the long walk home

Several times a year, mostly during the summer, i like to walk home from work. The first time i do it always seems to mark the beginning of a season. Yesterday, Monday, was my first walk home. I came with my backpack to work Monday morning. it's more than a five mile walk so it's not something i do spontaneously. I like to make sure i have my "good" gym shoes to wear and a change of clothes if i think it's necessary. yesterday it was necessary. By 5:00 the temperature was 90 degrees and slightly humid. Normally i don't like to walk when it's so warm but since i was prepared i stuck with my plans. It was a warm walk home but did it in approximately 100 miutes. not too bad. the traffic and the lights walking up Michigan Avenue, often affect my walking time but yesterday wasn't too bad. I like to follow the 151 bus route. It goes up Michigan Avenue, and cuts over along the west side of Lincoln Park zoo. It's a nice route. There are open areas, shaded areas, windy spots, and calm spots, there are benches if i need a rest, and water fountains in case i need to fill my water bottle. Also it's nice if i get too hot and want to hop the bus or if i'm caught in a sudden down pour, there's a shelter usually not too far away either. I have walked along the lake front a time or too but it's often more crowded and not as easy to get out of the sun if it gets too hot. It is a fun route if you want to people watch, dunk your feet in the water or stop at one of the beach restaurants.
The walking season has begun. Get out and enjoy it. I know i will.

so what did you so Saturday afternoon?

Well i'm glad you asked. I had lunch at Wrigley field. Now this may not sound so unusual because i spend a lot of saturdays watching games at wrigley often eating my lunch. This past saturday the cubs were out of town, yet i still had my lunch at wrigley field. How was this possible? It was wrigley field neighborhood day. The cubs invite people within certain zip codes to enter a lottery for an invitation to wrigley field on an afternoon when the cubs are out of town. After seven years of entering the lottery, i finally won. As if that wasn't exciting enough... Mary and I showed up saturday afternoon not sure what to expect. 1:45 right on the dot I signed us in and we entered the park. We first grabbed a beer and a dog then found our way to the visitors dugout, after discovering the cubs dugout to be closed, there we enjoyed our lunch. with lunch finished we walked over to the bullpen to sit in the sun. After a sit we got up and played catch in the outfield. We only tossed the ball a few times, since we were short a glove. We proceed to the bases for a "home run trot" around the bases. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the outfield, warning track and sitting in the grass. It was a sunny and beautiful day even with the cold wind. What a wonderful way to spend the afternoon with about 200 of our closest neighbors. Pictures to come.