4/20/08 Midwest Tour Day 4

Day-off

What can one say about a day-off in the suburbs. We know you Wee fans have become accustomed to glorious accounts of fascinating misadventures and captivitating concerts. Unfortunately, we of the Wee trio regret to report that it is difficult to find either of these things in the northern Chicago Suburbs. We did however, manage to stir up a modicum of trouble and sample a some serious local delicacies. And the charm of Midwestern hospitality is something (we’ve discovered) is not something to be trifled with.

10:00 Awake

10:05 Discover Tom and Joyce (our Midwestern hosts) digging a large hole in their backyard to do their own repair on their septic system

10:30 Short-order breakfast provided by Tom Noller – featuring homemade cranapple jam made by Tom from the cranapples in his own backyard – now that’s home-cookin’!

2:00 Dan gets cabin fever and agitates the trio out of their domestic bliss (featuring sunny porches, 30’ televisions, friendly moms and endless cups of coffee)

2:45 Trusty old GPS (Gangsta Positioning System) leads us to Mickeys, an excellent suburban micro-brewery (go figure). We persuade the bartender to put on the Lakers game (interest is limited to the three of us at the bar). Lakers have a strong game (no surprise – looking at their defensive record this season) with Pau delivering strong rebounds.
The ‘english half-yard’ glass catches Dan’s eye and he samples the bar’s local Doppelbock in the Chicago’s biggest beer glass. The rest of the trio cannot be without a sip.

5:30 Find a great ‘beach’ (sand by a large body of water that one cannot see the other side of --- even though in this case it is not the ocean, but Lake Michigan). Also find some college students celebrating 4/20 on the beach in plaid shorts.

7:30 Ritual visit to Giordanos for Chicago deep-dish pizza. Finishing a large deep-dish (complete with its 8 beeeig slices) pizza is a gauntlet for all both the most seasoned eaters. In the end we barely made it.
Here are the final scores:

Jared – 3 (and bonus points for going out first)
Dan – 3 (trailing heavily)
James – 2 (by a nose)