Day 1: Anchorage --> Chicago

A death fog surrounded the camp on August 21, 2010, but it dissipated by 9 am. Disaster averted.

Humpy’s Great Alaskan Alehouse @ Anchorage airport.

Halibut tacos.

A bit overpowering on jalopenos and I couldn’t really taste the halibut. Disappointing.

A strange note about Alaska. If you don’t have your ID, you can’t buy alcohol or tobacco products. I’ve seen an old man denied his tobacco at walmart and while waiting for the taco, this older English man was also ID’d. Ultra conservatives for the loss.

I caught a red eye to Chicago and despite having a window seat, it was mostly a sleepless night.

Pizzeria Uno @ O’hare international.

I was going to get a yogurt parfait and save the pizza order for a more “legit” joint, but against my better judgement, I ordered a personal sized deep dish pizza.

Slightly thicker than your average pizza. Not bad nonetheless.

Café beside Hostelling international.

Cuban sandwich: ham and cheese on Cuban bread.

Churro

The churro didn’t really taste any different from the ones served at the Costco food court. Either costco makes good churro or this cafe just sucks. By the way, costco poutine is not too shabby.

Jay Pritzker Pavillion at Millenium Park.

Terrible picture. You’d had better get used to my awful photography.

Cloud gate. Also known as the bean.

This man is dedicated.

Wrigley Field.

Much to my surprise, there are some modern touches throughout the stadium: the middle of the scoreboard and the HDTVs attached to some pillars.

This was a game of note as it was Lou Pinella’s last game and the Cubs got smacked down 16-5. One particular embarrassing sequence: Ball is thrown to the cutoff man (short stop?), but he is frozen with stupidity as a runner from third made it home. The cubs did manage to catch someone in a rundown between 1^st and 2^nd to escape the inning.

Giordanos Pizza.

10” special deep dish pizza (sausage, mushrooms, green peppers and onions).

Amazing pizza. I only ate 2/3 of it as I would’ve felt really gross finishing it off. The only downside was the 35 minute mandatory wait, but at least you know it’s fresh.

Cold 10” special deep dish pizza (2 hours later).

Not quite as good.

Views from the John Hancock center.

The Chicago Water Tower. One of the few buildings not wiped out by the great fire of 1871.

Disturbing facts about the Chicago subway: many rail platorms are made of wood and the trains are very wobbly during travel.

Steps – 18,065

Distance – 15.6 km