We didn't know for sure if we wanted to take the Journey down toward Chicago and stay at our nephew's house or not. But after looking at the map, we decided to go for it. We plugged in the GPS to avoid all toll roads and took off!
The GPS took us right there. Mike and Aimee have a really cute home. It sits on a corner and they have a double lot. Aimee grows lots of flowers and they have some fun grow-box gardens.
We fit just right in their driveway and our door opened up onto their nice lawn. It was just perfect! We had them over for dinner the first night and Mike cooked us German pancakes the next morning. They were great! The only thing bad was that I didn't think about taking a picture of them. He will have to make them again, take a picture, and send it to me!
After breakfast, we hopped on the train and headed for downtown Chicago. They live about 40 miles from there. It was great riding the train and not having to worry about traffic. You feel like you are walking in a tunnel downtown because of all of the tall buildings. This picture even has the tracks for the El train, so it looks even more enclosed.
All of the skyscrapers were amazing. I can't remember the names of all of them, but Mike and Aimee were great tour guides.
This is the front of the Sears Tower (it actually has a different name, but everyone knows it by the Sears Tower). It used to have the claim to fame as being the tallest building in the US, but I am not sure it still does. It has a really fast elevator that takes you up over a hundred floors to almost the top of the building (it takes over a minute to get to the top) where they have clear enclosures you can walk out onto and take pictures. Mike and Aimee have been up there before, and Terry was not about to go (the big scardy-cat), so we didn't go up
I am thinking that this was in front of the World Trade Building, but I am not sure. The statues are cool, anyway. Mike, Aimee, and Terry are standing in front.
The Chicago River runs right down through downtown Chicago. They have river tours, which, this picture is one, and they have river taxies. Some of the apartment buildings right on the River actually have boat garages under them for people to park their private boats in. The Chicago River eventually runs into Lake Michigan
There are a lot of people who ride bikes in downtown Chicago (I wouldn't ever be one of them!) and they chain them up to the bike racks. This individual only put the chain through the frame of the bike. Apparently, it is smarter to put the chain through the tires, also. As I was taking this picture, a man passing by said, "Hey, don't take a picture of that--this is Chicago!" I am not sure what he meant by that, but it was pretty funny.
Only people living in Chicago can appreciate this kind of art--just big pieces of metal put together. We Idahoans just don't get it! Mike and Aimee are walking by it.
These Segway tours seem to be popular in the area. I don't think I would do it, though, because apparently, it you break it, you pay for it. Anyway, I heard that my Brother Mike and his wife Janet found that out when they tried it! There are quite a few people who ride their own Segways around. It does look like a fun way to get around the streets of Chicago.
We were down by Lake Michigan and this was a skyscape of Chicago. I just couldn't quit taking pictures of all of the tall buildings!
They do have very different art in Chicago. I cant' remember the real name of this fascinating structure, but it is called the "Bean" by most everyone, mostly because it looks like a big jelly bean. If you look hard in this reflection, you can see us taking a picture of ourselves, with Mike and Aimee on the right of us.
On this side of the Bean you can walk underneath of it and the reflection shows the whole skyscape of Chicago. It was fascinating! Terry is on the right, pointing, and Mike is a little on his left, looking down at his camera.
When you go underneath, it shows your reflection. What a fun sculpture!
This picture is looking up one of the streets from the area where the Bean is--more tall buildings!
I am thinking this was one of the newspaper buildings, but anyway, they had special cement bricks all over it--some for other states and some for other countries. Terry and I are standing in front of the one for "Craters of the Moon--Idaho."
We walked down to the Navy Pier (which has nothing to do with the Navy, except they have a USO building on it where active and retired military people can go into and rest and get drinks and snacks--for free.) The Navy Pier is in the location where the Worlds Fair was held years ago and now is made into a fun place where there are a few carnival rides, souvenir shops, places to eat, and live entertainment going on. It is a peninsula that sticks out into Lake Michigan. Terry couldn't believe he found a place that sold real Bubba Gump shrimp! (He loves the Forrest Gump movie!)
This is one of the Chicago River boat taxis.
Our feet were pretty tired of walking around for about four hours, so we were very glad to take a boat taxi back to catch the train home! I am sure that Mike and Aimee were not as tired as we were, but they were good sports and came along with us!
Some more pictures of the tall buildings along the River route. This building in front is one of the older buildings in Chicago and is called the Clock Tower. Aimee said the clock didn't work for a long time until enough people complained and they finally fixed it.
This is a more modern building along the riverfront. The bottom 12 or so floors is parking and the apartments are above it. There are thousands of people who live in apartments in downtown Chicago. I couldn't imagine it!
On Sunday, after Terry and I got home from Church, it started raining. Mike and Aimee had planned a great lunch of BLTs, and grilled vegetables from their garden. Aimee is trying to keep herself and the barbecue dry while she is grilling the veggies!
Mike is pretty handy in the kitchen, cooking up the bacon. It was a great meal!
This is Lucy. Aimee has had her since she was a puppy, almost 11 years ago. She gets a little upset during rainstorms.
Mike is into woodworking. He has made some really fun things. He made this trivet for us with our names on it. We really like it. In fact, Terry was so impressed with the things Mike has done that he is considering getting a scroll saw and starting a "woody hobby!"
We had such a great time with Mike and Aimee. Aimee shared some of her projects with me. She knits and crochets--makes hats, socks, bags, blankets, and lots of other things--quilts, bakes, gardens, and they both bicycle a lot. So, we had lots of things to visit, talk about and share. Thanks, again, Mike and Aimee, for a fun weekend!
No comments:
Post a Comment