Chicago...

Chicago, Chicago--that toddlin' town.
Chicago, Chicago--I'll show you around. I love it.
Bet your bottom dollar you'll lose the blues in Chicago, Chicago.

Wes and I were blessed to be able to spend time in Chicago the past four or five days with Sid. He had a conference to go to and graciously asked us to come along. Wow...what a place. Overwhelming at first to a girl from the wide open spaces of West Texas. We now live in the trees of East Texas and have visited many big cities but this one takes the cake so far. Such busy-ness and noise and hustle and craziness. Constant sirens going off and you can't walk across the street without getting honked at. Wonderful smells of different foods and nauseating smells of I don't know what. We had a blast. I could go on forever but will just give you some pictures to see what all we did. If you don't like a lot of pictures I advise you to click off now. :)Chicago style deep dish pizza. Yum.


On the way to Navy Pier. Kids having fun.


Amazing how many fountains there are in downtown Chicago. Everyone except for one had kids in their bathing suits cooling off and playing in them. Very fun.


Lake Michigan was gorgeous. For some reason I expected it to be a little dirty and not such a beautiful color. It was a picture.


Lighthouse out past Navy Pier.


View from Navy Pier




“Kathleen Kelly: Once I read a story about a butterfly in the subway, and today, I saw one. It got on at 42nd, and off at 59th, where, I assume it was going to Bloomingdale's to buy a hat that will turn out to be a mistake - as almost all hats are.”
This quote from You've Got Mail above is what I thought of as I viewed this lovely Bloomingdale's. Made me smile.


Gorgeous view of the city from Michigan St. looking over the Chicago river.


Lots of street performers. These guys are good.


The Bean


An amphitheater in Millennium Park


Beautiful flowers everywhere


Lots of nice green spaces



Not sure what the name of this fountain is but I LOVED it.

Another tall fountain.


It was a joy to watch these kids playing in it.



We absolutely loved finding somewhere good to eat in the evenings.


This was at a place called "The Bowl" Thai food.



42 Starbucks in downtown Chicago. Nice.
Giordano's pizza. Yes, we went twice. Too good not to. I think though that we walked everything we ate off. Miles and miles of walking.


Gooey goodness


Late night eating fun.


Wes spent WAY too much time in here. He was quite infatuated with Niketown.




The lobby of our hotel that never slept.

Chicago hot dog.


We rode the Red line subway or L to Wrigley field from downtown. It was an interesting experience. The guy in the blue shirt behind Wes started yakking at him, sorta sounded like someone speaking in tongues. We just smiled at him and prayed our stop was soon.

Famous Wrigley Field. Cool.


Wes and Sid in front of Harry Carey's statue.



We also took a Chicago river architectural boat tour.

Very interesting with great views of the city.


The tall building in the middle is the former Sears tower which is now the Willis tower. I believe she said that it is the tallest skyscraper in the US. About four floors from the top there are little see through boxes you can step out on and look down. No thanks. The next two pictures are pics I took zooming in from this view of people up there. Wow.


It costs fifteen dollars to go up and hang out over nothing. I am sure it is an unbelievable experience. This view is exciting enough for me.




There are so many gorgeous old buildings. Loved looking at them.


One of the daily bible readings while we were there quoted this verse in
Psalm 8


LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
in the heavens.
Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?

You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
I was constantly reminded as we walked the streets of Chicago how much we need the Lord and how none of the busyness of life and material things matter. Only being saved and loved by God and walking to glorify Him and spread His true love are the things that matter.


Winging our way home. Yes, we are winging our way home. In the words of Jon Foreman...home is not a place I can reach by train...(or plane.) Home is with Jesus.


I am home right now with Him in my heart and look forward to our true home.


Blessings! Amy

Comments

Becky K. said…
Amy!
I truly enjoyed this photo tour. You really gave a wonderful overview of this city. I've never been there but have a cousin who's husband is in the Navy and has been stationed there. They are leaving for CA soon so I guess I won't be visiting Chicago anytime soon.

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