Day 4: Riverwalk run, Wrigley Field, Chicago White Sox

Former KOIN coworker Tim Joyce is now a meteorologist in Chicago, and it was fun to get my morning forecast from him! 

The Fourth of July was going to be a hot one, so I was up early to get my run on.

I headed for the Chicago Riverwalk, not too far from our hotel.

It was already so hot and humid, but I enjoyed a crowd-free run along the Chicago River.

Then I found The Bean (which is actually called Cloud Gate):

And because it was so early, I almost had the place to myself:

My route:

Eryn isn't much for early mornings, so our plan was for me to get up early to run, then we'd meet at 10am to continue our exploration. I showered and went back to sleep! (Mom was up early again for her convention)

I brought Eryn to The Bean, which was starting to draw a crowd:

Then we rode The L to Wrigley Field for our tour.

More pics to come in a separate post :)

While in the stadium, we learned of the parade shooting and manhunt in nearby Highland Park (about 20 miles away). Such horrible news - and we were on edge wondering if the shooter had fled on the train, possibly in our direction.

After the tour, we set out on foot to find lunch and ended up getting veggie Chicago dogs and tots at Devil Dawgs:

It was threatening to rain, and we found a nice, dry spot at a nearby park to eat:

YUM!

We made our way back to the hotel and briefly joined a nearby abortion-rights rally:

Because of the Highland Park shooting, many Chicago-area Fourth of July celebrations were canceled. We had tickets to the White Sox game. MLB and the club made the decision to still hold the matchup with the Twins, but the post-game fireworks show was canceled.

We took The L to Guaranteed Rate Field and then stood in the longest security line I've ever seen at an MLB game. Considering the day's events, I appreciated the extra attention to safety.

During COVID times, we've been choosing seats away from the crowd. This time it meant the top row with this view of the city!

As darkness fell, we were treated to a 360-degree view of neighborhood fireworks. Because of the flat terrain, we could see colorful displays in every direction for miles and miles. 

White Sox Guaranteed Rate Field ✅

*Day 1
*Day 2

*Day 3