{"id":1860,"date":"2013-06-07T09:38:10","date_gmt":"2013-06-07T14:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/?p=1860"},"modified":"2013-06-07T09:38:10","modified_gmt":"2013-06-07T14:38:10","slug":"sweet-home-chicago-day-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/?p=1860","title":{"rendered":"Sweet Home Chicago: Day 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ah, vacation.\u00a0 It\u2019s a short one, but hopefully we\u2019ll have some fun and adventure.\u00a0 To get things started, we headed out to breakfast at The Canteen in Barrington.\u00a0 I keep seeing the place when we drive by and hear about the great breakfast they serve.\u00a0 Of course, it doesn\u2019t hurt when they appear to have a line out the door most of the time.\u00a0 Time to find out.<\/p>\n

It was raining pretty good on Thursday morning.\u00a0 I was worried about standing in the rain just have eggs, bacon and toast.\u00a0 We were lucky that there was no line waiting.\u00a0 We were able to walk right in and grab a seat.\u00a0 We tried to sit at a booth, but they had crammed this one in pretty tight.\u00a0 We ended up at a table.\u00a0 No one seemed to sit in that booth for some strange reason.<\/p>\n

From the outside, the building appears very tiny.\u00a0 Once inside, you see why.\u00a0 It is an old Quonset hut from WWII era.\u00a0 It was roomier inside than expected.\u00a0 The sign over the U shaped counter in the back proudly proclaims their establishment in 1947.\u00a0 I had read that it was Greek joint, but I wasn\u2019t expecting the Greek family who were running and working the place.\u00a0 They were a lot of fun.<\/p>\n

We ordered up our breakfast.\u00a0 I got the Chuck Wagon skillet with all the meats, gravy, potatoes with toast on the side.\u00a0 Rich got a ham and cheese omlete with toast.\u00a0 Turns out, they were right about it being a great breakfast.\u00a0 I think the combination of environment, people, and food made it a great experience.<\/p>\n

Back home, we finished our errands and packing.\u00a0 It was time to catch the train going downtown.\u00a0 We left Rich\u2019s truck in the parking lot for Rick to pick up later.\u00a0 Come to think of it, I don\u2019t think he ever answered the text message or Facebook note about confirmation of doing that.\u00a0 That boy!<\/p>\n

Once in the city, we decided not to hoof the hundred of concrete canyon miles down to the hotel.\u00a0 We grabbed and cab and took the scenic route.\u00a0 We are staying at the Essex Inn right on Michigan Avenue right across the park.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t a bad deal.\u00a0 The Essex is one of the older hotels that have been redone.\u00a0 Since everything is pushing more and more south along Michigan, most of the existing buildings are getting new lives.\u00a0 At least we could walk to most things easily.\u00a0 Just not the train station.<\/p>\n

For dinner, we walked up Michigan to Adams.\u00a0 Then we headed over to The Elephant and Castle.\u00a0 It\u2019s an English pub.\u00a0 I\u2019ve wanted to try it for a while, so this was my chance.\u00a0 We grabbed a couple of beers and ordered up food.\u00a0 Rich got the Steak and Ale Pie and I got the Beef Yorkshire pudding.\u00a0 It all tasted wonderful.\u00a0 I still say Rich makes the best Yorkshire pudding, which does he for every Christmas.<\/p>\n

Back out on the sidewalk, we headed down to Millennium Park for the beginning of the musical festivities.\u00a0 We stopped by Cloud Gate (better known as the Bean) and got our picture in the shiny surface and then over to Pritzker Pavilion for some entertainment.\u00a0 We were able to score some seats, which was good since we left our chairs at the hotel.\u00a0 The Blues Kids were on stage.\u00a0 The schools have started programs to teach and promote the Blues among the younger generations.\u00a0 These kids were from all over the country and here to practice their performances.\u00a0 They were great.<\/p>\n

Next up was Jamiah on Fire and the Red Machine.\u00a0 Three very young guys came up out and set for their performance.\u00a0 Turns out, Jamiah is only 18.\u00a0 General Pork Chop on the drums is 14 while The Bassman on the bass was 12.\u00a0 They put on quite a show.\u00a0 Jamiah gets his nickname from his playing style, which he did in his signature closing song.\u00a0 The group plays Jimi Hendrix\u2019s Fire.\u00a0 Jamiah can hold his own as he plays the guitar from every possible angle and the audience was giving up the love for his performance.<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s time for the show I\u2019m really here to see.\u00a0 Shemekia Copeland took the stage at 8:00.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been listening to her sing on XM and hearing everyone talk about her.\u00a0 She lives up to the hype.\u00a0 Shemekia is worth the wait.\u00a0 I love her voice and she can belt it out.\u00a0 She proved it by stepping away from the mike and singing.\u00a0 I could still hear, no matter faint it was.<\/p>\n

Halfway through the show, a guy and a couple of girls sat down in front of us.\u00a0 Of course, the girl with the tall hat that looked like a piece of old carpet sat in front of me.\u00a0 I had to keep leaning right to see around that thing.\u00a0 Then a very young guy asks to come into our row.\u00a0 He sits down right next to me.\u00a0 The entire rest of the row to my right was empty.\u00a0 So I\u2019m leaning out to see around the hat and trying not to touch the guy sitting next to me.\u00a0 It was a little strange.<\/p>\n

Shemekia\u2019s band was excellent.\u00a0 They have quite a unique sound.\u00a0 She brought out a young man, Quinn Sullivan, for a couple of numbers.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t say, but I assume he will be a great addition to someone\u2019s band soon.\u00a0 After one encore, the night was done.\u00a0 It was downtown Chicago on a Thursday night.\u00a0 They had to shut down by 9:00.<\/p>\n

We walked back to the hotel.\u00a0 The temperature wasn\u2019t that cold, but the wind was whistling by you.\u00a0 I was frozen by the time we got back to our room. \u00a0I didn\u2019t dress quite appropriately for the weather.\u00a0 Silly me.\u00a0 By the time I could warm up again, I was just too tired to head back out.\u00a0 I\u2019ll try to plan better for tomorrow night.\u00a0 We\u2019re only a block or so from Buddy Guy\u2019s Legend.\u00a0 I have to say I stepped inside there for a while on this trip.<\/p>\n

My friend, Kim, wished us a good time on Facebook.\u00a0 Her son, Chris, then tells us to have a TERRIBLE time. \u00a0She tells him to apologize. \u00a0If you know them, you would find it funny.\u00a0 I had to write back this morning to let Chris know that I really tried to have a TERRIBLE time, but it didn\u2019t work.\u00a0 It was too much fun.<\/p>\n

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention that I\u2019m having a great time with one of my pastime activities.\u00a0 People watching has been the greatest.\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen and heard some of the most wonderful things.\u00a0 I know, I should be careful.\u00a0 I\u2019m probably on someone else\u2019s people watching list for some of the things I\u2019ve done.\u00a0 The only good thing about crowds are the things that people do around you.\u00a0 More people watching tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Now on to Day 2.<\/p>\n

\"Essex<\/a>
Essex Inn on Michigan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Elephant<\/a>
Elephant and Castle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Cloud<\/a>
Cloud Gate or better known as the Bean<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/a>
A good reflection of us.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Blues<\/a>
Blues Kids on stage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Shemekia<\/a>
Shemekia on stage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ah, vacation.\u00a0 It\u2019s a short one, but hopefully we\u2019ll have some fun and adventure.\u00a0 To get things started, we headed out to breakfast at The Canteen in Barrington.\u00a0 I keep seeing the place when we drive by and hear about the great breakfast they serve.\u00a0 Of course, it doesn\u2019t hurt when they appear to have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,6,12,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1860"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1860"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1869,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1860\/revisions\/1869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}