Chicago Trip 2009 Days 1 and 2 Photos and Words

Well, we left Virginia yesterday before 8 a.m. We had a pretty uneventful drive. I drove in the morning and Daniel drove in the afternoon and evening. A highlight of the day was we took an exit looking for a promised BP station. We never did find the BP station, but we drove through a beautiful section of Kentucky and saw some amazing homes and beautiful horses. I don't believe I have ever seen such magnificent homes outside of Newport, Rhode Island.

We stopped in Indiana so Daniel could get a haircut (didn't want him looking shaggy for the conference) and we had dinner. We later stayed at a Holiday Inn Express and I tell you that staying there is a great deal for the money. Free internet. Free breakfast. Clean and comfy rooms.

Today we drove the rest of the way into Chicago. I was thinking about driving us around here for the places we are to visit. The drive in was enough to convince me to forget it. I am not qualified for city driving! After we got settled in, we are staying at the Hyatt Regency where the conference is, Daniel went to the conference, and we walked a bit south for a McDonald's (and found a food court). After lunch, the kids and I walked North up Michigan Avenue (also called the Mile with tons of great places to shop). We were headed to the Hancock Tower and saw many strange and wonderful things along the way.

I believe I enjoyed our time at the top of the Hancock building more than the Sears Tower last year. We enjoyed a complimentary cup of coffee (courtesy of our Chicago Passes) and we bought a couple of items in the gift shop and just really enjoyed learning about Chicago. We were up there for about 90 minutes, or maybe 2 hours, I wasn't really keeping track. It wasn't very crowded and the audio tour was awesome! I chose to listen to the kids version because kids' tours always give the best information.

While at the top of the Hancock Tower, we enjoyed looking at the beautiful Lake Michigan and it was neat how small Navy Pier looked from our vantage point.

Off to the left of Navy Pier and the filtration area, there was this roundish looking building. I wanted to know what it was, but it wasn't mentioned on the tour. I zoomed as much as I could, but couldn't really get a good picture. It looked to me like a Merry Go Round out in the middle of the lake (Katrina thought the same thing, separately from me). Finally I went up to the desk to ask because I just had to know...

It is a pumping station that goes with the water filtration area. It pumps water out of the lake for the people of Chicago to drink. I like my idea better. Wouldn't it be cool to have a Merry-Go-Round in the middle of the lake that you could only get to by boat???

As we were getting ready to leave, I couldn't find Katrina (this is a frequent happening) and I about had a heart attack when I did find her...

She kept pointing that it was a long way down as she worked hard to clean those windows!

We left there and stopped in Borders (it is the first time I have been in a Borders and I was really amazed!!!!!). We picked up the newest Daniel X book, then headed to Hershey's. Well, we had to go after we ran into the Kiss out on the Mile. Then we headed to the Chicago Tribune building.

We had learned while on our tour that reporters used to bring back pieces of places they had visited (i.e. a piece of the Great Wall of China, a piece of the Forbidden Temple in China, a piece of the Berlin Wall...). And these pieces are embedded in the outside of the building. It was really cool!

So, now we are back in the room and it is dinner time. More later...I have some videos to share too:)