Back To The Friendly Confines - First Leg

It's been a long time since I've done much traveling or any blogging. This is my first major trip since Ed's passing. I started the blog when Ed retired from Generali in 2009 to chronicle our final trip to the head office in Trieste and Guernsey. It was a fun way to share our travel stories with friends and family. I decided to pick it up again for this trip for the same reason. 

 Now I'm headed to London and Ireland. Thanks to my family, the folks are being well cared for by Jane then Terry & Sue. First stop is Chicago to hook up with Ida then we'll jump the pond to head to London. Plans include hooking up with our Generali friends to raise a pint or two to Ed. We will also be visiting with other London friends and a couple of nieces. After a very short few days, we will be hooking up with the Mississippi crew in Dublin. 

 It's always good to be back in my home town. As usual, traffic was awful especially as for some unknown reason Lake Shore Drive was closed. I didn't need the gps to know the right answer was avoiding the Dan Ryan and we just worked our way up State and then cut over to LaSalle to our destination at Dearborn & Division. The condo staff all miss George & Alice and send them hugs. Enjoyed happy hour with the Parkers on the rooftop. Nothing beats Chicago when the weather cooperates. The conditions in January are a bit more challenging than May.

Returned to the friendly confines (aka Chicago's largest bar) thanks to Marc coming up with free tickets. Good seeing some of Marc & Marcie's crew. He had seats in the Catalina Club so he kept up a steady stream of junk food, inluding Garrett's popcorn. Located just under the press box, The Catalina Club is named after one of the Cubs earliest spring training venues - Catalina Island. With attendance at 39,000+ and perfect weather it was jammed. Because Ida works there we were able to enjoy all the short cuts to hit the best loos, best bars & hook up with Clark for a photo op. Unfortunately, the Pirates beat the Cubs and we blamed it on Ida's wearing her W shirt. 

 Headed to O'Hare for the jump across the pond. Flying United Polaris gives us access to the new Polaris lounge in Terminal C. Based on the reviews, it's a great way to relax before the flight.