A Maryland Terrapins Road Trip To Big Ten Country – Side Trip To Chicago

Cloud Gate, most commonly known as The Bean, in downtown Chicago, IL (author photo)

On Saturday I will be in West Lafayette, Indiana to see the Maryland Terrapins continue their Midwest tour of the Big Ten Conference as they take on the Purdue Boilermakers. But what better way to spend an off day than wonder around “The Second City”, Chicago.

The trip from Central Illinois to the big city was not as easy as it should. Besides the less than ten degrees of temperature, there were wind gusts approaching 1000 miles per hour. OK…probably not quite, but it sure seemed that way. It was so bad that we saw numerous jackknifed semi-trucks just because of the wind. Even with all that we finally made it to Chicago.

There may be numerous food options available in Chicago, but a personal favorite of mine is a bit off the beaten path. On Clark Street in Lincoln Park, south of Wrigleyville, is a small shop called Lito’s which sells empanadas of many different varieties, both savory and sweet. So after this stop we headed into the heart of Chicago.

Normally there is not much better than to wander around Chicago, especially the North Michigan Avenue area. But with the weather the way it is, well, walking could only be done in short bursts. Still I got to see the Cloud Gate statue, which is more commonly known as The Bean, as well as the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s scale model of Chicago and many high end shops on “The Magnificent Mile”.

It will be good to be back seeing sports again after a couple of days on the road and seeing the sights. And at least against Purdue my sports rooting interests will not be as conflicted as with the previous game against Illinois. Purdue should not be as good as the Illini, so the Terps have a chance to finishtheir losing streak stay at a single game.

The only thing I am worried is if there are any radio stations in Indiana and Ohio that will be playing the Ravens game, as I do need to start heading home, so no chance I will see the game on television.