Chicago!

“Chicago! Chicago! That toddlin' town...”

What a great city! It is definitely on my list of favorite cities now.

We stayed in The Loop, at a nice boutique hotel called The Silversmith Hotel, just a block back from Michigan Avenue and Millennium Park. After checking in on the first evening, we took a walk over to the park to see some of the public art there, and then we had a light dinner at a nice sushi place. 

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This tall video tower (one of two) in Millennium Park are ever changing photos of locals, reflected in a huge wading pool.

The back side of those photo towers.

The famous Cloud Gate Sculpture.

On our only full day in the city, we walked along the lakeside footpath next to the marina where hundreds of boats were docked.

The day before we arrived, waves caused by high winds, almost washed some people off of this pathway!

Then we took a 90 minute river boat cruise on the Chicago River, with a docent from the Chicago Architect Foundation. It was very informative and I will never look at tall buildings in the same way.

The following photos are various building we saw on our river cruise.

 

A little fun with my fisheye lens.  :-)

Looking back at the Chicago skyline from the lake.

I took this photo for my grandson, Evan, and my Sac-City-firefighter-son-in-law, Stephen.

After the cruise, we had a late lunch at a riverside cafe, with the Trump building towering above us from across the river. It was Monday, and the cafe's special of the day was half off a bottle of wine... and we can't pass up a bargain – especially when it involves wine! 

This is Sam's "authentic" Chicago hot dog lunch.

This is the little riverside cafe, where we had lunch.

Of course, that bottle of wine slowed us down a bit, so after freshening up back at the hotel, we hopped on the “L” for a short ride, and headed to the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower). When we arrived about 5:15, there was practically no line, so we were able to get to the 103^rd floor, where we could see the entire Chicago area at about 1450 feet above the ground. It was spectacular! Up there, they have three (or four?) all-glass boxes that jut out about 3 feet from the outside wall, called The Ledge, so you can stand on the glass and feel like you're “floating” 103 stories above the street below. At least that's what it's supposed to feel like, but not surprisingly, it is the most popular part of the experience, so you have to share the space with all the other people who all want to take pictures of themselves “floating” high above Chicago. We stayed at the top of the Willis until well after sunset, so we could see the buildings and streets light up, which was very dramatic! 

These are my feet standing on the glass "ledge," looking down 103 stories to the street below!

Sunset from the Willis Tower.

The only downside of our visit to the windy city (although it was not windy during our stay), was that we didn't have enough time there. The purpose of our 5 week road trip is to visit family & friends, and see cities, parks, & sites we've never been to before. We figure we can come back to places we want more of later. Chicago is certainly one of those places!

There is so much to do in Chicago that we didn't have time for: the Art Institute, the House of Blues, Second City Comedy, etc., etc., etc.. We have to return, and I think we will probably do it by train from Sacramento, which should be a really fun trip to look forward to!

Wyoming/South Dakota

I'm afraid I neglected to include pix and narrative for the part of our trip between Yellowstone National Park and St. Paul, Minnesota, so this post is out of order. I suppose I don't necessarily need to write about our trip in chronological order, and these posts are certainly well after the fact, but I don't want to confuse any of my readers.

Anyway... after we left Yellowstone, we drove to a small town in Wyoming, called Gillette for the night. The first half of the day was spent driving through the northeast part of YNP, which was incredibly beautiful, then, after having lunch at an old A&W Drive-in in Cody, Wyoming, we found ourselves cruising through the Bighorn National Forest. The vistas were amazing!

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Self Portrait

The following day, at my cousin's suggestion, we drove through an area of the Black Hills of South Dakota, called Spearfish Canyon, on our way to Mt. Rushmore. The canyon was gorgeous and there was plenty of fall color -- more than we found in New England!

Bridal Veil Falls

Going through the Black Hills requires a stop at the Mt. Rushmore National Monument. I especially enjoyed the information center, where we learned about the complicated process used to carve these huge sculptures out of the granite mountain.

Plaque at South Dakota Rest Stop

Home Town

I was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, but my parents moved me and two of my sisters to southern California when I was five. Until this trip, I had only been back three times: in 1960 (my parents and the first four kids drove), again in 1990 (I flew back with my dad), and the last time in 1998 (for my grandparents' 70th wedding anniversary party). Sam had never been to the land of 10,000 lakes, so we stopped for a couple of days and stayed with my cousin Colleen.

Just as happened in Yellowstone, bad weather preceeded us, but while we were there, it was very pleasant. We were able to have short visits with my two aunts who, except for funerals and some weddings, I don't get to see very often. Chatting with them was so much like talking with my dad and my grandparents, it was a nice reminder of how much I miss them.

On one of the days we were there, Sam and Colleen played golf, while I rode along in a cart, taking pictures. It was a beautiful course, and they had a good time, tying their scores in the end. Golf is huge in the twin cities area. There are golf courses everywhere, and bars and pubs will give you two for one beers when you show your golf receipt. So, needless to say, we stopped at an Irish pub afterwards!

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The next day, Colleen took us on a tour around St. Paul to see the house my great grandparents owned, and where my grandparents lived and raised my father and his two sisters. I remember it vividly, but of course, it seemed much bigger when I was a small child. Back in 1990, my dad and I went to see it and when we saw people outside of it, we asked if we could go inside. It was amazing how much I remembered. Great old house! (Of course, it wasn't pink when I was a kid!)

These are my great grandparents.

 After driving though the old neigborhoods, down Summit Avenue, looking at all the beautiful old homes, and then past the Cathedral of St. Paul, we went over to Harriet Island Regional Park, where we could look across the Mississippi River and see the St. Paul skyline.

Cathedral of St. Paul

                           

The last evening we were there, my cousin Julie came to visit and shared some old photos and letters that belonged to our grandmother. One was a tintype of our great-great-grandmother, which was pretty cool because I had recently received information from a geneologist about her family, dating back to the 1600's.

Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park is a pretty amazing place, and probably our favorite part of our visit there was watching for wildlife wherever we went. We saw hundreds of buffalo, grazing in fields and lumbering across or down the middle of the road, sometimes between our car and another on the opposite side. They look so docile, much like cows, but we were constantly warned not to get near them because they are quite dangerous. 

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We also saw lots of elk, and hearing the “bugling” done by the bulls in rut was very exciting. It almost sounds like the song of blue whales in the oceans. 

We did hear some people say they had seen a few moose one morning, but we were never so lucky. And although we constantly feared meeting up with a grizzly bear (having heard that 3 people were attacked so far this year in the park), and we did see scratches on trees (their method of marking their territory), we never saw one, even from a distance. But, when we returned to our village for dinner, after a full day of sightseeing, the bartender at the restaurant, told us that a grizzly had actually walked right through our village only two hours before we returned! You can bet that knowledge made us a bit more nervous as we walked to our lodge in the dark that night!

Of course, in addition to wildlife, a big attraction at Yellowstone NP is the Old Faithful geyser, and numerous other geysers and thermal features. We went on a 90 minute walk with a ranger, through the geyser field that Old Faithful is part of. On that walk, we learned that a good portion of the park is actually a gigantic caldera, formed as a result of three volcanic supereruptions 2.1 million, 1.3 million, and 640,000 years ago. (Do the math, that means we're about due for another eruption!) 

Old Faithful Geyser

We also toured the canyon area of the park with another ranger, which we really enjoyed. The Yellowstone Canyon is incredibly beautiful! There are gorgeous waterfalls and interesting rock formations. When the tour was over, everyone went their separate ways, but we happened to be walking in the same direction as the ranger was, so she walked and chatted with us. She then offered to show us her favorite part of the trail, where we got a different view of the Upper Falls and rainbows glistening in the mist from the falling water. It was quite lovely and made us feel special. We have met so many nice people on this journey!

Upper Falls, Yellowstone Canyon

A Few More Photos

I got the website to cooperate so that I can post the photos I had wanted to send with the last post...

Deadwood, SD, resting place of Wild Bill Hickok.

Deadwood Decor & Antiques

South Dakota Plains (from a speeding car on I-90)

Missouri River, Chamberlain, SD

Sam had to have an Idaho baked potato at Smitty's Pancake & Steak House,  Idaho Falls.