Wait Wait and Batter Up

Wait Wait and Batter Up

After a lumpy 9 hour run into DuSable Marina in downtown Chicago, we have been enjoying the BIG CITY. It is a shock after weeks in tiny towns with almost no crowds, traffic, or noise to be sitting at the foot of massive skyscrapers, millions of people, vehicles, and the bustle of it all. Much as we enjoy our quiet life, it is a rush to enjoy several days with perfect weather in such a beautiful, vibrant city.

Besides just walking the many paths and streets to admire the buildings and people watching, we booked ourselves into a couple peak experiences:

First off, we snagged tickets to the NPR radio news quiz – Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me! This required some advanced planning since tickets go on sale 6 weeks ahead and generally sell out in the first few hours they are on offer. Even though we did not get perfect timing, we did get center seats in the small  underground Chase Bank Auditorium on Dearborn Street a convenient walk from our marina. So much as we boaters hate schedules, our recent moves have been constrained by our plans here in Chicago.  Fortunately, those nasty winds on the lake cooperated and we were into the marina a day ahead of our scheduled performance.

The “experience” more than lived up to our expectations.  The regularly broadcast show is only one hour, but the taping is a continuous 90 minutes to 2 hours.  The portions which don’t make the broadcast are all the side comments and interplay between the panelists and host.  We lucked into seeing Paula Poundstone, P J O’Rouke, and Negin Farssad along with host Peter Sagal and announcer Bill Kurtis. Our show also included two signers for the deaf which allowed Peter to recount the story of a previous performance that tested the skills of the signers. Suffice it to say this story included hilarious variations on a famous comment from Ronald Reagan about “crapping a pineapple” and other oddities that might be difficult to “pass”. While the original event must have been a hoot, we nearly burst our sides on the retelling which was just the start of the 2-hour show. Seeing the show live and putting faces to the voices we have enjoyed much of their 20-year run, was a peak experience and well worth the planning and juggling necessary.

Catching a game at the awesome Wrigley Field was our next peak experience. Again, we had to do a little planning and get some luck to find the Cubs in town during our stay, but after the tickets and schedule for “Wait Wait” fell in place, we went ahead and booked an afternoon at Wrigley.  However, since the Cubs are having a strong finish to the season, our afternoon at the ball park turned into a televised evening game. It was magical under the lights and a special treat to sit in this intimate ballpark with 36,000 other folks.  We lucky to be near the field but it seemed that the crowd in the apartment bleachers were having just as much fun.  Fortunately, the Cubs won although they made us wait well into the game to forge ahead of the Cincinnati Reds.

Between these outings, we visited the local grocery – a relatively short walk considering we are in the midst of a major city. We also walked over to the neighboring Navy Pier a major tourist attraction and mobbed with people even mid- week. Finally, leaving Chicago via the Sanitary and Ship Canal – Chicago River is almost as fun as walking the city streets…. We encountered no delays – the low railroad bridge was conveniently up for us on this trip, but then there was that crowd at the first lock on the Illinois River – a mere 4-hour delay. We take the good with the not so great and are glad of a sunny day on the water.

entering Chicago Lock to leave Lake Michigan