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Fall in New York arrived like a blast of casino A/C as you darted in from a hot Vegas day.

Things I miss about being awake and out in the morning:

the feel of the cool, crisp air
the unique way coffee tastes when it hits your lips before the sun has risen
seeing shopkeepers open up for the day
the quiet hum of the start of rush hour traffic
fresh faces and damp hair
lines at coffee shops, then — a cup in every hand
bagels, muffins, scones

I just got back from a five day “business trip” to The Windy City and had a great time. I was tied up at a conference for three of those days but was able to use the other two for a little exploring — which was great, but not nearly enough. I wasn’t able to get up to Wrigleyville, or explore many of the neighborhoods outside of the downtown area. Maybe next time. I was, however, able to cover downtown well.

Saturday:
I arrive at the hotel and get checked in around 4pm. I desperately flip channels trying to catch the Cal vs. Oregon game but am forced to watch it via ticker. After the game, I explore the area a bit. McCormick Place is huge. I hike up a small hill that gives a great view of the entire convention center on one side, and Soldier Field on the other. I make my way back to the room to hop online for some quick dinner and drinks research before meeting up with some fellow Yahoos. We end up at Clark Street Ale House, which had a great tap selection, but no food, so based on a recommendation from the bartender we head to an Irish pub/restaurant a few doors down. My bangers and mash were ok, not great, but enough to hold me over for a trip back to the ale house for some drinking. Trying to stick with regional beers I had a Three Floyd’s Gumballhead (a hopped up wheat ale), a Three Floyd’s Alpha King, a Sand Creek Wild Ride IPA and a Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald (an excellent American porter). Next we wander through downtown a bit and make one final pit-stop at a sports bar for some wings and another beer before calling it a night.

Sunday:
I took a nice stroll from my hotel at McCormick Place loosely following the Lake Michigan shoreline all the way to the river. Sites included Soldier Field, lots of sail boats in the harbor, a nice strip of lake-side park with cool environmental awareness art, Buckingham Fountain (think Married With Children), and a great view of the downtown skyline. At the river I cut in a few blocks so I could head back through Millennium Park checking out the Pavilion, the Bean, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the rest of Grant Park. At this point I was ready for some food and begun my search for a true Chicago Dog — which turned out to be much harder than I anticipated. In fact, as beautiful as the parks and lake views were on this part of my walk, I really wasn’t impressed with this part of downtown. It was filled with national chain restaurants and tourist traps, and not the good, local spots I was searching for. Just as I was about to give up I stumbled upon Hackneys, which I vaguely remembered from some Food Network show for having great burgers. I ordered the Bluecheeseburger (an original Hackney Burger generously topped with blue cheese). It was fantastic. What made things even better was being able to order it in from a neighboring pub while enjoying a few pints of Three Floyd’s Alpha King and watching the Cardinals beat the Steelers with a couple of very nice kids from Pittsburgh. Full and tired I took a cab the last few miles back to the hotel. Some pre-conference activities filled up the rest of my night which was capped with a late-night room service Italian Beef.

Monday-Wednesday:
Conference, conference and more conference. Very long days of sessions, and meetings, and parties. I will make a special note on the official event party Tuesday evening which while filled with corporate party clichés was actually a lot of fun. It was in a huge open room at the convention center and included tons of free food, beer, wine, and soda, a skate park (two quarter pipes with a table-top ramp in the middle) with four bikers and two skaters doing tricks for our entertainment, a lounge rock band, a Segway obstacle course, an oxygen bar, a dozen or so Wii and Xbox consoles, an interactive art wall, breakdancers, poker tables (complete with dealers), and the Deloreon.

Wednesday Night:
Determined to have a great hot dog before I leave I make my way to where the internets told me was best dog in town, Portillos. It did not disappoint, I had a great Chicago style dog with everything, and a Maxwell Street polish sausage with onions just for good measure. The after dinner plan was to catch a cab to The Map Room (Chicago’s highest rated beer bar) for a couple drinks then to the Goose Island Brewery in Wrigleyville to have a snack and watch the Cubs/D’Backs playoff opener. I meet up with my buddy Henry and we head to our first stop. The place is great — a solid draft line accompanied by an awesome bottle selection and great people on both sides of the bar. We end up chatting (and drinking) clear through the game never making it to Wrigleyville. After many, many new (to me) and great beers I catch a cab back to the hotel to crash.

Thursday:
The day is slow to start after a wild night but the last required stop on my agenda is for deep-dish pizza. I walk down to Giordano’s which always came up near the top of best-of lists. This, for me, was the biggest bust of the trip. Maybe it was the hangover, or that I ordered the lunch special individual size, but it was disappointing. The dough tasted like a hard, bland, biscuit, the sauce, while good, was all I could taste due to the sheer quantity of it, and the cheese sat like a lump at the bottom on top of a very thin bed of spinach. Oh well, they can’t all be great. So if we’re keeping score, Chicago wins on hot dogs (although NY has great dogs too) and NY takes the top spot for pizza.

All in all it was a great trip, but I am glad to be home to Lydia and Tiger and my great Brooklyn neighborhood.

(pictures coming soon)