Royalty returns to Wrigley Field as roadtrippers reunite over Fourth of July weekend!

After the King, Dave Block & I got a much needed good night sleep, we drove towards Chicago. We made a pit stop at a royal restaurant first for breakfast. I'm talking about The Point Pancake House in Gurnee, Illinois. We weren't disappointed. I had my usual breakfast there which consisted of two charbroiled pork chops, eggs, fruit salad and pancakes. It was excellent. Dave & the King were also very satisfied as well.

Me & Dave Block Outside Wrigley Field

After we finished eating we drove to Wrigley Field to see the Cubs host the Pittsburgh Pirates that afternoon at 3:05PM local time. It worked out well. We got to the neighborhood early so we could park the car within walking distance for free at 1PM. We then proceeded to walk over to Wrigley Field. We went to the box office in hopes of getting some standing room tickets. They told us they weren't selling any. We asked what the cheapest tickets they had available were. They told us $51.52 in the upper deck with all the added taxes.
As a result, we decided to walk away and press our luck on the street instead. Luckily I ran into a guy who said he wanted $40 for a pair of tickets on the lower level in section 229. He said there were his season tickets. Without hesitation, I grabbed them for the King & I. We still needed one more for Dave. He wound up getting a single near us in the same section for $20 he said. Ironically I planned to meet some fellow roadtrippers at the game who had seats in section 130 which was right below where our seats were. I'm referring to Bob DeVries and his lovely wife Charlie. They were there with their friends Kristin & Dan who they introduced me to. It was great to see them again.

Me with Charlie & Bob DeVries

We also had another special treat on this day. Before the game started the 2013 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks brought the Stanley Cup to Wrigley Field. That was an added thrill. As part of the festivities, coach Joel Quenneville threw out the first pitch with the Cup resting by the pitcher's mound.

It was so cool to see the holy grail in baseball heaven. It was fitting indeed.

As for the game we saw, the Pirates scored first when third baseman Pedro Alvarez hit a solo homer to give the Buccos a 1-0 lead. The Cubs answered in the bottom of the fourth inning when Alfonso Soriano hit a two run homer to give the Cubs the lead, 2-1. In the fifth inning, Soriano did it again as he hit another two run blast to make it a 4-1 game. That's the way stayed as the Cubbies beat the red hot Pirates. By doing so, the natives got to sing the song Go Cubs Go as they made their way to exits.

After the game, on the way back to the car we stopped off at Artemio's Bakery and we got some cookies before we hit the road.

Dave along with the King and I  proceeded to drive to Indianapolis where we were spending the night before we continued on to Cincinnati to see the Reds play on Sunday afternoon.

Stay tuned for a special post that will go into further detail about that day.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman