Citified in Chicago

We left the quaint fields of Iowa and headed for the bright lights and big city of Chicago. I had been to the city before, but we had never explored it as a family.

We took the train out to Oak Park, whose leafy tree-lines streets and hydrangea-hugged historic estates wowed me years ago.


The wood on that home is astounding; I immediately pulled out my trusty When I'm Absurdly Wealthy notepad and jotted down the address. My failproof plan for absurd wealth involves the ol' standby of winning the lottery, and in the alternative, finding a pirate's treasure chest filled with gold doubloons.











We also toured Frank Lloyd Wright's home and studio, and what stood out to me this time was his stained glass designs.








I was fortunate to inherit my grandfather's stained glass tools, and Sam gave me a glass grinder as a law school graduation present. Unfortunately for my proposed new hobby, at that time I had a 13-month old Jackson and was 3 months pregnant with Alex. And had a bar exam to do a wee bit of studying for. Needless to say, 9 years have passed and those tools and the unopened glass grinder box are still patiently waiting in the basement.

This trip may have inspired me to break them out soon.

But I digress; let's get out of my basement and back to Chicago, where we sailed around Lake Michigan.















We also hung around Millenium Park, which is home to the ever-awesome Bean and other really unique water features.











Riley, Jackson and I trekked through the city to the Hancock Building to have drinks and watch the day turn to evening from the 96th floor, a height at which no human (at least this human) should spend time.











The city was fun, but camping is ahead as we continue eastbound...