Visit to the Windy City

You all know from reading this blog that I love traveling, especially since it often becomes my personal travelogue. I love visiting new places and experiencing big cities I’ve never been to before. It opens my eyes, lets me see different ways of living and, most of all, helps me to appreciate what I have at home.

This year’s destination: Chicago. Unfortunately most of the group from my trips in the last two years was not able to come. But I did get to meet up with the Bibliophile, my very best friend, as she introduced me to her home city and as I spent time with her family. It was a fantastic trip, as you’ll see below.

Here is the house where she spent most of her growing up years. It’s a wonderful house built in the early 1900s.

I’m already a fan of public transportation, but out there it was essential. We took the train into the city almost all the days we went in. We got to ride the big old-style train cars and also the L, which I discovered is one of the oldest public transportation systems in the world. Here we are on the train.

The weather was gorgeous! Because the temperature hadn’t cooled yet, the leaves hadn’t fallen off the trees, and the colors were unbelievable. So I tried to take some great pictures, but even that couldn’t quite do it justice.

I have way too many pictures to put all of them in, but here are just a few highlights. This is the view from the top of the Willis (Sears) Tower.

I’ve been making it a point in my recent travels to visit the temples in the cities where I go. I’m getting a good collection of them too. We did a session in the Chicago Temple, and it was great!

Just a few fun ones. First, really cool bean!

Chicago deep-dish style pizza

I didn’t know Marilyn would be in Chicago!

Random play sword fighters in the park.

Our lunch time guest, a cute little dog named Jasper. It took all his owner had to get him moving again because he was that determined to stay.

Finally, my favorite part of Chicago: Lake Michigan! I have beautiful lakes out west, but I’m pretty sure we don’t have anything of this magnitude. I couldn’t get over how beautiful and blue it is. It looks like the ocean with its shore right off the Chicago skyline.

Even though the trip was exhausting in many ways, in all the important ones it was more than worth the visit, especially since I got to see the Bibliophile, who is my dearest friend. Thanks for a great time, chica!