So I spent the weekend visiting my brother (heretofore known as Brother 1, for sake of this story) with my other brother (Brother 2, for this story) in Chicago. Brother 1 lives in Wrigley ville, which also has three other names that I can’t remember right now. Anyway, he lives 2-3 blocks from Wrigley Stadium, which was pretty cool. After driving over on Friday (and seeing a couple of semis in the median of the highway, something that made us slow down a little bit) Brother 2 and I arrived and began to partake in what all Chicagoans must obviously do every waking moment of the weekend: drink. A couple of beers to start things out at the house and we’re off.

Next it’s off to Messner’s Wrigleygrille for  some more beers and some cheeseburgers. Back to the house for some video games and then off to Hye Bar, Brother 1 and roommate’s World Headquarters. 5 hours of drinking with 6 people, and we left with a $60 bill. They get treated nicely there. Suffice to say, I had enough to drink and it wasn’t too hard to go to sleep that night, despite the basement dwellers partying until 7-8am.

The next day began with a relaxing session of watching TV, including a movie none of us would have watched otherwise: “Stuck On You.” After an egg and sausage breakfast nicely prepared by Brother 1, we began the celebration of Brother 2′s birthday by visiting a local cigar shop. They had hand-rolled house cigars that we enjoyed in their relaxing lounge. After that it was time to head back and prepare for the evening’s festivities. A couple rounds of Halo 2 later, and we were off to the diner for some more great food, and then a few doors down to iO West, an improv comedy club. The show was decent, and we had a good time. Next it was the bar crawl. We split our time between four bars this evening, each with its own unique atmosphere. The first was a low-key, sit down bar. Next we head over to a dance club, where we spent most of the night. Lots of fun was to be had here, and we each left satisfied. Next it was over to Sluggers, a sports bar, to close them down. Finally, with all other bars closed, we head to the only bar in the area that stays open until 4 (strangely we were there until about 4:45.) A stop at pizza-by-the-slice on the way home and we were golden.

It was a good time, and despite coming hold with a heavy cold, I’m very glad for the opportunity to experience the big city. I grew up in a small town and moved to a larger city. Yet there’s always something bigger, and I’m sure downtown Chicago and New York could teach me lots more. I love the social life, I like getting out and doing things, yet unfortunately I have little time or money to do too much of that right now. School and volleyball take up a lot of my time right now, but that’s OK. School is almost over and volleyball is awesome so I don’t mind.

So yeah, that’s my weekend in Chi-town. Next up, inauguration, snowboarding, and volleyball tournament in Ann Arbor! (And apparently “I Am Grand Valley,” so I get a free t-shirt on Wednesday!)