Walking through the Windy City

Day 18 -

Monday, Sept 9 – Chicago

We left the Craigs about 7:30am. We had a wonderful visit with them. We had great conversation on the move. We are so thankful for our continued friendship the Paul, Jill, Audrey, Jenny, Matthew, Shannon and her family. I was wonderful to spend time with all of them.

We drove straight to Chicago and stayed in a hotel south of the city to save some money. We drove 30 minutes to the closest location to ride the City Transit Authority rail train aka the “L”. The station was at Ashland/63^rd. It wasn’t the safest area to be in. The parking was only $2 for the day and the ticket into the city was $2.25. The ticket machines weren’t working so the attendant let us through for free. We got off at the closest station to Michigan Ave to walk the Magnificent Mile; a shopping area with high-end stores with large display windows. When we started out, we didn't know how far we would get with the places we wanted to visit. We walked by the Old Water Tower. It was the only building left standing after the Chicago fire. It is a beautiful old building. There are tours, but not today.

The Old Water Tower

John Hancock Center and The Water Tower Place

This was the first American Girl Place

We only went into Crate and Barrel and The American Girl Store. We brought Corinna and Melissa to this American Girl store years ago when they were enjoying their American Girl dolls. We had some great deli sandwiches and split a chocolate chip cookie at L’appetito. It was a hot and humid day, but not miserable. We just drank lots of water and kept walking.

 From there, we walked to the Navy Pier. We were here about  5 years ago when Corinna and Melissa were involved in Awana and Corinna participated in the Awana Nationals. Great memories.

Getting counseling from Bob Newhart..He said "Just stop it".

Another view near the pier

Then we walked down to the Tribune Tower. It is a beautiful building with rocks built into it from all over the world. It is the headquarters for the Chicago Tribune.

The Tribune Tower

I love the revolving doors in all the buildings

This shows some of the rocks from all over the world

The cityscape 

Check out this heat

Michigan Avenue Bridge

Then we walked over the Michigan Avenue Bridge to Millennium Park. I love to go to big parks in cities, because I love to see the contrast of nature and the skyscrapers. If I could pick one, it would be nature by far! What God makes is beautiful! What God causes and allows people to make can be beautiful to, but it is not the same.

In Millennium Park there is “The Bean”. Its real name is Cloud Gate. It is lovely how it reflects the city. A great place for pictures.

The Bean

Our reflection in The Bean

Then we walked through the park to Grant Park to see Buckingham Fountain. The sun was setting and we had a great view of Michigan Lake and the city; a nice place to end our visit.

Buckingham Fountain

We got on the “L” and rode it to our car. There were not very many people of the train. When we returned to our car, we were very thankful to see that it was still there with no damage.

There's our train!

We are so thankful to God for all the blessings that He has lavished on us. We have been able to reunite with so many friends and relatives, see so much and spend time together. We don’t deserve everything He has given us. We are so thankful.

Day 19 -

Tuesday, Sept. 10 – Drive from Chicago, IL to Des Moines, IA to visit my Dad and stepmom, Kathy.

We slept in! Then we were on our way. First stop, Joliet, to get coffee at Starbucks. Next stop, The John Deere International headquarters and then the John Deere Pavilion and gift store in Moline, IL. It is the same location where the company started. Joe would love to have a John Deere tracker. Well, since that is not going to happen, he bought a John Deere wallet instead. We walked around and sat in some of the large farm equipment, then walked around the large gift store and bought something for Madalyn!

We had lunch just over the Mississippi River in Davenport, IA. It was really good, but not such a healthy meal at The Village Inn.

Our next stop was the World’sLargest Truckstop on Interstate 80. It was huge! It was like one huge store with all the extra things that truck drivers need. We liked it so much that we bought a pin for a souvenir. We have bought about 8 pins so far on this trip.

Iowa landscape

We drove a little further and stopped at Herbert Hoover National Historic Site where his birth place and gravesite is in West Branch, IA. His presidential library is there to but we didn't visit it.

Herbert Hoover's childhood home

Joe found the outhouse.

The president and his wife's gravesite

We drove straight to my dad’s from there enjoying the beautiful Iowa crop field’s on the way.

We had a relaxing evening with lots of great conversation and ate our dinner outside. It was a hot day, but it cooled down in the evening with some clouds and lighting.