Holy Cow!

July 20, 2011



Trevor & Nadene



Holy Cow!

We were up early and on the road from Grand Haven to Chicago to begin the second portion of our vacation. The drive was easy and took just a little over three hours, which was awesome for us as we were able to gain some time and have plenty of time to drop our bags off at the Embassy Suites and return our rental car. We had time to spare before we were scheduled to meet with a group from the wedding party to attend the afternoon game between the Chicago Cubs and Florida Marlins at Wrigley Field.

Michael



Since we had plenty of time, we stopped at Lincoln Park and visited the Lincoln Park Zoo on our way to the game. The Lincoln Park Zoo is a small zoo that has been in existence since 1868, one of the oldest zoos in the country. The zoo is free and has really been well maintained and continually updated so that the animals have decent living conditions.





Mindy & Craig

We caught a CTA bus down Clark Street to Addison where we exited in front of the famed home of the Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field. A group of about 15 of us had tickets for the game and had arranged to meet at the famous Murphy’s Bleachers Bar, located across the street (Sheffield and Waveland) from Wrigley. This was the final unofficial wedding activity as Trevor had made all the arrangements. It worked like a charm as we walked right in and pretty much found our group despite the packed crowd.

Melissa, Kathy, Craig & Rhett





There are really not many sporting events that are comparable to a game at Wrigley, the famous stadium is located in the center of a residential neighborhood surrounded by friendly sports bars that host an atmosphere like no other before and after the game. The ambiance and good time feel of the crowd is a unique and wonderful experience.









It was great fun to get to experience the Cubs game experience with so many friends from Key West, the game itself was really pretty good in addition to the general ambiance. The hometown fans were disappointed as the Marlins defeated the Cubs 7-5. It was an exciting game that went down to the final out before being decided. The weather was smoking hot as the city was in the midst of a wicked summer heat wave, but thankfully our seats were under cover and we enjoyed the comfortable shade.











After the game, we continued the fun at another bar located across from the ball park, Vines on Clark where we got some food and drank yet more Old Style beer. It was a great day and a lot of fun. We eventually made it back to the hotel and opted to head out to dinner at a restaurant near the hotel.





We picked Carson’s, a famous Chicago steak and barbecue joint was just a few blocks from the hotel, so we walked over and enjoyed a great meal. Kathy had their famous ribs and I had a delicious filet and we capped off a great first day in Chicago.



Lincoln Park Zoo

Murphy's Bleachers

Carson's Ribs

Michigan

July 19, 2011







Michigan

The wedding activities did not take up all of our time during our visit to the Grand Haven area, and Kathy & I had plenty of time to get out and explore the beautiful area in and around Grand Haven. While we were there we were able to check out the nearby communities of Saugatuck and Holland as well as spend some time in Grand Haven itself, even finding time to get out and pick blueberries at a nearby blueberry farm.







We visited Saugatuck on our way in to town, taking a brief side trip to the tourist mecca that is full of quaint shops, restaurants and more quaint shops. We spent a few hours exploring and shopping. The town reminded me very much of a slightly more upscale version of Key West or perhaps Nashville, Indiana at the height of the fall foliage season.







One of the things that Kathy really wanted to do while we were in the area was to go out and pick wild blueberries. We had really hoped to do our picking at DeGrandchamp farms in South Haven which is owned by the family of Trevor’s sister Kathy, but it proved to be just a little too far to travel on our time limited schedule. We opted instead for the much closer Reenders Blueberry Farm, which was only six miles south of Grand Haven.







Blueberry picking is fairly easy and fun. Basically you are given a bucket and sent out into the fields that are lined with blueberry bushes all of which are covered with ripe, plump, juicy berries. It didn’t take long and we had picked over 6 pounds between us. You take the berries to get weighed and boxed and voila- fresh blueberries for the remainder of our trip.







We headed into nearby Holland, Michigan for lunch and to check out the New Holland Brewery before heading back to Grand Haven to enjoy the remainder of our stay there. Grand Haven was packed with summer tourists, most of them headed to the beach which is located just down the waterfront boardwalk from our hotel.



Eileen & Graf



I wanted to make sure to visit the beach and the walkway out to the Grand Haven lighthouse before we left town, so I walked down from our hotel to check it all out. It was quite the scene. A jam packed beach filled with all variety of both locals and tourists. The water was a refreshing 60 degrees- something unheard of in Key West, yet the water was filled with swimmers.







The cement walkway out to the lighthouse is something of a hangout for the local teens, they use it as a jumping and diving platform into deeper water. It was fun to see so many people enjoying the beach and the perfect weather.



DeGrandchanps Farns

Reception

July 18, 2011



Josh & the Empty Pockets



Michael & Kathy

Reception

After the wedding ceremony of our friends Nadene & Trevor that was held in Grand Haven’s Central Park, the action moved a few blocks to the west to the wonderful downtown restaurant Portobello. The restaurant has a great upstairs space that is utilized for special occasions and it was here where the wedding party and guests reassembled to party the night away after the wedding.



Kathy & Trevor

Melissa

The room was spectacularly decorated and there was an open bar and a great buffet of food catered by the restaurant. Entertainment was provided by an excellent band from Chicago that Trevor had found called Josh and the Empty Pockets.

Trevor & Graf





Wedding receptions are one of the few places where you will find multigenerational dancing and this one was no exception as the dance floor was packed with young and old throughout the evening. The band played three long sets and was really fantastic, playing a set list that was far more diverse than the typical wedding band.

Graf





The wedding day also happened to fall on the 50th birthday of our friend Rob, who was up from Key West and this wasn’t lost in the wedding planning as a beautiful keyboard cake was created for Rob, who is an excellent musician himself and whose band played at our wedding reception.



Suzanne, Rob, & Marilyn



The party lasted late into the night and would probably still be going on if it didn’t have to stop. It was a great, great time and the perfect cap to a fantastic few days of wedding related events. I also want to recognize a really cool feature that they had at the reception, the wedding photography team set up a mobile studio, a sort of photo booth that guests could pose for portraits that would be part of the record of the day.





Kathy & Fiona

The photo booth allowed for a visual documentation of the guests ranging from serene to wacky, with the Key West folks sort of dominating the wacky category. It was great fun and a wonderful addition to the festivities, creating I am sure a cool record of the night.