Some Microbrew, a Legendary Cheeseburger, a Beach, and a Ball Game

Anyone who has been around me lately has heard how I've needed to get away lately. And I finally did this weekend!

Eric and I started with a trip to Munster, IN, home of Three Floyds Brewery for their annual 'Dark Lord Day'. What is that, you ask? Well, it's the only day they sell this particular type of beer (Dark Lord) that is supposedly one of the best beers in the world. And let me tell you, it has a following!! There was an INSANE amount of people there! Eric and I stopped because he had some friends heading up there for this event, and it was on our way further north. We thought it'd be a festival of sorts... no... it was just a really, really, REALLY long line that actually spiralled into a parking lot. We didn't wait. We headed out after hanging and talking with the group for a bit. It was a little crazy for us, especially considering neither of us even knew what this beer was all about!

From Munster, we headed to New Buffalo, MI. After a slight wait (complete stand still - engines off type of wait) on the Indiana Toll Road (bad accident), we got us there in time for a late lunch at Redamak's. For those who keep up with my blog, you know this is a great place! We went up there last year, too, and it is an insanely delicious cheeseburger! After filling ourselves till our heart was content (and full of cheese), we drove around the coast, looking at the wide range of houses - from tiny cottages to HUGE mansions! As we got back into town, we stopped at the park where the little New Buffalo beach is and went up the boardwalk that goes along the top of the sand dune. I wish the sun was out, cause it would've been an even better view - but it was still pretty cool.

It was near the end of this that we realized the 30 degree change in temperature the Chicago weatherman talked about really was going to happen. In Indy, the weatherguys never get it right. But it happened here... went from about 77degrees to 47degrees in a matter of two hours!! Luckily, we had something to tide us over until the next day, when it was going BACK UP to 80-something degrees. In the meantime, though, we thought we'd end the night with a few drinks at the Stray Dog.

The next day we woke up and had breakfast at one of the little cafes on the downtown strip before heading to the Windy City of Chicago. We took our time driving over to the City, taking a lot of surface streets instead of the interstates, just because we had some time. We even stopped at one of the pull off parking areas along Lake Shore drive to enjoy the view. But it was still kind of cold (around 49degrees), so we didn't stay too long. We decided it wasn't such a bad idea to get to Comiskey Park a little early before the game.

Yes... you read that right... I actually went to a White Sox game. In all honesty, if the Cubs had a home game that day, we would've gone there. But they didn't. And Eric grew up as a split fan (his parents were White Sox fans, his grandfather was a Cubs fan), so he thought it'd be a worthwhile trip to see the park. It was a VERY different atmosphere than Wrigley Field, both in the fans and the actual park. Not at all in a bad way... just different. Regardless, it turned out to be a good game. We walked around for about half the game to check the whole stadium out - it had even changed some since the last time Eric was there. And it was while we were here that we literally felt the wind shift and warmer air start to blow in the from the south. By the time we left, it was in the 80's again.

On the way back to Indy, we stopped at Fair Oaks Farm for a fresh grilled cheese sandwich and chocolate milk. Good, as always. We managed to make it home right around 8pm on Sunday, which game us plenty of time to unwind and go to bed relaxed.

It was exactly the type of weekend I needed!