Chicago I

 

 

And so it begins.  Due to popular demand I will attempt to blog our 2015 summer adventure.
Marlene, as usual, spent a lot of time preparing our intinerary; however, we always seem to have unintended consequences.  Ah, such is life.

Monday, June 15th, we depart Hilton Head; stopping just for an overnight at an RV park just north of Knoxville, TN (nothing too interesting about the place), then on to Lexington, KY to visit with wonderful old friends Peggy and Jeff Meece.  It was great to get to see them again, share old times.
Beautiful horse country and home of U of KY.

Then off to a long visit to Chicago.  We are staying in a small RV park in Indiana that is about an hour by train to "the loop".  Train is clean, on time and $7.50 round trip; very reasonable (Thanks to Tim Arr for his helpful tips).  Driving into the city isn't bad except during rush hour; we have mostly been taking the train.

Chicago has been a delightful surprise.  With all their financial problems and my experiences of big inner cities, we weren't expecting much.  But a recent renaissance of residential building, plus constant building of office skyscrapers has brought great vibrancy to downtown.  The town fathers (and mothers) have developed the land between Michigan Avenue and Lake Michigan into a series of parks with very creative, family friendly and free exhibits, play areas, walking/riding paths, concert areas; it is delightful and draws great crowds constantly. Add to that a world famous Art Institute, Aquarium, Planitarium and Museum of Natural History and you have quite a lot of options to enjoy yourself.

Above, pictures of the Jay Pritzker Pavillion in Millenium Park, designed by architect Frank Gehry; excellent acoustics for the free concerts they put on all during the summer.