Stairway to Heaven
Last night I attended the Bears-Chargers exhibition game, at Soldier Field. It was my first time there since the renovation. Before that I lived in California for about 15 years so it's been 32 years since my last time at Soldier Field.
The above is a huge picture of Soldier Field. Our seats were in the top section, around the 40 yard line. They were 35 rows up. We were closer to the lights than the field. The good news is they were free.
If you've read any of my pieces before, you know I have balance issues and stairs hard for me to handle. We get to the top deck and i notice that we're starting at row #1. Climbing 35 rows is going to be interesting.
I started moving on up. When we got the top there was no penthouse in the sky!! It was a slow climb. Stopped a couple of times but made it to the seats ahead of my friend. She got the last laugh when I told her I kind of needed the bathroom.
I went back down at the end of the first quarter. Going downward is also a problem for me. I just took it slow and made it to the bathroom. Then back up the 35 rows...PHEW...SIGH....SHIT!!!!
I told her the next trip would be on the way home...and it was.
Here's my real problem with this. When they were doing construction, why not have the entrance/exit halfway. It would certainly make it easier for people in the upper rows and also for the concession people. Of course, it wouldn't make the people in the lower sections, who paid big money for their tickets happy. But guess what, the seats in those higher rows cost $100...pretty pricey.
The seats at new Comiskey/US Cellular in the upper deck are like that, too. I stopped going there because of that and this was way before Parkinson's and balance issues became a part of my world.
The one place that has it right is Wrigley Field. The entrances for the upper deck lead you to an aisle and you can walk down or walk up without much trouble. But what do they know...the place was only built about 100 years ago.
Well as you can see, I did manage to survive. Would I sit up there again? Hmmm....not for a preseason game and if the price was the same as yesterday, sure...why not!!
Fast forward to this morning and I'm running errands and have to get off at the Lawrence Red Line train stop. They have these long and steep staircases. Sigh....here we go again!!!