After the Green Festival, Jon, Jennifer, Mary, and I all decided that we should head into downtown Chicago. My car was currently in the McCormick Place parking garage and I didn’t relish driving it around downtown, especially since neither they nor I had any idea where we were going. So we ended up taking a bus which traveled all the way up Michigan Avenue, stopping at most of the major intersections. My friends had taken a train from Milwaukee, so we got dropped off fairly close to their train station.
This was also near Millinneum Park, which I had been advised to see by my boss Sue. We took a while to browse the crazily huge outdoor exhibits, finding particular fascination with the Cloud Gate, a giant elliptical mirror (at top and below). We also admired the Jay Pritzker pavillion designed by Frank Gehry, where concerts would often be held. We then walked across the giant BP bridge in order to relax for a while overlooking Lake Michigan.
Reflected in the cloud gate: Jon, me, Jennifer, Mary
Frank Gehry’s Jay Pritzker Pavillion with the city behind
We then took a long walk in an effort to locate the Sears Tower. It was during this walk that we really began to get a sense of why Chicago is nicknamed the Windy City. It felt as though the wind was trapped between all the buildings and was looking for a place to get out, angrily taking out its frustration on everyone in its way. Now, you’d think that the country’s largest building would be visible from any point in downtown Chicago, but when you are standing close to the other Chicago skyscrapers, it wasn’t so easy to find. But eventually, we located it. The others had already been to the top during a different trip, so I went up alone.
Found it!
Atop the Sears Tower
The Chicago cityscape
Before we ascended in the elevator, we watched a short documentary on the construction of the building. Of course, once we make it nearly to the top, it was an amazing view. You could see for miles in every direction, spotting the Navy pier, all the sports parks including Wrigley, nearly across Lake Michigan, and the plains of Illinois. The Skydeck from where all of this can be viewed is located on the 103rd floor. The builiding contains 110 floors. Needless to say, the area is not in the open air, so there is no chance to spit or drop pennies to the ground below.
After I finished up in the Sears Tower (and bought my obligatory magnets), I headed over to Giordano’s to meet my pals and have their classic Italian beef sandwich. It was nice to sit down and relax with Jennifer, Jon, and Mary. Susan had finally called while I was up in the Tower to announce that she had finally completed her work so she met me at Giordanos and we walked Jen & Co. to their train station. She then drove me back to the McCormick Place to find my car. Actually finding my car was easy since most of the other cars had left by now - it was finding the parking garage that was the challenge!
Jennifer at Giordano’s
I didn’t get back to Susans until about 9:30pm after maneuvering my way around downtown Chicago, mostly successfully, and it was then that I performed a parallel parking job to die for. I hate parallel parking and it took me several efforts (I had given up once the day before), but somehow I pulled off this fascinating feat and took pictures to prove it!
Susan and I took a walk in an effort to find her something to eat at this hour. We finally found an eatery with an outdoor patio. I only had soup - but it was still fun to hang out in the warm outdoor air and have some more good conversation. When we got back to her place, we watched Say Anything, a movie selection from her free on-demand cable channel.
The next morning, Susan had to work early, so she was up at 5:30, and was on her way shortly after. I piddled around for a bit, took a shower, and was on the road by about 8am. The ride back was not too bad actually - especially knowing that I had the rest of the day off. The only mildly interesting event was when I stopped at the first McDonalds, their power was out so they weren’t serving. I found another one in short order.
Chicago was fun.
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