Fourth of July
Once a year we meet the Gorneys for a week-end outing. Usually we go to Cedar Point or Kings Island. (Amusement parks.) This year Patti wanted to mix things up a bit. She took her first trip to Chicago about a year ago and fell in love. She suggested it for this years trip and everyone agreed. We left at about 6:00 AM on Saturday, July 2nd. We ended up at the hotel (Travelodge, Downtown.) at about 11:00 Am. Five hours too early. They were nice enough to let us check in anyway. The rooms were nice, good size and they included a kitchenette. My favorite part was the fact that we were right across the street from the taste and walking distance from everything else. Please see the photo below . It was taken, heading East, from the observation deck in the Sears Tower.
Erik, Wendy and Don came out on Sunday and spent the night. It was a great week-end. We left at about 11:00 AM on Monday the fourth. Scroll down for some more pictures.
Here are some more pics of the visit to the
Sears Tower.
Nessa and strangers.
North
Joey, Jonathan, and Jenessa.
South.
West.
East.
Here are a few shots of the 1,000,000 + people attending/leaving Grant Park during/after the fireworks.
These two shots were at about 8:00 PM. The fireworks weren't scheduled to start for another two hours. Look at all the people!
Sorry, I know this is a crappy picture. I can pretty much guarantee I was being bumped while I took the shot. It was crazy!
This was our spot for the show. We had to camp out for 5 hours to save this spot. It was perfect.
From left to right...
Fred, Jo, Chrissy, Joey, Ryan, Jim, Wendy and Don. Not pictured were, Jamey, Jenessa, Toby, Erik, Jenny, and Jonathan.
Sunday was such a nice day.
Nessa and the lake.
Buckingham fountain.
The next Five are from the Navy Pier Ferris wheel.
The next few shots are of millennium Park. I wish we had more time there.
This is a walkway to the park. It looked like it was made of aluminum.
Another view of the bridge. Check out the band shell behind it.
I think these sculptures were my favorite. There were two about 200 feet from each other. I bet they are about 50 feet tall. I think their made of glass block. There are lights and lasers on the inside. This is what they looked like without the lights on.
They would somehow project movies onto the block.
It would even squirt unsuspecting victims. We can't wait to go back to spend more time there. They were working on the "giant chrome coffee bean" and we didn't make it back to these glass block things after dark. We saw them from a distance one night and they were awesome, but we had been walking for hours, so we didn't stop.
It was a great mini vacation and we hope everybody that went had a good time.
posted by lukadog @ 11:18 AM
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