Page 4 of 4
Chicago, Illinois
I made a lot of mistakes in my mind, in my mind
Immediately after a non stop all consuming work deadline seemed to finish up (one that has left me with an absolutely obscene amount of comp time by the way), I found myself asleep on a Midway bound plane, a short expected work related trip to a trade show for a trade that I possess no real, practical knowledge of. In between all of that work stuff I was able to squeeze in some time in downtown Chicago, nothing particular special or spectacular but just enough time to take a few pictures when I wasn't sequestered in Prairie Avenue Books or buying tasty popcorn as somewhat welcome gifts. And while long time slideshow recipients may be growing tired of slightly recropped images of the same damn thing over and over again (this is after all the sixth Chicago slideshow since 1999), at least this one is relatively short. This also marks the official debut of my still new camera, a Canon EOS 20D, this time featuring the EF-S 17-85mm USM IS lens, the expected workhorse of the three lenses I bought with the camera a few months back.
Far more famous for its interior than its damn fine exterior, Daniel Burnham's 120 year old Rookery building (with that famous lobby renovation by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1905) quietly sits just a few blocks away from that know it all show-off Chicago Board of Trade Building, safe in the knowledge that it is, was and always will be the coolest one on La Salle Street.
In the center of Chicago, four blocks from Prairie Avenue Books, three blocks from the Art Institute, the CAF (Chicago Architecture Foundation) or the Sears Tower, two blocks from the Inland Steel Building, the Chicago Board of Trade or that awful, awful, awful library and only one block from the Rookery, the post office at Mies van der Rohe's Federal Center does everything that it can to remind people of a time when modern was still modern.
A block away at Wabash Avenue and the Chicago River, work continues on the Trump International Hotel and Tower, the infamous short fingered vulgarian's attempt to single handedly destroy the scale of that part of the city. Meanwhile at North Michigan Avenue none of this foreboding doom seems to be effecting Raymond Hood's legendary Tribune Tower all that much- it spends its time basking in its uplighting safe in the knowledge that even though it may end up looking like a circus midget in a few years at least it will be the best damn looking circus midget Chicago has ever seen.
All these years later, I still have mixed feelings about Chicago’s Public Library, probably because I remember a PBS documentary about it and really preferred the design by Helmut Jahn over this one. Still, it has its moments, and that top floor wintergarden is actually pretty sweet.
A last, somewhat bittersweet image from Chicago- the view from my favorite hotel and probably the last time I'll ever be there.
After many visits to Chicago I was safe in the knowledge that I had finally found a favorite hotel. Called Hotel 71 it was somewhat reasonably priced, it was in a great location (a block from Michigan Avenue and the State/Lake train station) and it possessed a singularly fantastic river view that was absolutely unbeatable. I arrived for my third consecutive visit only to find a lot of construction, work that is inevitably turning the hotel into the Solis Chicago, hotel condominiums that if available as hotel rooms are probably priced beyond my range. So for what looks to be the very last time, enjoy one last view of the IBM Building, Marina City and a magic blue sky over such an unforgettable place
We’re bouncing around for this last page of the Weekend Trips Slideshow, and after leaving Chicago we’re now at Lincoln Center New York on a quite nice Spring day where everything seems normal, if you don’t count that waterball off in the distance.
Inside that waterball is David Blaine, a magician in a trick called Drowned Alive, where he is spending seven days in that waterball and not dying. You know it’s a trick since it’s otherwise a physical impossibility, but it seems like a pointless trick as the days go on. I mean if you survive a day in that waterball, what make two days or seven days or a hundred days all that more impressive.
We’re ending this page and this slideshow where we always do at Acadia National Park in Maine. I’ve been there enough that it might make sense to move there at some point, although I don’t think I’d like the winter and I’m not sure I’d end up all that happy working for Diver Ed every day.
