Heading home...

... in the highly coveted Southwest Air 737 seat 12F...

... and 24 hours ahead of the snowcalypse.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

More views of the camp project...

Including a last dockside...

and dogside look before heading back.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Cajun mudbugs in the snow

Harlan, Emily, Matt and I accompany Olive to Lagniappe, a Cajun Creole Eatery in Marquette. I don't know why I found that incongruous, perhaps it is the several feet of snow on the ground.
Olive is fascinated by the alligator

We both enjoyed the more edible version - surprisingly succulent and tender


I ordered the Crayfish Ettouffe...


Being this far North of the spice line, I thought it safe to order at a grade 7 level of "hotness" - one step short of the max. This proved to be a mistake. Still edible, and enjoyable for the full-on Louisiana-hot sinus-clearing, forehead-sweat-popping, breath-taking experience, but could taste little else beside the pepper. No one to blame but myself.

An evening of good food, good beer, family fun and Olive cuteness.

Rooms with a view

First and second floor lake side new addition views. Many, many new pictures from HW and me can be found on the gallery. Adding a couple more of view pics selected from the gallery:

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Overnight in Marinette

Broke up the trip North with an overnight stay enjoying the hospitality and a gourmet dinner at Chez Mike and Chris. Chicken thighs and breasts perfectly prepared with rosemary, garlic, tomatoes and olives, served with roasted potatoes. Described as a Northern Italy dish - I'll have to get the recipe. Delicious.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Into the heart of darkness

Passing through the cultural center of this wasteland - an I-94 gas station. It just gives me the creeps. And smells bad.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

The Game

Our Seats

Shit. Had fun at the game, but ... this was an eminently winnable game lost by the Bears coaching staff. When I say "the Bears coaching staff" , I mean "Lovie Smith'. Still, we need to face facts. It appears that the Green Bay Packers can indeed beat the Bears by a single score, just as long as:

• The Bears play their 2nd and 3rd string quarterback.
• Have a 2nd string quarterback who would not be on the roster of any team in the NFL not coached by Lovie Smith.
  
• Bear quarterbacks score twice as many touchdowns for Green Bay as the Packer quarterback.
• Refs make three critical wrong calls all against the Bears
• The Bear head coach sabotages his own team's final tying drive in the last seconds with a brain dead time-out that nullifies a critical first down, in order to devise a play with the slowest end in football running an end-around that fails to get the first down.

My favorite post-mortem quote is from Haugh's column in the Trib:

"When they pull the account of this historic game out of the time capsule, this won't be the game Cutler quit on the Bears. It will be the game the 2010 Bears finally ran out of luck and Smith coached his way into the offseason. Why was Collins ahead of "emergency quarterback" Caleb Hanie on the depth chart anyway? Collins shouldn't have been on the roster, let alone in a game to decide the Super Bowl... If Smith signs a contract extension soon, as expected, it will be because the front office chose to ignore his coaching effort against the Packers. Why did Smith punt instead of let Robbie Gould try a 49-yard field-goal attempt down 14-0 in the second quarter? Why run Bennett around left end — a wide receiver who isn't Devin Hester — on third-and-3 with 1:15 left on the potential game-tying drive? Why not use the final timeout to call a smarter play on fourth down?"

Exactly. I wanted Lovie out before the season started and after this disaster they give him a 3 year extension. Cripes. I hope they at least put a clause in the contract that forbids him from making any challenges or calling any time-outs and plays in the last two minutes of either a game or half. If he just delegates those task to someone else we may have a chance. In any case - some scenes from a disappointing but fun day at the game...

Bear fans with dorks

It'll never work

premature celebration

more dorks

More premature celebration

Shuffling out

Congrats to the Packers, who will certainly represent the NFC North well in that exhibition game accompanying the Black Eyed Peas concert scheduled for two weeks hence. They are a fine team. But as for Packer fans, well...

Not that there is anything wrong with that.

We're in

Got tickets. End Zone section 357 - nosebleed, but under budget. Battery dying so live blogging may be limited. Will update with more pics later.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Bear Soul Food

Before making the final climb to our seats, we set up base camp and built up our strength with basic provisioning. Italian Beef, Polish Sausage, and Beer.

At Soldier Field

Working on ticket procurement

I thought the green and yellow shitters were a particularly nice touch

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Shuttling to Mecca

- Sent from my Palm Pre

Heading into the city of big shoulders

Heavy traffic with lots of Bear signs, The city will completely shut down for the game. Except, of course for the bars...

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

At Midway

... as in "Monsters of..." Everyone in the airport isin Bears regalia.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre