October 2016 - Hydeout, Coronado, Cubs

October 2016

Hutchy, Laurel, Megan, Willie, and I were preparing to go to Naples and spend a week at the Hydeout. We were emailing back and forth about all the activities we were excited about trying. Paddleboarding, lots of swimming, hot-tubbing, drinks on the beach, pickleball, bocce, maybe get a little golf in, make some dinners, go out to eat. It was going to be a great vacation. Until ZIKA. Well zika and the fact that we found out we were pregnant with Lincoln 3 days before we were scheduled to leave.

There were a couple cases of zika near Miami but Naples was still under the pregnant women warning. So we scrapped the trip. Megan and I had such mixed feelings; excited and surprised that we were pregnant but incredibly sad that we weren't going to get a week on the beach. Then Hutchy came up with an incredible solution; his family has a house on Coronado Island just outside of San Diego, California. We flipped some flights from Indy to Fort Myers to now be Chicago to San Diego. We even saved a few bucks on the switch which was crazy.

Willie Flying to Cali

We rented a car in San Diego and had some kid stuff rented and dropped off at the house before we arrived. Upon arrival on Coronado Island, we went to Coronado Brewing Company to relax, enjoy a beer, and eat some food. We also made a stop at the grocery store to get supplies for the week.

San Diego

I can't remember the exact order of events but I will tell some of the stories. We went to the San Diego zoo which was a good time. We saw some giant sea turtles having sex. When looking at the snakes, Laurel spilled some water on my arm just as a snake moved and I almost jumped out of my shoes. Also, Willie really enjoyed nature's skyscrapers, the giraffes. After the zoo, we played around in Balboa Park. Willie crawled around and we found some slides and swings.

The Snake that scared the crap out of me.

Turtle Sex

Solid Crawling Form

On Monday evening, the group went to dinner at Nicky Rottens Sports Bar to watch game 3 of the NLDS, Cubs vs San Francisco Giants. The Cubs had won games 1 and 2 and were one win away from reaching the National League Championship Series. We were enjoying the game, along with some drinks and food when Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta hit a 3 run homer to put them up early. When he hit it, the sports bar made a lot of noise, particularly me and Hutchy. The roar made Willie nervous and then eventually cry. It was hilarious and cute. The game eventually went against the Cubs plus it was nearing Willie's bedtime, so Megan, Laurel, and Willie went back to the house. Hutchy and I were dejected and the bar was closing so we left to walk home when we saw on our phones Kris Bryant had hit a homerun to tie the game and send it to extra innings. We quickly found the only other bar that was open and ran inside. We stayed for the extra innings but the Cubs couldn't pull it out.

Willie Celebrating the Cubs

Willie Sad by the Cubs

The next night was Game 4 of the Cubs playoff series against the Giants and the Cubs needed to get 1 more win to advance. I don't remember where we watched the beginning of the game but once again Hutchy and I ended up out later than the ladies plus Willie. We were at the same bar as the night before, McP's Irish Pub, the one that was open late (past 10 p.m.) It was no fun; the Cubs were losing 5-2 and didn't seem to have any chances to score any runs. There were some fans from New York that were chatting us up and I couldn't even talk to them I was so angry. Hutchy was making friends which made me even angrier. Then the 9th inning came around. It was 1 hit by Bryant and then a walk by Rizzo then a double by Zobrist and the Cubs had something going. Now down 5-3 with the tying run at 2nd. Maybe we have a chance...Willson Contreras hit a slow grounder right back up the middle and the Cubs had tied it! Heyward tried to bunt Willy over to 2nd but made it there himself on an errant throw attempting to turn the double play. Then Javier Baez came up and again hit a slow roller to center field which allowed Heyward to score and take the lead. At this point Hutchy and I were out of our minds. How did we turn this around?! 4 runs in the 9th inning. In the bottom of the 9th, we bring in Aroldis Chapman, I'm not sure if I actually felt this way then but looking back it seemed like a forgone conclusion. Chapman struck out the side and the game was over very quickly. The 4 runs and then 3 strikeouts to end it felt like it took less than 2 minutes. To go from down 5-2 to winning 6-5 was incredible. We did shots to celebrate. We talked to lots of people. We hugged. We sang. It was a great night.


On Coronado Island, we did lots of walking. We went to the park just outside of the main drag, which was Spreckels Park. It was beautiful and we enjoyed playing in the luscious grass and going down the slides. We also enjoyed the breakfast at Clayton's Coffee Shop, or at least the take out window, which we then ate at the picnic tables near by. We also walked to the beach a few times, and although the weather wasn't particularly warm, we did dip our toes in the water and gave Willie a chance to enjoy the sand. From the beach we walked towards the Hotel Del Coronado or as locals call it, the Hotel Del. There they had amazing sand castles that were awe inspiring. We also got ice cream at Moo Time and had drinks on the top deck and watched the sunset.

Sand Castles at the Hotel Del

Trav-Hutch Vacation Crew

Willie Enjoying Palm Trees and Manicured Grass

One day we planned to take the ferry across San Diego Bay. After we survived the parking stress, we enjoyed the short boat ride to San Diego. We walked along the waterfront past the USS Midway to Seaport Village which had a bunch of restaurants and shops. Willie went for a short merry-go-round ride with Megan. We also bought some souvenirs and had a little brunch before walking back to the ferry.

Willie and Megan on the Carousel

Coronado Island

On a different day we jumped in the car and drove to see some other sights. We visited the Point Loma Tide Pools and the Cabrillo National Monument. The tide pools were cool but it wasn't a super low tide so we couldn't see as much marine life as was touted but it was still a fun little walk down to the water. The Cabrillo National Monument was a statue to the first European to reach San Diego Bay. It is on the southern tip of the northern peninsula of San Diego. It has amazing views of San Diego. After that we got some In-n-Out burger before heading to La Jolla. After again, we survived the parking stress, we climbed down to the beach to La Jolla Cove to see the seals up close and play around in the sand and water. In the park right next to the cove, Megan and I forced Willed to take his first steps. He had been really close for a couple weeks and why not do it somewhere memorable. After his successful steps, we went to find a drink and snack at Herringbone which was a nice restaurant just up the road.

TIde Pools

Cabrillo

La Jolla

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The next day we packed up the house and cleaned really well, because we didn't want Mrs. Hutch is be disappointed in us. On our return flight, the flight attendant was super helpful with Willie and gave him free reign of the plane.

One Last Beer on the Porch

Willie and the Flight Attendant

The Story Leading to the RoadTrip

I haven’t been writing as much as I’d like but since my 26^th year is the time of doing and I want to remember so many things, I am getting back to the pen and paper.  I have many stories to tell, pictures to share, restaurants to rave about, recipes to try, and DIY projects to start and complete but I want to start this story back in April of 2012.  M and I were living in St. Louis with our puppy, Sophie.

Sophie as a 10 month old.

We both had decent jobs and loved where we were living.  However, we were not sure about the longevity of the situation because neither of us felt like we were advancing at the rate we wanted within our companies and all of our friends kept moving away from STL.  So after multiple discussions with parents and friends and coworkers, we decided to do what so many want to do but so few actually do, we quit our jobs and went on a trip.

For me this was a giant deal, I had worked for the same company since I graduated high school, it turned out to be almost exactly 7 years.  We decided that it would be best to wait until our lease was close to being up on our town house which ended up being May 31^st.  We also had planned on moving to Indianapolis where M’s dad owned a small manufacturing company that she was in line to take over and I could work at until I found something else.

Now you have some of the back story and I can continue on; we gave our 2 weeks notice and began packing our stuff up but not before we spent hours planning a massive roadtrip across the country. Planning is a strong word because honestly we planned a route and had ideas of things we wanted to see and that was about it.  We also had an Iphone App that had seemingly ever campsite in the US, which we figured would come in handy; we were right but more on that later.

We strategically packed the belongs we wouldn’t be needing for the next 2 months into a UHaul and the stuff we thought we would need for a camping road trip into my Jeep Patriot.  And of course during packing, we took a break to see the Cubs play in St. Louis and stopped by our favorite spots in town for some meals.  

M and I at the Cubs game in St. Louis

We went to Bogarts, my favorite BBQ place ever (I will discuss this when I start writing about restaurants but I never get a picture of because I am always too excited to eat), Blues City Deli, which has the most amazing Reuben I've ever had and I love Reubens, a couple trips down to Park Avenue Coffee, and a beer or three at Square One Brewery.

Reuben from Blues City Deli

 

After saying our final good byes to the Lou, we drove our stuff to Indianapolis and left it in a storage unit and we were on vacation, or a sabbatical or unemployed with a purpose.

Another quick side story, M’s dad also runs a hot air balloon company.  I have been apart of the crew for take offs and landings before but never been up until one of the 3 mornings we were staying in Indy.  He called and told us to be at work at 6, a touch early for someone on vacation.  But we show up and start setting up the balloon thinking that we were just helping some new people learn how to be apart of the crew. But then he announces, “Billy, get in.”  So I jump in the basket and before I can think about it we were drifting over the east side of Indianapolis at sunrise.

View from the Hot Air Balloon at Sunrise

Looking up into the Hot Air Balloon

Later that same day, we were to celebrate a friend’s birthday, which of course involved spelunking or cave exploring.  Doesn't everyone celebrate birthdays that way?

We drove down to southern Indiana to the Marengo Caves and before we knew it we were underground.  In the caves, it is continually 58 degrees which in mid May turned out to be a great thing since outside the cave it was about 90.  Some other fun things that happen in the caves, you get incredibly wet from all the puddles, drips, creeks, and ponds.  You also inevitably get covered in mud from sliding around through cracks and crevices.  What I thought was one of the cooler things was that you also get to experience true darkness.  We all turned off our headlamps and sat for a minute or two….Nothing.  Your eyes will never adjust because there is zero light in the caves.

Spelunkers

After our trip into the caves, we decided to spend the night at the old stomping grounds in Bloomington, Indiana. B-town.  We started the night with some food and playing a drinking game called “Sink the Biz” at Nick’s, which is essentially, Classic Hoosiers Bar.  I almost forgot that on our walk to Nick’s we stopped at this new place called House Bar which is just a house but they have $1 PBR, so we had to stop and try out those.

After dinner at Nick’s and meeting up with my little sister and her friends, who were also in town to revisit the college days, we started a true bar crawl.  We traversed the long trek all the way across the street to Upstairs for one of the famous AMF drinks, which stands for Adios, Mother F-er. After one of those and blue tongue to prove it, we headed towards the dive bar section of the night with stops at Alley Bar for some spicy nuts and The Vid for some Pop-a-Shot and darts.

Now on the downside of our crawl, we stopped at Sports, which is a giant bar that turned it’s patio into a giant beach.  We sat in some chairs and drank like we were sitting next to the ocean.   After one more stop at House Bar to finish off the night like we started, with $1 PBRs and a quick walk through the drive-thru at Square Donuts, we were back at home at the Motel 6.

The next morning, we all felt like death and couldn’t get out of town quick enough, after getting a quick lunch from my old go to, Bloomington Sandwich Company.  M and I were heading up to Chicago to stay a few nights at my parents’ house before heading west and truly beginning the roadtrip.

We stopped off at M’s parents’ house to get Sophie and then on the drive up to Chicago we stopped at one of my college roommates’ law school graduation party.  This was a nice little perk since we hadn’t seen a few of those guys in awhile.  But with having Sophie with us and still feeling the effects of a college revisit, we didn’t stay too long.

We hung around my parents’ house for a few days, ate some Portillo’s as I always do when back in the Chicagoland area, and before we knew it we were leaving poor little Sophie there to head west. 

Portillo's Italian Beef with Hot Peppers and Cheese Fries

We had decided that we couldn’t do everything we wanted if we brought Princess Sophie with us and my parents were gracious enough to watch her for the next 35 or so days.