A Family Trip to Chicago

We left early Monday morning to catch the train.  It was a 3-hour trip, during which my son looked out the window all 3 hours.  It was a fun way to travel to the great big city of Chicago.  A city that none of us will soon forget.  And here’s why:

It was a cool 88 degrees when we visited in July.  There was always a wonderful breeze blowing off Lake Michigan that could cool these warm-weather Texans down if needed (as if!).  And summertime makes this city sparkle with color!

We wanted to do it all and we only had a day and a half to do it in.  So on top of the amazing museums, delicious food, and fantastic shopping, there were so many great sites to see!

My kiddos were totally enamored by this fountain, Buckingham Fountain, better known as the Married with Children fountain.

Did you know it was one of the largest fountains in the world?  And NOT named after the Buckingham Palace, but after the benefactor who paid for the fountain and it’s maintenance in 1927.  The city of Chicago still does not pay for it!

And it is made out of beautiful pink marble from Georgia.  Another cool fact- it was the starting point of Season 6 Amazing Race….just one of my favorite shows. Take that trivia to your next Trivial Pursuit night!

Yes.  You are looking at a 3-story eyeball, cleverly titled the “Eye”.  Why?  Good question.  It is a temporary exhibit in downtown Chicago that the kids & I found fascinating.  Amid a bunch of tall buildings, the L clattering by and many business people sits this odd sculpture called art.  I didn’t get it, but that’s ok- it was fun to take a picture of.

And then we found the “art” I’d been looking forward to the most.  This is Cloud Gate located in Millennium Park.  But you can call it the “Bean”.  That’s what the locals call it.

The Bean is made of what appears to be seamless steel plates that reflects the city back at you.  It is the coolest structure that was only just added a few years ago.

We had more fun taking pictures here.

And you can go inside for even crazier images.

This was by far one of our favorite things to see.

Until we walked over to the Crown Fountain.  This fountain is a great spot on a hot summer day, as the giant screens on the towers pour water down on you.  In this picture, it is showing a waterfall, with water falling down everywhere.  But as we walked up, there were images of people “spitting” on you.  Literally, water spitting out of their giant mouths- it was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.

And if we had time, we could have sat here all afternoon.  In fact, there was so much to do in Millennium Park, we could have spent all day there.  But there was much to see still…….. and I’ll share more of our fun with you this week.  Stay tuned.