Chicago

Posted by Thane
Arriving in Chicago even at 7 pm the traffic was less than desirable, but it was just in time for a Chicago style deep dish pizza at Lou Malnati's. We decided to stay out by the airport and take the train in to town, a much better choice (thank you Ruth) than staying downtown.

The El Train was great, just like I remembered it in the movies , going past old, brick apartment buildings with a variety of people on board. The day we went the White Sox and Cubs were playing each other, so there were lots of fans were on board. Like a sign said on the train said: "The Red Line," the only thing Cubs and White Sox fans have in common!










We got off at the Miracle Mile (great architecture and high end shopping), walked past the Old Chicago Water Tower, the Wrigley building and then spent some time at Millenium Park where we had to get a Chicago Style dog. Go girl!

I tried to get a picture of our reflection in the "Bean"




















and checked out the fountain, a cool respite in downtown on a hot day. This fountain flashes pictures of different faces and the eyes move and/or twinkle. Kinda cool.

















I knew that Chicago was on Lake Michigan but didn't realize it as such a harbor town!











After the Chicago fire I'm sure these fire escapes were mandatory.
















Would you climb down these?














or these?

We went to the Field Museum a natural history museum to check out the dinosaurs, ancient Egyptian artifacts and mummies.


There have been several mass extinctions in earth's history. We are currently going through another one. This sign tells us why - click on it to make it larger so you can read it.

Makes ya think!






another sobering fact....










I always wanted to see the Chicago Art Institute.We were able to see Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, a favorite painting of mine.and Georges Seurat's Sunday at the Grande Jatte, a favorite of Melissa's. It is so cool to see the originals after seeing them reproduced in art books. Melissa was excited to find an exhibit of paperweights and we were both amazed at the extensive collection of beautiful art. It would take two days to really see everything in this museum and in the Field Museum.

We loved Chicago and will surely be back. From here we had planned to go to Iowa to see where Melissa's Mom was raised but with all the flooding we decided to re-route our trip more northerly. We went through rural Minnesota staying at this B & B in Jackson that used to be a boarding house for railroad workers. We walked down to the fairgrounds on a Saturday night to find stock car races - check out the video below. People came from far and wide for these races as well as for the famous (per the locals) homemade caramel corn, as did we.


Up next: the Badlands, Mt. Rushmore and the Black Hills