Perfecto

About six years ago my cousin Jayson moved to Boise. He, along with my friend Jason, and I made up a group we referred to as the "Thirds"—each one of us being just as important as the other two. We used to get together at least once a month for a guys night out but that's not exactly practical when you live hundreds of miles apart. So we started a tradition of getting together during the summer for a long weekend of good times. For four years we met in Boise to float down the cold Boise River in the sweltering summer heat and enjoy the downtown nightlife. It was the fourth year that I suffered that horrible bicycle injury and for whatever reason we didn't do anything the following summer. Now that Jason has moved to Chicago it became all the more important to reunite the Thirds this summer.

I flew a redeye from Seattle to Chicago last Tuesday. Jason picked me up at the airport and we went to breakfast. I was pretty worn out but we did manage to do some active things in the park near their house. We got a stunt kite flying for the first time and invented our own game of frisbee golf.

The next morning Jason, Shana, Chelsea (my one year old girlfriend), and I travelled to the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower. We had to wait in line for about an hour but then we were at the top after a one minute elevator ride. The perfect view of Chicago was only obscured by a few hazy clouds but it was pretty spectacular. The newly opened glass balconies didn't end up being all that scary to me... it was neat to look straight down. We were joined at the top by the Papa John who was apparently doing some kind of promotional appearance for his pizza chain. He looked pretty bad without his television makeup, prompting Jason to term "Papa John" as the epitome of ugliness—a recurring reference for our weekend. Jayson got to Chicago in the early evening. He had gone through several of his Southwest drink vouchers on the way. We stopped by the house for a shot of tequila and an unexpected pellet gun shot from a neighbor. In response, Jayson delivered the mortally wounded stray rabbit to the vigilante's back porch. Then it was off to the bar so Jason and I could catch up. We eventually ended up at Tailgaters where they were serving $1 Bud Lights. Our cab ride home from there would cost about $30 more than it should have when Jayson mistakenly gave the driver a $50 bill thinking it was a $20... oops :(

We were all pretty hung over Thursday morning but we got up as planned and drove to US Cellular Field to see the White Sox play the Rays. We had our tickets from the rained out April game and I was ready to throw a fit when they didn't let us exchange them... but they let us exchange them without any fuss. We got seats out in left field. Josh Fields grand slam in the second inning landed five rows directly in front of us. Then about the fifth inning Jayson and I started wondering if the Rays had any hits. The only scoreboard that showed hits was directly behind us but sure enough, no hits. The game continued to the ninth. We couldn't remember if anyone had reached base but the way the batting order lined up made us wonder if Mark Buerhle was flirting with perfection. A spectacular over the wall catch by Dewayne Wise followed by a strike out and a routine ground out sealed the perfect game. We had just witnessed baseball history and in doing so joined a very special fraternity of people who have been present for a major league perfect game. Still basking in the euphoria of what we had just seen, it was time to go to Lou Malnati's for some authentic Chicago style pizza. I thought it was pretty good but I'm not much of a food connoisseur so take my assessment for what it's worth.

We got up even earlier on Friday and headed to Wrigleyville. We weren't able to land Cubs tickets earlier so our plan was to buy tickets from a scalper. Almost immediately after Shana dropped us off we passed a young guy offering good tickets for face value. That should have been our first clue something wasn't right. The tickets looked legit but not having ever seen a Cubs ticket left me at a disadvantage. At $75, the tickets were also under the $80 threshold we had set for ourselves. We gave the guy $225 and he gave us the "tickets". Within a couple minutes he was gone which was another bad sign. We had a ticket broker across the street look at the "tickets" and he told us they were counterfeit. Then the Wrigley Field box office confirmed our fears but told us we could wait in line for standing room only tickets that sell for $15. So that's what we did and in the end we made out okay. Our standing room spot ended up being against the back wall on the lower concourse just to the left of home plate. The cheapest tickets the broker was selling were $130 each and they were in the upper deck near the left field foul pole. We checked and found the seat numbers on the fake tickets didn't even exist. But we got to see a good game that featured 5 home runs, including one from Reds starter Aaron Harang; the Cubbies won 8-5. After the game we started bar hopping. We went to Harry Caray's but it was more of a dance club than the sports bar I expected. Then we went to the Houndstooth and it was there I met Elizabeth, my perfect girl because, like me, she one day hopes to see games in all 30 major league stadiums. We moved on to the Dark Horse for some dinner and I eventually reunited with Elizabeth. Later we took a combination of train and taxi back to the suburbs. Our cab driver told us he is the last white cab driver in Chicago... Jayson dubbed him "Lawrence Dangerfield" because he cracked jokes similar to his more famous "brother" Rodney.

Our last full day in Chicago was pretty mellow. We played around in the park a bit. Jason barbecued yummy steaks for dinner. Then we went back to Tailgaters looking for the laminated "Katrina" and hoping to play some "Bags"—a bean bag tossing game that judging by what we saw is the official pastime of Chicago. Unfortunately, Tailgaters does live music on Saturdays so we had to settle for video Bags. From there we went to the movie theater and watched The Hangover which I thought was funny but overhyped by all the people who told me about it. After the movie we went to White Castle to pick up a few sliders. We only went because I'd never eaten White Castle and now that I have I'm pretty sure I can live the rest of my life without eating it again.

Jayson and I flew home on Sunday. I opted to take a bit of an adventure and volunteer when they asked for people to give up their seats on my original overbooked flight. I almost made it on the next direct flight to Seattle but they gave the one standby seat to the second guy on the list (I was first) because my boarding pass wouldn't print. It ended up taking me 7 hours longer to get home but I wasn't in any hurry since I'm on PTO through the end of July. Southwest credited me the cost of my ticket ($182) plus $200 in the form of a voucher. So that basically paid for my entire trip travelwise.

Despite a few bumps in the road I think this was a pretty perfect guys weekend for the Thirds. I'm pretty sure that Jason and Jayson would agree.