Sweet Home Chicago

For our last full day in Chicago, we headed downtown first thing this morning to play tourist. The CTA is running a promo ($5 all-day pass) to encourage people to return to using public transit, so we drove over to the Kimball station, parked the car, and rode the Brown Line to the Loop.

 

Happy to comply with the CTA mask requirement

The boys were super little (5.5 and 7.5 years old) the last time we took the train downtown. Grandpa and Grandma were troopers to come with us as we hoofed it all over creation that day in July 2007 to the Sears Tower, Taste of Chicago, and Millennium Park! If only I had remembered to look up these photos beforehand, it would have been hilarious to re-create these shots. *doh!*

From the Washington/Wabash station, we walked over to Millennium Park for our iconic Chicago photo op at Cloud Gate (aka "The Bean").

Then we walked through Grant Park to take some pics by Buckingham Fountain. The city turned the water back on about a month ago, after having closed the fountain for over a year.

From here, we walked up Michigan Ave. to the McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum. I thought that my future civil engineer sons might enjoy checking out the inner workings of the bascule trunnion bridge.

 

Yes, there is a stamp here, too

The museum also had interesting exhibits on how the city reversed the Chicago River, building the largest sewage treatment facility in the world and digging miles of massive tunnels, to address the problem of clean drinking water (and eliminating sewage) for its growing population. The views from the top floor of the bridgehouse were pretty cool, too!

Looking south down Michigan Ave.

West - Chicago River and Wacker Drive

North - Michigan Ave., Wrigley Building, Tribune Tower

East - Chicago River to Lake Michigan

After leaving the bridgehouse, we continued walking north along the Magnificent Mile to the Old Water Tower, but didn't go into any of the stores. (My wallet says thank you!)

Historic Water Tower and John Hancock Building

Since we worked up our appetites from all that walking, we decided to hop on a Red Line train up to Wrigleyville to grab lunch. Fans were starting to head to the ballpark for the game this afternoon, so the cars were a little crowded, but almost every rider was mask-compliant. We decided to eat a little bit south of Wrigley Field at one of our old favorites, Penny's Noodle Shop on Sheffield and Roscoe. Our church was just south of Wrigley, so we would often eat here after service on Sundays until the congregation sold the building in 1995. 26 years later, still just as good as we remember!

What a great day to be in the city - the weather was perfect, with a light breeze blowing off Lake Michigan! Thankfully, it was also not very crowded for a summer weekend day, probably because things are just starting to open back up. 

We ended our day at R's cousins' with the extended family, where we finally got to satisfy our Lou's cravings. Always a good time getting together with them!

M is the proud recipient of a bottle of his cousin T's own batch of bourbon