Today we made the journey from Streetsboro to Chicago, a relatively easy 6.5-hour drive. The roads are great, the trucks are fewer. We crossed the Cuyahoga River Valley in route, and took this picture. It is a beautiful treed gorge that also contains a scenic train tour we thought would be fun to do sometime (but not today, Ian).
Indiana has worse roads, but allows cars to go 70 and restricts trucks to 65. This put us on a level playing field with the trucks, which really made travel a lot easier. We have only seen this in Oregon and Indiana. Also, the statewide turnpike is cheaper here than in Pennsylvania!
At a rest stop, we ran into these musicians, driving across the US to perform their reggae music in Oregon! We chatted with them some, commiserating about the humidity in the East.
We made a pitstop in Angola, Indiana for Food, Lunch and Lube. We got our oil changed and the filthy air filter, which we changed just prior to leaving on our trip. I guess we've been through some dust! The only fluid they had to top was the windshield wiper, and the tire pressure was fine. The Oil Change required getting off the highway, but it was close, and we were in and out in 15 minutes!
Between the Indiana Toll Booth and the Illinois Toll Booth we encountered this sign. Whoever heard of exit zero? Is this considered a no man's land, because it's not on a toll road?
By the way, that is part of United Steel ('X' on the NYSE) behind the sign.
We never actually saw this sign, but knew we were in Illinois when a sign said, "Welcome to Chicago." Curiously, they put a picture of Chicago on this sign, but did not refer to their Lincoln heritage.
We checked into the Sheraton, after following our directions too perfectly. Forrest drove up to a closed, seedy-looking warehouse-type door in the back of the facility, the door opened automatically, and we entered the parking garage
of the Sheraton. The parking attendants were scratching their head, because usually people full up in front and have the valet deliver their car.
This is the view down from our 24th floor room--the boys were thrilled, Sherry was not.
We went down and checked out the pool and the sundeck, which you see here on the seventh floor. There is a great balcony overlooking the Chicago River. The pool was crowded, so we headed off to check out the Taste of Chicago, along with a million or so other people!
On the way, we caught this image of a firehose shooting across the river in a giant arc, soaking all the siteseers headed out for the fireworks show. Chicago celebrates the 4th of July bigtime on July 3rd with a marina fireworks show, and the whole town comes to see it.
You can just make out Sherry and the boys in front of the Taste of Chicago here. The lines were very long, and you had to buy tickets to trade for food. This create a bottleneck with a couple thousand people in line. We opted to turn around and walk downtown.
This sculpture by British artist Anish Kapoor is called Cloud Gate. The locals call it "The Bean." Located in Millenium Park, it is loosely based on liquid mercury and composed of 168 steel plates welded together and polished until the seams disappeared. It is quite an engineering feat to read about. This picture finds the Michigan Avenue skyline, part of what is also known as the Magnificent Mile of Chicago reflected in it.
We found an italian eatery on Michigan Avenue called Caffe Baci. This place features excellent italian food, including Atlantic Salmon and Manhattan Clam Chowder, which Forrest enjoyed. With six outlets in Chicago and a catering business, they should be very successful and we highly recommend their food.
Also, of course, they have Gelato. We called Grandma Parker and left her a message, because we know her weakness for Gelato. You can see Sherry in the background ordering a Decaf Mocha to get her through the fireworks.
Afterwards, the boys picked up some cotton candy from a street vendor. We forgot what a pain cotton candy can be. Sticky, messy, and don't get it on Sherry's white sweatshirt unless you want some MAJOR attention! ('nuff said)
We walked along the waterfront and found a place to wait for the fireworks show. Jeremy is also displaying his wound, which he suffered when he forgot how to walk and fell down (stepped off the broken sidewalk). It was actually pretty nasty, but a woman offered some antibacterial salve and kleenex to clean him up. he continued to bleed, and Forrest went off in search of bandaids or bandages. Now for the rest of the story...
Afterwards, the boys picked up some cotton candy from a street vendor. We forgot what a pain cotton candy can be. Sticky, messy, and don't get it on Sherry's white sweatshirt unless you want some MAJOR attention! ('nuff said)
We walked along the waterfront and found a place to wait for the fireworks show. Jeremy is also displaying his wound, which he suffered when he forgot how to walk and fell down (stepped off the broken sidewalk). It was actually pretty nasty, but a woman offered some antibacterial salve and kleenex to clean him up. he continued to bleed, and Forrest went off in search of bandaids or bandages. Now for the rest of the story...
After a quarter mile walk, Forrest found all the police force in one intersection (don't know why). Went up to a group of three cops and asked if they had a bandaid or a first aid kit. Unfortunately, one was a supervisor type with a radio. He got my name and asked if we needed a paramedic. Forrest demurred, saying we really just needed the bandaids. He defensively said, "That's their job." Forrest finally capitulated, and the supervisor called the paramedics. Radio chatter was constant. After a wait, the policewoman standing nearby walked fifty feet to a parked ambulance and retrieved two bandaids, bringing them back. Forrest thanked her, and after explaining to the supervisor that it really was fine, took them back to Jeremy. I just thought they had more important crises to attend to with a million people hanging out!
We finally got to see the fireworks show, which was undoubtedly the best July 3rd show in America! In the middle of our view was a nearly full moon, which made it extra cool. A video is available at the end of this blog.
On the walk back, we enjoyed the lighted city at night. The air was cool and refreshing, not at all like New York.
This is our hotel, the Sheraton. There is a tiny blue square around our window on the twenty fourth floor. The round outpost is the pool on the 7th floor.
This is another cool building. We hope to identify a couple of these older historic buildings on the way out tomorrow.
