Chicago, the City of Brotherly Love!

My buddy Paul and I met each other when we attended graduate school together. From the very beginning we built a relationship off of a mutual interest in beer and playing Nintendo in our underwear while eating fried chicken and Syracuse basketball. When we graduated from school he immediately took a job in Chicago, and I vowed that I would go out there and we would go bar hopping. The opportunity presented itself in March of 2014, as my girlfriend had other obligations and the beginning of the NCAA tournament was starting that weekend.
Thursday:
Landed in Chicago early in early in the morning, but nothing set into motion until around five in the afternoon, as he had work. The local store had numerous selections of beer but I decided on sixer’s of Fat Tire Ranger Indian Pale Ale and Kona Koko Brown, and we drank a few of those until we headed out. The first bar that we visited, Driftwood, was explained to me in this manner:
Paul:  “Do you want to go a bar that has dogs in it?”
Me: “Real dogs? or does ‘dogs’ mean something else?”
Paul: “No, actual dogs”
Me: “you don’t have to threaten me with a good time”
Low and behold there were dogs. One of us actually stepped on a dog when we first walked into the bar, which sold it for me. Beyond the dogs, Driftwood was your typical dive bar with a few dart boards, seating, dogs, dog dishes and water bowels. We had a glass or two of whiskey and a Sierra Nevada draft, and then we set out for our next destination.
The next bar was Headquarters, a “beercade” or a bar with tons of video arcade games. I had personally never heard of such a thing and was in awe when we entered the establishment. They had a wide-variety of craft beer selections and most of the games were FREE! Keeping track of time is a moot point when you can hop from machine to machine without paying a dime. Minutes became hours as we sucked down some Silly Sour by Brasserie de Silly and Nightfall from Pecatonica, moving from Donkey Kong to Missile Defense to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and settling on obscurely themed pinball machines. Time did not move, but the amount of beer consumed was telling my mind and body otherwise and it was time to go home.
Friday:
Got up fairly early and went for a morning walk through uptown Chicago, thankfully it was not as cold.