Chicago

While I was in Michigan for the HofGow wedding bonanza, I took a couple days before and after to enjoy Chicago. It had been over 10 years since I'd been there, and I was excited to go back as an adult.


Walking around downtown had so many great sights and neat sculptures.


The first stop in town was to the Art Institute. I really liked their Impressionism works. They had a few great Van Goughs, a room of really good Monets and Seurat's famous picnic scene (which is surprisingly massive). The rest of the museum was a collection of expensive and noteworthy works, but not really in a context to make it understandable.




My favorite part was the Throne Rooms which were little miniature rooms made to look like rooms from different periods in a shadow box. The neatest thing was you could look through the windows and doors to see other rooms that were built, but you would not get a straight shot. All of the furniture was hand made to scale.




Justin met up with me that evening and we went out for deep dish pizza and a nice jazz bar. Before we left for Michigan the next day, we toured Millennium Park and the big silver bean. I'm sure it has a better name, but that's what it looks like. It could use a cleaning, but what a neat art piece.




When we got back from the wedding, the weather was perfect. We walked out Navy Pier which was slammed. The buildings of city looked so pretty over the water. We were still exhausted from the wedding that night and stayed in.



Monday was Labor Day and my birthday, I was turning 29. We met up with Bonnie and Todd and went to a Cubs game, a great celebration. The first person to sing me happy birthday was the woman serving our first beer in the stadium. We had great seats on the 3rd base line and the game was exciting. The Cubs won and they raised their W flag while singing their victory song. On the walk home we went in a bar and surprised to find it rocking like a Saturday night. Nothing like a party in the afternoon.




Justin left the next day, so we had lunch together and said adios. I went down to the river and took the architecture boat tour that everyone told me to check out. And for good reason, it was a fun way to see the city, and they served beer!





The next day it was time for me to go, but my flight wasn't till 5. So I walked up to the Hancock Tower to have lunch and enjoy the view. I think the Hancock is my favorite building in Chicago. It was quite the view, and fun to pick out all the places in the city that I had been while I was there.