I really should get right to reviewing my trip to Chicago and seeing the July 26 game where Detroit beat us by one run but Dunn had a two run homer. But, just conjuring the trip in my mind is like conjuring Christmas as a child: the memories are so delightful, so tinged with the feeling of being something other than the daily wheel of life that it has a bittersweet feel to it.

Ah, why the heck am I moping? I'm 19 and I'm getting nostalgic over a four day trip three weeks ago. So, to shoot off the bullet points since no one wants to read blobs of text without pretty pictures:

• Chicago is my favorite vacation destination. It is just on another level. Downtown is so imposing, where the smaller buildings make you feel like an ant, but most of our time in the city was driving around the neighborhoods that have so many different characters: Cicero past Midway to 26th, through Pilsen, up Ashland through the West Side over the river, around the North Side, down 35th and Archer past Chinatown. Those neighborhoods, the zeitgeist of Chicago, are so rich in history and activity and grime and colors and hustle and... I know I probably sound like a star struck out of towner, but well, I was. To borrow from Nelson Algren, "Never a city so real."
  
• US Cellular Field does have a looming feel to it. I was in the outfield lower deck, a few seats from the third base foul line, and I'm not sure if it was the gray tones of the decks and seats or that upper deck, but our home park has this sort of blunt, industrial feel to it, which I find a fitting match to Chicago. 
• There were way too many Tiger fans in the park and on the L (Red Line from the Loop), although I don't mind them pouring money into Jerry's pockets.
• My sister and I worked our way through a bag of peanuts while watching the game, which felt right in some "this is how it's supposed to be" way. Alas, no beer.
  
• The Wave is stupid. Doing it when Detroit scores the go ahead run should be grounds for getting kicked out. Alas, 95% of the lower deck was doing it.
• I got both the Tribune and Sun Times heading out of town. Going through both, I prefer the Sun Times. How about you?
• I-80 in Illinois is a dull dull drive, and this is from someone who has gone five hours across Iowa many times.
• That title quote is by Rudyard Kipling, who was not impressed by the squalor of 1890s Chicago.
• What the heck is with the tax rate? 11%?! 

Now romp!