Chicago & Milwaukee Trip

So far, 2019 has been full of checking things off my bucket list and my recent road trip was no exception! One of my goals is to see a game in every Major League Ballpark. As you may know, I am a huge baseball fan (go Red Sox!) and attending games is one of my favorite things. This past weekend, I checked three ballparks off of my list including Wrigley Field, Guaranteed Rate Field, and Miller Park.

The first game was a Friday night game at Guaranteed Rate Field, home of the Chicago White Sox. When my friend and I were planning this trip, we were looking at potential weekends where games would be held at all three ballparks. It just so happened that the White Sox were playing the Red Sox and I couldn’t have been happier. Being from Ohio, it’s not often that I get to see a Red Sox game as they rarely play against Cincinnati and they only play in Cleveland once a year so this was really exciting. Guaranteed Rate Field was a cool park but it definitely isn’t one of my favorites. The White Sox don’t have a huge, enthusiastic fanbase so the moral around the park wasn’t great and there was very low attendance. It also didn’t help that is was about forty-five degrees that day and I was bundled up in my winter coat. Regardless, it was a fun game that ended up with a Red Sox win!

The next morning was a day game at Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs. In the morning, we headed to the famous Chicago bean. I have been to Chicago a handful of times but I’d never actually gone up close to the bean before and this was a great quick tourist attraction to stop by on our way to the game. The game started at 3:00 so we headed up there a couple hours beforehand.

If you aren’t a baseball fan, let me fill you in a little bit! Fenway Park is home to the Boston Red Sox and opened in 1912. Wrigley Field opened two years later in 1914. These two parks are incredible- chalked full of history, traditions, and engaged fans who love the game of baseball. I’ve visited Fenway Park several times and there is honestly nothing like it. People had always told me that Fenway and Wrigley were very similar and I was dying to check Wrigley off my list and experience a game at this historic ballpark.

We lucked out with a beautiful day for a baseball game where the Cubbies were playing their rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals. This game was so fun and I was honestly kind of speechless at times because of the “magic” of the park and the atmosphere. It was a very close game that included a Grand Slam from one of the Chicago Cubs. That was my third time experiencing an in-person Grand Slam and while I was too little to really remember the first, this was definitely one of my most memorable baseball moments. It ended with a Cubs win and singing of “Go, Cubs, Go.” During the singing of this song and the “flying of the W” it really reminded me of Fenway. Both of these parks have such devoted fans, I mean seriously, they both lasted through huge droughts, and it’s so amazing to hear a whole park full of fans singing along. I took a video of the singing of “Go, Cubs, Go” and I’ll be honest, I think I’ve listened to it like a million times. I have a video of Sweet Caroline being sung at Fenway that I keep on my computer desktop to watch occasionally whenever I need a little pick me up - I know, that’s super strange but whatever works, right! And I think this video might be added right next to it.

Following the day game at Wrigley, we drove up to Milwaukee where we’d attend another day game the next day. On Sunday, we headed to Miller Park, home of the Milwaukee Brewers. This park was seriously so big- much bigger than I’d anticipated. The architecture here is so cool and was something I wasn’t totally anticipating. The park itself is outside the city by only a couple minutes and it kind of appears out of nowhere. From a logistics standpoint, this park is super convenient because you can park outside in a lot and not have to worry about parking garages or walking far to the stadium.We got to the park early and had lunch at Friday’s which is inside the park. We sat at a table that was against a window so we could watch warm ups while eating which was super cool. This game was against the New York Mets and ended with a Brewers victory included a Christian Yelich home run!

This baseball filled weekend was incredibly fun but crazy busy and went by so fast! Each team that I wanted to win won and the weather was decent for the most part. It seemed like everything lined up perfectly for one of the last weekends of my junior year. I hope you enjoyed reading if you made it this far and please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions about ballparks or baseball in general. If you can’t tell, I love to talk about it :)

Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago, IL.

The Bean

Wrigley Field in Chicago, IL

Flying the W after the Win.

Miller Park in Milwaukee.