Chicago 1

As promised, I am beginning to blog about our family vaca to Chi Town.  "Why would we choose Chicago?" I hear you asking.  Well, it went like this.  Chris wanted to go to the Ryder cup this year.  I thought he really should go, especially when his trip to China ended up getting canceled earlier this year.  But, the Ryder cup was right before Jackie would have a week off school and I wanted to do a family vacation that week since it had been a while since we, as in all three of us, had traveled together.    So Chris headed to Chicago for the Ryder cup and brought his right hand man Antrone with him.  Then on Sunday, as Europe came back for the big win, Jackie and I were flying there to meet up with him afterwards.  It just made more sense for us to come to him rather than paying to fly him to a new location and losing another day to travel.  And as I began to prepare for the trip and research what we would do, I became very excited to see Chicago.  

So, once again us girls were on an adventure on our own. But Jackie is an excellent traveler so it was truly a pleasure to fly with her.  The weirdest feeling was arriving in Chicago with no one to meet us at the airport, catching a cab as the sky was getting dark, and driving to our hotel while feeling like I had no idea where I was.  But as we pulled up to the curb outside hotel, there was Chris!  Let the family vaca begin!

 

Chicago Day 1
The best thing to do in a new city, I think, is take some type of tour.  It really makes you feel like you've arrived and helps to orient you.  You learn all kinds of information and maybe learn about something you'd like to see or do that you didn't even plan for during your pre-trip internet research (if you're like me that is).  So, double decker bus tour it is!  And since Antrone hadn't left yet, we dragged him with us.  I felt strongly that you can't go to Chicago and only see a golf course in the suburbs!
First stop, Millenium Park - The Bean (Cloudgate is the real name) and the fountain with spitting faces (Crown Fountain).  I wish I had taken more pictures at the bean - to get the perfect one.  Oh well, you'll have to be satisfied with these and if you don't know what the whole thing looks like, google it.

Chris and Antrone walking under/through it with Jackie's stroller.

 Reflection of us and the city behind us

The faces are a projected image video.  They blink, smile, and.......

 Spit!

I hear that on hot summer days this was a great place to be, getting spit on. 

Chicago images taken from the bus tour.  I loved this skyscraper, first designed/built by a woman I think they said?  As you drive around it, the shape changes.  No two balcony projections are shaped the same.  It evokes the gentle waves and ripples and reflections on the lake water.  We drove by it twice as we repeated some of the tour while Jackie slept in our laps.  

We made a stop at The Art Institute of Chicago where I taught Jackie a little about impressionism and pointillism; we saw some African and American Indian tribal art;  Jackie finally saw a Knight in Shining Armor (she's really been into castles, princess, knights, swords, etc. lately); and looked at miniature displays.

After a tour bus nap, we had dinner.  Chicago style deep dish pizza of course.

Then it was up to the top of the Willis (Sears) Tower for views of 4 states.  The time of day was perfect.  No lines, not too crowded, but spectacular sunset views.  The ride up and down the elevator was so hard on the ears!  Jackie loved the whole experience.... but I'm not sure if she truly understood what it means to be so high up.

There were multiple glass floored and walled fully enclosed balconies that people could walk into.  They were terrifying!  Jackie starts to walk right out onto one and I nearly had a panic attack!  I started laughing and crying at the same time and I was almost hyperventilating!  Here are pictures of me freaking out:

She really didn't understand what the big deal was.  Chris wanted nothing to do with those balconies.  But, then I saw that you could have a professional photo taken and I was like, we have to do that!  So, out we walked onto the Sky Ledge for a photo!  I just kept telling myself not to look down, just look straight ahead and at the camera, get it done!  Ten seconds later and we were back on opaque flooring and all was well.  And look how great this photo turned out!