S GRILL. John had literally one of the best cheese burger’s of his life. Travis had Bill’s Belly Buster b/c he loves burgers and alliteration

After that, we took the “L” (which stands for the elevated train) to Millennium Park in Chicago. It was actually an insanely nice park. Way better than we expected from a Midwest city. From there, we walked through the city to the Oak Street Beach. Funny enough, it was actually a legit beach on Lake Michigan that looked more like Miami than we could have imagined.

Then we took the train again to Children’s Memorial Hospital to meet up with Travis’ family who were pediatric psychologists. Then we hit up a bar with about 12 other pediatric psychologists. John and Travis looked hilarious in this upscale bar with 12 suit wearing doctors, while we sat there in ZBT shirts, plaid shorts, and free pitchers worth at least $12 each. We met a cool doctors whose son writes Lil Wayne beats also...NBD. Then we had to bid our PhD friends farewell b/c we were late for a Cubs game at effing Wrigley Field. Tim Lincicum pitched great but the cubs won with a 9^th inning walk off single. Epic ending!

Day 4 -  Woke up in Chicago and said bye to the windy city. Then headed west across Illinois, ate lunch in Wisconsin, continued through Minnesota, crossed the Mighty Mississippi, urinated in Iowa, and pitched our tent in South Dakota.  BTW, wind turbins and casinos are EVERYWHERE!

Also, in dramatic irony, John hit and killed his first animal by hitting a bird in SD at 75 mph. This is especially crazy b/c it occurred literally less than 30 seconds after the boys had finished a conversation about bird hunting and how we probably wouldn’t have the heart to kill a bird. You can’t make this stuff up ladies and gentleman.  

The trip continues tomorrow morning across epic South Dakota, through the Badlands, the Black Hills, and finally Mount Rushmore.  We’ll cya on the other side. Cheers.