Out and About: Chicago, Day 4

To read more about this trip, click HERE, HERE, and HERE.

My final hotel was relatively close walking distance to Lincoln Park, so after my morning ablutions and a stop for coffee, I headed out for a stroll through the park, on my way to the nature museum and the zoo. Everywhere I went in Chicago, I found random statues. Lincoln Park didn't disappoint me in this. I saw several there, including this gem:

The pose of the above statue was so dramatic that I absolutely had to find out who John Peter Altgeld was. Turns out, he was the 20th governor of Illinois (in the late 19th century), and a leading figure of the Progressive movement. As such, he pioneered child labor laws, hence the fact that he's protecting children in the statue. By the way, his last name means "old money" in German.

After meandering through the park, I made my way to the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum just in time for it to open. I was disappointed to discover that the Butterfly Haven was closed for the week. However, because it was, the cost of admission was only $5 instead of $9, which I thought was incredibly fair. Also, when I went past the haven, I could still see through the windows, so I got to see some butterflies even if I didn't get to walk amongst them, which was nice.

I loved the Mysteries of the Marsh, where learned about the marshland that used to cover Illinois (it was mostly destroyed to make way for farmland) and where I also took this picture of one of my most favorite things in the word, dragonflies:

I also really, really loved the Wilderness Walk. I didn't take any pictures of it because it's not an experience you can convey with pictures. Basically, it's a series of small, free-standing rooms that you walk through. The motion activates the lights and sounds, so when you step inside, you see and hear Illinois nature. There are three or four of them, each one conveying a different habitat. It's very cool.

Additionally, I enjoyed the Heritage of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, an exhibit on the "mother" organization of the museum, where they have a lot of items from the early 20th century, including old nature footage, notes, and preserved specimens. I particularly liked this lovely display of insects:

Outside, there are nature trails and the pretty, serene North Pond, where I saw a couple of birds chilling on a log:

After leaving the nature museum, I went to the always-free Lincoln Park Zoo. I liked this zoo a lot, much better than LA's zoo, and that costs money. Here are a few of the animal shots I took. I didn't write down the names of any of the animals, so other than the giraffe and the meerkats, I'm not sure what they are:

I noticed this butterfly chilling on a trash can, so I stopped to snap a pic:

South of the zoo is the South Pond, which you can take a trail around. I did for part of the way:

There are excellent views of downtown Chicago from there:

Then I crossed over the pond and went to the farm animal portion of the zoo, where they had this lovely little garden:

After leaving the zoo, I caught the bus to downtown Chicago, where I ate lunch before taking the train out to the airport. A train snafu caused delays (sadly, a train struck someone on the tracks a few stops north of the one I was at), I arrived at O'Hare to massive security lines, and in my flustered state, I nearly boarded the wrong plane. Which is to say, I almost missed a flight for the first time in my life. But I made it, and landed safely back in LA, happy to be home.

I had an excellent time in Chicago. My negative observations about the city: car drivers there honk at pretty much everything at all times of the day and night & pedestrians act like jaywalking is a competitive sport. This gave the impression of rudeness. However, contrary to that impression, I found that people were, to a fault, extremely polite, and often overtly friendly. More than one stranger struck up a conversation with me.

Despite numerous visits throughout my childhood and late teen years, I was never very big on Chicago. This trip changed my mind. Perhaps I simply needed to get out more, and explore the world, to gain an appreciation for what an amazing city it is. I love Chicago. I can't wait to go back!

Out and About: Chicago, Day 3

To read more about this trip, click HERE and HERE.

I barely took any pictures on Day 3 so I almost combined it with the post for Day 2. Eventually I decided that would make the post for Day 2 too long. Therefore, this will be the shortest of my posts in this series.

After we left DeKalb on Sunday morning, we took the scenic route back into the city, which was pleasant. Unfortunately, that also meant we got into town later than we intended, so we had some trouble finding parking before the game (and, subsequently, finding our car after the game, but that story is too humiliating for a public forum). Here are some pics from Soldier Field:

As someone who writes smut for a living, I have to say that "Bear Down"
has a slightly different meaning for me than it does for Bears fans.

Crowd shot.

Action shot.

After the game, we met a friend of mine for some deep dish pizza at Lou Malnati's. Afterward, my brother dropped me off at my hotel, the Inn at Lincoln Park. I feel the need to publicly defend this little hotel. After booking my room, I made the mistake of reading the Yelp reviews, which were almost universally terrible and made it sound like I was going to get raped and murdered in my bed. However, I don't normally put much stock in Yelp reviews, so I proceeded to stay there. While my room was certainly small, and the hotel is obviously old, it was in no way gross or creepy or dark or any of the other terrible things I read on Yelp. Don't be afraid to stay there!

This hotel is a little over a mile from Wrigley Field. After I dropped off my stuff and rested for a bit, I decided to walk up there, just to say I'd seen it. I saw it:

I also saw some interesting things along the way: 

The Landmark Theaters here don't look like this.

This t-shirt made me laugh. Poor, beleaguered
Bears fans.

The Alley is, apparently, a "rock and roll department store." I liked the gargoyles. I also liked that I saw lots of people lurking nearby (even though it was closed) who looked exactly like the people you'd expect to see near a "rock and roll department store":

LA is well known for its numerous and confusing parking signs, but I can't say I've ever seen anything like the below sign here. How, exactly, does one know if a pile of snow is over 2 inches? Do Chicagoans have to carry rulers in their cars?

That's it for Sunday. The nearly 2.5 mile walk to Wrigley and back tuckered me out after a long day, so I went back to my cozy hotel room and relaxed.

Out and About: Chicago, Day 2

To read more about this trip, click HERE.

On Saturday morning, I got up, checked out of the hotel, and went out to explore the city a bit while I walked down to the Art Institute of Chicago. Here are a few of the things I saw along the way:

Yes, another shot of the Chicago River. It's so darn picturesque!

Detail on the downtown courthouse.

Doors leading into the courthouse. It's hard to
believe any government building could be this pretty.

I love how oddly narrow these are.

I saw someone else taking a pic of this building so
I stopped and took one too. Not sure what it is.

Magnificent Ionic columns.

Chicago Board of Trade.

Equally magnificent Corinthian columns.

I would love to live somewhere where the
advertising boards look like this.

Statues and fountain just outside the Board of Trade.

Right about the time I stumbled across the above courtyard, a storm rolled in and absolutely poured rain. It hasn't rained like that where I live for months, so I loved it. Here's a partially cloudy shot from down by the museum:

Now, I have to tell you that I love the Art Institute of Chicago. I've been to a lot of different art museums. This one is my favorite, hands down. So I was very, very excited to go there and I had a great time. However, I don't like to take a ton of pictures of art because I feel like they just don't translate terribly well. So I'm only posting a few.

A lot of what I really admired was the furniture. I can hardly fathom the kind of dedication it took, hundreds of years ago, to create intricate furniture like this:

I also really enjoyed this full suit of armor:

Here are the pieces of art that I connected with the most:

Green Dancers by Edgar Degas.

This piece is by Charles Ray. I neglected to write down
the name and now I can't find it.

One of the famous Chagall windows.

The friend I went to Palm Springs with earlier this year turned me on to what's enjoyable about the mid-century modern style, so I particularly enjoyed this funky clock corner:

I spent about two and a half hours at the museum and saw perhaps half of what was on offer. Then my brother arrived to pick me up, so I had to go, but I think that was a good thing because I was beat. Last year, my brother went to a training near DeKalb, Illinois. He expressed an interest in going back out there to explore the area, so we did.

Once we got off the tollway, I enjoyed the scenery, the same meadows and farm fields that I remember from my youth (spent in nearby Michigan). On my GPS, I noticed a place called Shabbona Lake State Park and asked my brother if he'd be interested in checking it out. He was and we did:

It was lovely, so I'm glad we went. Afterward, we drove up to DeKalb, where we spent the night. We didn't do much of note, just had dinner, drove around a bit, and went to see the movie "No Escape" (my brother's choice; I liked it well enough). After two days of travel and lots of walking, I was happy to have a relaxing evening.

Out and About: Chicago, Day 1

My brother had two tickets for the Chicago Bears' season opener against the Green Bay Packers and so, after discussing it for a few months, we decided that I would join him for the game. However, it seemed like a waste of money to fly out there for just one day, so I decided to make a long weekend of it, and perhaps see a couple of friends in the process. I'll be making four posts about this trip, one for each day that I was there.

I arrived on Friday afternoon and took the train to downtown Chicago, a very easy process. Here are the first few pictures I took once I got downtown:

Chicago River.

Pretty skyscrapers.

After checking into my hotel on the Magnificent Mile, I headed back out to grab some food and explore Millennium Park, a walk of just over a mile. It will perhaps surprise you to learn that the last time I spent any significant amount of time in Chicago, this park didn't even exist yet (hint: that was a long time ago).

First, before I get onto the park pictures, here's one of the cute little chocolate mousse I had after my ravioli dinner:

After dinner, it was over to the park, which was just across the street from where I ate. A stranger obligingly posed under this cool fountain, to give me an even better shot (he was posing for his wife/girlfriend). Fortunately, it was raining off and on that afternoon, so he already had an umbrella.

One of the things I really enjoyed about Chicago is how much it looks and feels like a city. In fact, having now lived in multiple cities, and visited a few others, it has the most "city-like" feel of them all. I mean that in a good way. You don't see sights like this in most of LA, or Dallas, or Austin, for example:

Here's the Jay Pritzker Pavilion. Later in the evening, I would see a free opera concert here, which I didn't take any pictures of:

South of the pavilion is the Lurie Garden, a lovely oasis in the city:

Loved, loved, loved these pavers.

East, across the street, the park went on. On this side, there was a mini golf course, a rock climbing wall, and what looked like the coolest playground on the planet. Here are some shots I took on my way back through:

Further east, across another street, was Lake Michigan. 

Marina.

Later, after a little bit of rain, a rainbow.

I walked further south along the lake and finally crossed back west, where I stumbled across that famous fountain:

And saw some more of Lurie Garden as I moved north once more:

I managed to catch the sunset over the city:

After the concert, I walked back to my hotel. I actually paid for a metro day pass but left it in my hotel on accident, but it was only a mile, and I felt safe. Along the way, I snapped a couple of cool shots. I really enjoyed how, everywhere I went in the city, I stumbled across interesting architecture, fountains, and sculptures:

I ended my first day in the city as it began, with a shot of the Chicago River:

After I got back to my hotel, I briefly got to see a friend before crashing out and sleeping like a rock, looking forward to a trip to the Art Institute in the morning.