Little ants clamor about a singular bean. They scurry toward their meal, only pausing a brief moment to take in such a feast before going in for the kill. As they get closer, the ants devour the bean. These ants are mostly tourists looking to capture what is probably Chicago’s most popular sculpture. They leave behind traces any crime scene investigator would appreciate. Thousands of fingerprints decorate a 110 ton silver drop in the heart of the city. I am one of those ants, standing in front of the famous Chicago "Bean", less commonly known by its official name of Cloud Gate. Cloud Gate Continue Reading
Wrigley Field Wishes You Were Here
I’m sitting in front of a group of twenty-somethings at Wrigley Field. Margarita after margarita, beer after beer, they don’t seem to care what is happening on the field before them. They stand and cheer when they notice the masses are standing and cheering for the home team, the Chicago Cubs. Being oblivious to the game is commonplace at Wrigley Field. The fans pack in to watch the game or merely to just be in the middle of Chicago history, each and every home game. Built in 1914, Wrigley Field is the second oldest ballpark in the Major Leagues. In every regard, it is similar to ancient ruins Continue Reading
Forks in the Road and Toasted Ravioli in St. Louis
The best dishes and trips always seem to be born out of accidents. My journey up to Chicago was no different. St. Louis was more of an accidental destination, a stopover point to recharge and rest up for the final push to Chicago. An accidental journey often begins with the search for things that you probably never would seek out on a regular basis. As the drive grew tiresome and by accident, I had the car detour off of the road to Springfield, Missouri to meet a fork in the road. Angling up a three story building and measuring 35 feet tall, what claims to be the world’s largest fork Continue Reading
Lincoln Travelogues: Notes on Traveling to the Famous for the Unknown Journey
Travel is often all about chasing the famous. Sites that we have seen our whole lives on book pages are suddenly real. They are tangible and no longer images on a page. Then again, travel is often all about just chasing the journey, to feel something that we wouldn’t have felt staying in the comforts of home. The journey is usually unknown to the traveler. They can’t foresee it or expect it. Finding this balance of both awe-inspiring, famous sites and the mere journey is not always obtainable. Sometimes we get one and not the other. We set out to see Paris and the journey there ends up being Continue Reading
Louisville, Kentucky Wishes You Were Here
I gaze up on a baseball bat measuring 120 feet tall and weighing around 68,000 pounds. Its proportions, to say the least, are monumental. This replica Babe Ruth baseball bat leans ever so nonchalantly against the Louisville Slugger Museum, where the famous Louisville Slugger has been made since 1884. It doesn’t surprise me that a city with baseball bats to the moon and products fit for Major Leaguers is truly in a league of its own. In fact, there isn’t just one way to say Louisville. It is a tongue twister and a back of the throat gurgle. Is it pronounced Luhvul, Loouhvul or Looeyville? Just Continue Reading
On the Rocks on Kentucky’s Bourbon Trail
It’s roughly just after noon as I take a sip of bourbon. I don’t have a problem. I can wait until 5 o’clock somewhere but when in Kentucky, bourbon consumption and education starts early. I am following the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Needless to say this isn’t a path that follows the straight and narrow. It is a trail past honest Abe’s log cabins and over rolling Kentucky bluegrass. In between the history is a culture for bourbon, a path that never did run smooth but a course of bourbon finishes that might be. Formed in 1999, the Kentucky Bourbon Trail is the work of the Kentucky Distillers’ Continue Reading
From Woodshop to Homerun Hero, Exploring The Louisville Slugger Museum
I can hear peanut shells snapping and the bellowed out drawl of the umpire. I listen for the sound of the pitch and the crack of the bat. I can hear all of the elements for America’s pastime. Baseball is after all a game for the senses. My ears are burning for baseball and I’m not even in a stadium. I stand in the Louisville Slugger Museum in downtown Louisville, Kentucky surrounded by game winners, and losers, in the making. To some, the Louisville Slugger is merely a type of baseball bat. To others like me, it is the game of baseball. In Major League baseball, the Louisville Slugger Continue Reading