Mike & Lisa got married

Something extra-fun:  family weddings on back-to-back weekends.  After gathering in Florida for Mike & Ally, we quickly turn to Chicago for Mike & Lisa.  Guess what:  the O'Connell crew is great to hang around with.

Here's what happened.

Thursday night diner crew

PJ and I arrive on Thursday, December 3 - easy flight- check into hotel - late lunch at Gino's East just off Michigan Ave.  A short walk from the hotel (also just off Michigan Ave); decent December weather - fun to wander a bit - heck, this is PJ's hometown, and my first job out of law school was in downtown Chicago.  Familiarity.  Later that evening:  dinner with Chris, Kerry, Luis at some local place (I think recommended by NOC) - a nice evening.  NOC/POC occupied with rehearsal dinner etc.

On Friday December 4 - milling around at hotel, then we (meaning the dinner crew from Thursday evening) start walking.  We end up for lunch at another Geno's - this one downtown - tasty, again.  And fun to be hanging out with these folks.  Wander into Art Institute, but time is short.  We walk back toward our hotel; run into PJr and Nedda (who had recently arrived) when shopping at the local Whole Foods (of all places); back to hotel and prep for the evening.

Friday lunch crew (same as Thursday dinner crew) (excellent repeat).  Geno's East, downtown.

Obligatory bean-pic on way home from lunch (Friday).

Wedding ceremony and reception are at Revolution Brewing - really, a fine place for this kind of thing.  Bus ride over to the venue.  Revolution does a good job with its beers!  We had more or less serious thoughts of riding the rail, but didn't get close - among other challenges, too much good food.  POC ran the ceremony beautifully.  Fun evening.  Enjoyed getting to know Lisa's family a bit.  Always fun hanging out with the O'Connell group.

CPG's selfie at Revolution Brewing.

Another look at the estimable crowd at Revolution Brewing.

The nice thing about Friday weddings - Saturday is a free day to socialize, and the wedding party is freed up.  On Saturday December 3 - more milling around through breakfast and morning hours at the hotel.  After which our entire group (now nine strong) walks all the way down Michigan Avenue to a MOC-favored pizza-and-pierogi place just south of Roosevelt Road.  Lovely day for a walk, all in all.  Very fine gathering spot - lots of family and friends showing up (including Jenna).  Eventually we repair to another establishment nearby where the fun continues well into the evening.

The groom makes a short trip and returns with a smuggled-in treat (meaning the 
limited-release beer).  Nice move.  (Saturday, late afternoon)

Now it's getting quite late . . . courtesy Uber (with a driver who supported, or tolerated, some singing) a group of us make it to a Jenna-recommended restaurant near the hotel . . . this fits the bill quite nicely.  Then back to hotel.  NOC and POC (our room-sharers) eventually join us . . . POC memorably expresses his appreciation for the situation.  And he was right - a really fun weekend.

With four kids at pizza/pierogi place.

At Saturday stop #2.

Sunday, December 4 is short - chattering/recapping at breakfast at hotel - then a late-morning flight out of O'Hare, PJr and Nedda on the same flight.  Very fun weekend, passed way too quickly.

Below copied from NOC's Instagram feed:

Chicago - South Bend

PJ and I had a fun, funny, memorable (if somewhat short) trip to Chicago and South Bend (on July 5-9).  Prompted by an invitation from Voe and Karen Zintak to the wedding of their son (John) in Chicago.

Voe & Karen Zintak family, right after wedding ceremony.

Flew into Midway, then started the trip with a visit with John, Ping and children (Patrick and Serena) - I hadn't seen their home before, very nice area (Woodbridge).  It was fun to catch up, and they were gracious enough to treat us to a fine dinner at a Korean place they'd discovered (near Patrick's school).  So that was nice.

Sampling of the fine bikes that (with owners) provided some real character to our chain-hotel experience.

Then over to Voe's place - beautiful backyard - beers, food, conversation, hospitality ++.

Then over to our hotel shortly before 1a.  At check-in learned that the hotel had been mostly reserved for a local motorcycle club - the Ruff Ryders - plenty of interesting bikes and bikers in evidence throughout our stay.  (Some must have been night owls based on all-night hallway shenanigans.)

Wandering around St. Mary's Lake.

Wedding was Saturday afternoon; beautiful outdoor ceremony followed by reception at Janosik Banquet in Hickory Hills.  First-gen Polish bride, which was neat.  Much enjoyed entire event, very nice to catch up with Pat and Nancy (and their son David), Rita, Jan, etc.

Where we officially got started  on May 24, 1980.

We had decided to extend the trip by a couple days for a quick visit to South Bend, and we were glad that we did.  Our last visit, described here, was back in 2006; campus continues to change, particularly on the south end.  There is something entirely new since 2011 - "Eddy Commons" - we stayed at a Fairfield Inn that is part of this development.  Nice shopping and restaurants - you guessed it, "there wasn't anything like this when we were in school."  A big improvement.

Attempt at panoramic view inside Sacred Heart Church Basilica.

Weather very hot and humid.  Lots of walking, per our usual style.  A great time of year to be on campus - pretty much dead - without the jumpiness of a football weekend, it was possible to dredge up something of the "old days" feeling (a little bit, but nice). Wonderful dinner (and lunch subsequent day) at Cafe Navarre in downtown S. Bend.   Met Joe and Jackie Gales for a drink on Monday night - just delightful to have a chance to visit with them.

Wrapped up things on Tuesday, and back to Phoenix - a fun time with my excellent traveling companion.

Chicago, 40 years ago

We are back and forth into Chicago fairly regularly what with Nicole and our O'Donnell relatives residing there (among other connections). Paul Jr. and Nedda recently visited, including a trip to Wrigley Field.

That made me remember when my brother Steve and I had our first opportunity to travel to Chicago - this was courtesy of Romie & Joy. It's been basically 40 years to the day since that trip.

It was a pretty stimulating experience for a 13-year-old kid who had about zero travel experience (as you can tell by clicking on the diary excerpt - I was impressed by things like an "underground parking lot").

And there was a lot to absorb. Some thoughts:

1. We traveled to Chicago in Romie's excellent Ford Country Squire station wagon. (Their family was heading back to Glenview after summer vacation, including a stop in Iowa.) I'm thinking the car was pretty full, what with eight of them and two of us. And no doubt some luggage. Don't remember if Tippy was along.

2. These were rather boisterous times in Chicago. This was just a year after the riots at the '68 Democratic convention; just a month before the famous Chicago Seven trial was convened. I had a couple diary references to "hippies."

3. As far as the Cubs - they were in the early stages of the famous 1969 collapse, in which they blew a big lead to the Mets. The linked article provides some details. Including indicating attendance at the game we attended (8/22/69) of 19,897. That number would be remarkably low by today's Wrigley Field standards, especially with a first-place team in a tightening race involving a New York franchise. (Back then, a franchise that drew a million fans in a year would have been considered quite successful.)

4. I mention in my diary entry that Ron Santo gave us autographs; he was a pretty big star back then (even if he can't get into the Hall of Fame now). By pure happenstance a photographer from the Fort Dodge (Iowa) Messenger (daily newspaper) was at the game, and the paper published a photo of Santo signing for some fans. Back home in Iowa a couple days later, Grandma Gales (FDM subscriber) somehow spotted her grandsons in the photo. I think that qualifies as a small world story.

5. I noted that Romie & Joy went out for dinner one evening to celebrate their 13th wedding anniversary. That sounds like "long ago."

6. We went to the top of the tallest building in Chicago - but it was only 39(?) stories, the once-famous Prudential Building.

7. Had my first plane flight on the way back to Iowa. In hindsight, what an unusual flight - this was pre-deregulation. A tiny plane that stopped in Iowa City, Clinton and Des Moines before landing at Fort Dodge. Four stops in less than 400 miles.

8. The very next day was my first day in eighth grade, with a new teacher - one Sister Consilia.

Various adventures: closing out 2008

Back in Arizona and slowly catching up with things after a delightful holiday break. Some quick notes regarding the December portion of our holidays (through 12/31/08) are below. Will post on the January portion soon. These posts are much delayed in part because I've been stalling around waiting for some photos. (They haven't arrived so will be added later. Patricia and I didn't take pictures (other than a cell phone photo of "Santa" per below) so it may take some time . . . )

1. Anyway, the fun started with Patrick's graduation in Tucson on December 19, described in the preceding post.

2. With Nicole and Kerry in town, now all seven of us were together, a state which continued until we split up in Chicago late in the day on January 5. I'm grateful we had all those days together and wonder when/if it will happen again for that long of a time.

3. Pre-Christmas, we did some Christmas prep stuff, and mostly enjoyed hanging around the house together. Various parties, including at both Linda and Ray's and Helen and Massoud's on 12/20; party at our house for the graduation on 12/21. The seven of us had dinner together at Richardson's on 12/24, a very enjoyable meal again. Prior, Paul Jr. reprised his role as Santa at the Cummings' Christmas party (at which we all stopped by).

4. Patricia had to work on Christmas Day (like last year); the rest of us hung out at the house, visited her at Mayo, and watched Chris prepare a fine Christmas feast (which was served up promptly after she got back from Mayo).

5. Then spent a couple more days basically just doing miscellaneous things together. Kerry and Nicole showed what seemed to be an unnatural interest in some Wii shooting game. Quite a bit of Wii bowling. We had fun playing the "tip-in" version of HORSE at the basketball courts down at the park. Patricia continued cooking various great dinners. Mary Beth hosted a nice holiday party on 12/27.

6. We then hit the road - flew to Chicago on 12/28. Mary Beth and "Bumber" took us to the airport. Paul Jr. forgot his wallet and cell phone- some ID issues, though didn't create much inconvenience. Easy flight; typically slow process getting car and baggage at Midway. We met up with POC there. Lunch at Portillo's. Dinner at the restaurant right up the road from Joann's place, I already forget the name. Weather a non-factor; we heard tales that things had been awful for quite a few days, then a 55 degree day with heavy rain that washed away all of the mess just before we arrived. Met an absolutely massive dog (named Kirby). It was fun just chit-chatting etc., Arnie & Joann are fine hosts.

7. December 29 - fine breakfast courtesy of Arnie. For some reason we had the idea of going bowling, and there were some very good scores. So that was fun. Several grocery store trips culminating in a very good fajitas dinner. Played pinochle; Patricia and Nana won games, I wasn't even close. Another fine day mostly hanging around.

8. December 30 - A bunch of us (i.e. my three sons and me) eventually went to the north side and had lunch at a Geno's East location near Nicole's apartment. It was good, except they forgot to put in the order for Chris and me (meaning everyone else sat and waited with us). POC went to pay for lunch, which was nice except Nicole had already taken care of it. Luis had arrived from DC by this time so he was with for lunch (also Kerry, Nicole, POC). Took a quick tour of Nicole's apartment after lunch (first time I was at this location) - nice. Luis brought Hayek's "Road to Serfdom" as a Christmas gift which is a fine choice especially with the economic goings-on and disorganized political response these days. But probably not as good a gift choice as the Halo figurines that soon absorbed my sons. After all this, back out to Joanne & Arnie's where we had a chance to sit, relax, talk for an hour or so.

9. In the evening we went over to Jan Zintak's place. The nine in our traveling party went, plus Nicole and Danny Loza. In addition to Jan and Rita, Pat and Nancy were there, also Voe showed up (with lots of tales of his visits to Arizona (his son is a cop in Phoenix, it turns out)). Jan does an unbelievable job decorating her apartment. She had all kinds of snacks and desserts, also ordered pizza for the large group. This turned out to be a very fun evening - even did some Christmas singing. Jan pulled out her cassette tape of the 1977 Glee Club Christmas album, I appreciated that she was thoughtful about that. And haven't seen a cassette tape version in many years (though I have several LP copies).

10. December 31 - some folks did lots of work decorating Joanne's place - including creating what were loosely termed as "party hats" - modified shower caps, actually. Did some prep, Costco shopping, etc. (somewhat re-created the meal we had put together courtesy of Costco for Patrick's graduation. Party in the evening - music, dancing, nice food, typical New Year's Eve type entertainments. All but one of us wisely shed our party hats fairly early in the evening. Got to see John's family plus Ping's sister were there. Back to the hotel with a group of animated passengers, where some probably slept more soundly than others.

So that's it for 2008 . . . and I must say I had quite a wonderful year with my little friend and all, not sure how you'd beat it . . . then again it seems like that pretty much every year . . .

More on our Chicago trip (August 3-7, 2006)

Here is some info about our Chicago trip (Patricia, Patrick, Paul Jr. and me).

1. Food was v. good throughout. #1 food event was Arnie’s breakfast. Blackbeans, eggs, tortillas, potatoes with chorizo, coffee. And a Serrano pepper to nibble on plus a beer to sip on. Wicked good combination. (The Serrano pepper is pretty hot, read about it here.) Additional winners were deep-dish pizza (Gino's beats Lou Malnati’s, sorry Nicole), Sunday night dinner featuring Argentine meats at Tango Sur, and BBQ: a massive BBQ pork sandwich at the Pit, and BBQ everything at Patio.


2. On Friday (August 4), we parked at Nicole’s house and did some fun tourist things in Chicago. Check out the video below as we take the El and visit NikeTown and Millennium Park. Then we had a beverage at a bar right outside Wrigley and lunch at Lou Malnotti’s. And saw WiggleyField (a dog park, as you might guess).





3. Also on Friday (August 4), we drove out to Joanne’s place and then on to a rock-climbing wall at Dick’s Sporting Goods. Check out the video below. Only Patricia and Joann made it to the top. My personal effort was not impressive.






4. Saturday (August 5) was the morning of the major breakfast noted above. And a big get-together at Joanne’s house, which included lots of volleyball. Very nice.


5. On Sunday (August 6) we went bowling. Two games: Arnie was high score in game one (155) and Nicole was lights out in game two (189). Danny’s six-mile-per-hour rolls were amazingly effective. Said goodbyes on the south side and drove up to Nicole’s house. Walked to dinner at the Argentine place (the five of us plus Nicole’s boyfriend). It was interesting seeing the neighborhood on foot, lots of restaurants etc. Stopped at the neighborhood Walgreen’s for water and Nicole spotted somebody loading up a handbag and heading out. Clerk’s chase was short and futile. Some video below.






6. Joanne had a dog named Daisy. Pretty big, but still a puppy and ridiculously full of life. Daisy loved to go after the cat, and the cat loved to slap Daisy around. This was endlessly amusing. Daisy also chased around inside the house, especially when Patrick blew in her face.






7. Beautiful weather. Easy flights (except one passenger said we owed him a dinner, I think because EPG was chatting three hours with his seat-mate). Hotel also very nice, take a look here.

Tourists Return to AZ

Patricia, Patrick, Paul Jr. and I visited Chicago and various of its suburbs from Thursday (August 3) through Monday (August 7). I'm including a photo from our visit to the new-ish Millenium Park in downtown Chicago, plus a photo of three tourists and one Chicago resident standing near the Chicago River.

Millenium Park was a neat place. One area was set up for performing arts - on the day of our visit, it was some "Silk Road" music. In another area is the famous "bean" - a source of a wide variety of reflections (click on the photo to better see the reflection of our tourists and a bit of skyline). Plus the park has other stuff, including your basic urban bums hogging all the best shady spots. And you can ice-skate in this park in winter. Click this link for an impressive panoramic view of Millenium Park (including the reflective "bean" and ice skaters). (When viewing the panorama, use the "shift" key to zoom in and the "ctrl" key to zoom out; just move the mouse to see the 360 degree panorama plus full up/down views.)

We had a good trip. I'll post more details and some video this weekend.

Flights - of pancakes(?)

I wanted, but have kept forgetting, to mention a neat breakfast idea that we encountered on our trip to Chicago in August. Many restaurants or brewpubs are now offering “flights” of wine or beer – where you receive small servings of three (or more) different types of wine or beer. It’s a neat way to experience multiple tastes.

When we stayed at Nicole’s apartment in August, she took us to breakfast at a restaurant in her Wrigleyville neighborhood, I think it was named “Orange.” Anyway, this place does flights of pancakes (of all things), with a different flight offered each week. The theme offered during our visit was mangoes. I can report that this was a great idea, very unusual. No one would admit it, but I am pretty sure that my co-diners (Patricia, Nicole, Patrick, Paul) were secretly wishing they had ordered what I did.

Photos show the coffee-stained “flight plan” plus Nicole’s apartment building (she + roommates occupy the upper floors); the folks in the foreground are engaged in some sort of discussion over the finer points of our bocce ball game.