Skip to main content

Chicago Weekend - Day 2

Image
By
The following day in Chicago was a perfect clear autumn day.  After checking out of the hotel, we head back to the Museum District as our base of operations for the morning.  Our first stop was a lengthy walk to see "The Bean."  Officially known as "Cloud Gate", the beloved piece of art was officially dedicated in Millennium Park in 2006.


Designed by Sir Anish Kapoor, the stainless steel sculpture is 33' x 42' x 68' in dimension. The sculpture earned its nickname, "The Bean", from local writers.  Something that Kapoor was not found of.


The day before, my wife kept going on and on about "The Bean".  I, of course and to the amusement of our Uber driver, had no clue what it was.  I wasn't really sure why we were walking the mile and a half or so to see it.  But I definitely will admit that once I got to The Bean, I am glad we ended up doing it.


The sculpture is a lot of fun, and all of the visitors at Millennium Park were having a good time.  The reflections and distortions of the skyline on the surface of The Bean made photography a lot of fun.  You can also walk under the center of the sculpture which everyone present enjoyed.



As you can see in the photos, it was a pretty much a cloudless day.  So capturing images of the Chicago Skyline on the walk to and from Millennium Park was ideal.




And of course with the better weather, getting that skyline shot from the Museum District was even better today.


Upon returning to the Museum Campus, we visited the Field Museum of Natural History.  The current site of the museum opened in 1921; however, its history dates back to the 1893 World's Fair (Columbian Exposition).  After the World's Fair ended, Marshall Field donated $1 million to preserve and house the nearly 65,000 artifacts that were on display during the Exposition.  The Field Museum, then called the Columbian Museum of Chicago, opened the following year in 1894.  Today, the museum is home to over 40 million cultural and natural artifacts.


After touring the museum, it was time to leave Chicago.  We headed east to South Bend for the Pitt/Notre Dame Football Game before heading to Indianapolis for the night and home to Charlotte the next day.

Though our visit was brief, Chicago is a wonderful city.  I can't wait to get back there.

All photos taken by post author.

 To visit the entire collection of photos on flickr, head here.

Site Navigation:
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bleriot Ferry - Alberta

By
  Alberta operates six ferries scattered throughout the province. Roughly twenty to twenty-five kilometers up the Red Deer River from the town of Drumheller is one of the most scenic ferry crossings in all of Wild Rose Country, the Bleriot Ferry. Using the North Dinosaur Trail (Alberta Highway 838, or AB 838), the Bleriot Ferry provides a scenic river cruise of sorts in the Canadian Badlands. The Bleriot Ferry started operating in 1913 as the Munson Ferry when a few bridges crossed the Red Deer River. The ferry was started by Andre Bleriot, the brother of famed early aviator Louis Bleriot, who became famous for being the first person to fly over the English Channel. At the time, the Alberta provincial government commissioned local residents to run the ferries. There were several ferries along the Red Deer River, and not only did they serve as vital transportation links, but they also served as local social hubs, since everyone had to take the ferries to go places. Over time, as the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

By
In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l...
4 comments
Read more

I-73/I-74 and NC Future Interstates Year in Review 2024

By
Welcome to another annual review of progress in constructing North Carolina's New and Future Interstate routes. While 2024 was not too exciting, with no new segments of major routes opening, there was 1 new interstate signing, another proposed new interstate route, and the near opening of a new segment for 2 routes. As tradition, I will start off with a review of what happened with I-73 and I-74 and then move on to the major news of the year about the other new and future routes. Work continued on the I-73/I-74 Rockingham Bypass through the year. The last few months have been hoping for news of its opening before 2025, without luck. Signs of its near completion included the placement of new signs, many with interstate shields uncovered, along the Bypass and intersecting roadways. For example, these went up along US 74 East: Overhead signage at Business 74 exit which contains the future ramp to I-73 North/I-74 West. Signage was also updated heading west on US 74 approaching the unop...
Post a Comment
Read more