Chicago '05: Part 1

Okay everyone, and Paul, here it is, the thrilling rendition of my trip to chicago, so expansive in description and exhastive in adventure that it needs 3 parts to be told. To begin, I arrived in the Windy City 8/27 in the late afternoon. After checking in and having nothing to do I wandered down to the theater district to see what was playing on the stage this warm saturday evening. Well, it turns out the newest Broadway sensation, Wicked, is playing. I go up to the box office and try to buy a ticket.

"sold out," the gentleman says. "But you can enter the drawing next door at Borders for discount tickets to tonights show"

So that's what I do. But my name in the hat, sit down and read a book until the drawing. The guy calls 2 or 3 names, and then says, "and all the way from Cincinnati, OH, John Diehl"
Wah-hoo I think. I jump up and get my tickets. They actually give you 2 fron row tix for $25 each. So who to take? Once it was known I had an extra seat, I was instantly popular with offers left and right. But I decided on a sweet Aussie named Amy Edwards who starts school in Canada in 2 days. We get our tix with an hour to kill. So what to do in Chicago, go bowling of course. Right next to the house of blues was a cool ally called 10 pin w/ a dozen huge projection screens a full bar and great music. After a game, off to the Theater, and it just happened that we were dead center, front row. Not bad. The show was great and the music was better, and the lead was this famous chick from Saturday night live. A rock and roll evening, but things were just getting started on the Big B-day Weekend.