CHICAGO, CHICAGO MY KIND OF TOWN!

 Aug 18

Hey there Campers;

We left camporee and went to Chicago and stayed at the Hollywood Casino in Joliet. We took time and toured the area. It was very comfortable to cruise along the river. Had a great dinner at Cracker Barrel. It is too bad we do not have this restaurant out west.

 

We got up to a overcast day. We went to spend the day in Chicago.

As we came closer to town it was real foggy. This reminds me of SF.

 

There are lots of one way streets. Wacker St runs the length of downtown.







As we were driving under the El trains I immediately thought about the Gene Hackman movie "China Town".




We took a tour around downtown before taking the city tour.

 

We drove to the Navy Pier and caught a Greyline City Tour which will gave us the opportunity to hop on and off the bus to tour.

The Navy Pier is the city's boardwalk around the lake. It has a Ferris wheel that can be seen from afar.

 

 



They had these cool bikes that a family could ride on.








The Lake Point Towers. This condo goes for 1.8 million dollars for a 1st floor apartment. It has great views of the lake.

Facts

• First permanent reside was trader Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. A free black from Haiti. He came in the late 1770's.
• 50% of U.S. rail freight still comes through Chicago.
• Jonathan Sears, Marshall Fields wanted to get Chicago up and running after the great fire. So they started building near the lake shore.
• Playboy Enterprise is in this building. Huge Hefner is from Chicago. At the Playboy Mansion 3 miles away a plaque  near the door says "do not ring if you do not swing".
• The TV series ER was based on Northwestern Hospital.

  

• The Water Tower built in 1868 & the Water Pumping Station Works built in 1870 were the only 2 buildings left in town that survives the Great Fire. The building was made of limestone. Lo of course had to check out the building materials.
  
   
  
  
  

• After the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, all the debris was dumped into Lake Michigan as landfill. It forms what is now Grant Park, Millennium Park and the Art Institute.
• Millennium Park is where concerts, festivals are held.

• Oprah Winfrey lives in the Ritz Carlton on two floors 

• The Visitor Info Center has a sign that says no guns. So is everybody packing but us???

• The Magnificent Mile has 300 hundred stores in one mile. It is also called the Miracle Mile because no one can get away with only spending $1. It is also called the Credit Card Graveyard.  

• Neiman Marcus is the only building on the mile that is not connected to another store. 

• The Burberry Store has no prices on any item in the store. The rule is "if you have to ask the price you cannot afford". I did not go in. "Po folks" have to just keep walking.

• The biggest McDonald in the world is located into restaurant district.

• The Hard Rock is always my go to place.

• The Marketplace is a David and Tanita foo foo grocery store for the locals who live in the condos in the area. 

• Trump Int'l is one of The Donald's prime properties. It sits on the river. 

• Chicago has the water taxis to take one around the city. 

• The Marina City Apartments are a city within a city. It has 14 floors of parking and all the amenities one need to survive without going  outside. This is just to Jetsons for me.

• The bridge was out of service. The port use to be here until the land was pushed out with landfill after the Great Fire. 
  
• A new river walk has been started and will be completed in 2015.
• The premier Joffrey Ballet Company is based here.
  
• The El Train loops all over the city.
  
• Richard M. Daley was mayor for 21 years.
• Sears Towers is the second tallest building in North America. The World Trade building is only taller by antennas. 
  
• Sears Sky Deck has a 2 hour waiting line to go up and stand on glass overlooking the city. 
  
• Across the street from Sears Towers they have a part with Adirondack chairs where you can just chill and enjoy the scenery. 
  
   
  

• The two Indians are the Gateway to Chicago. 
  

  

   
  

• The Hilton Hotel on Lakeshore has the Queen Mary suite for $5,000 a night.  Do you know that this calculated out to 100 nights at a Motel 6. He, he, he. Ok upgrade to Embassy Suites.
  

  

   
  

• The space ship is Solider Fields where the Chicago Bears play.  
  

  
  

  

   
  
  

  
• The hot dog stands around Solider Field donates all leftover food to the homeless after the games.
• On the same street is the Adler Planetarium.
  

  

  
  
• Lake Shore is very beautiful and scenic. There are 26 miles of bike/walking paths around the shore
  

  

   
  
  
• The Shedd Aquarium 

• The Field Museum is the art institute

• The fountains at Buckingham Memorial is the 2nd most photographed attraction in Chicago. The center part of the fountain shoots up 150 feet every hour. 1228

• The joke around Chicago is where else in the world is it legal to see a space ship (Solider Field)  and a dinosaur while on LSD?? (LSD is the nickname of Lake Shore Drive) 
  

  

• Chicago is the start of the historical Route 66.
• Birthplace of the refrigerated rail car, mail-order retailing (Sears & Montgomery Ward's), car radio (Motorola)
• Known for 2 seasons, Winter & Construction

Ya'll know that I love Forever XXII. Check out their models. They are the size of real people with meat on their bones. Yahoo for the real girls. 

 

Can you imagine kayaking in the middle of the city? 






We went back to the Navy Pier and had dinner at Chango Loco. It looked over the pier.





Everyone kept talking about you cannot go to Chicago with all getting some Garrett Popcorn. I decided to try it out. It was tasty. It was like mixing cheese popcorn with Carmel. It was alright I guess. It did satisfy the sweet and salty taste. 

We drove back to the Hilton for a good nights rest.

Question of the Day

What is one of the nicknames of Chicago?  

Well, until the next time Campers......

Lo & Bren


Lo & Bren