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.