We arrived in Chicago on June 10 for three nights. Barry pre-paid for us to stay at McCormick Place – Parking Lot B, which was just a big parking lot for semis, their trailers, and RVs. It ended up being much better than I expected. In fact, WE had our own little “lawn” outside our patio door! There were only about 6 RVs that came to stay while we were here.
When I noticed the railroad tracks along the one edge of the lot, I was worried, but it wasn’t a problem at all. The trains weren’t that loud and didn’t blow a horn every time. We never heard one much after 10 or 11 PM till about 7:20 AM. It was a good wake up.
Day 1.
Since we didn’t have a lot of time here, we decided to just explore via our e-bikes because we knew we wanted to ride along the waterfront, check out the Navy Pier, and see “The Bean”. Today was the perfect sunny day for that!
We rode into the city using pedestrian and bike overpasses to city streets. (NOTE: Some videos in this blog are taken via Barry’s helmet cam–especially ALL biking videos.)
There was significant wind, but when we turned down one street it was as if we entered a wind tunnel! We had to stop completely, plant both feet firmly on the ground, and hold tight to the handlebar of our bike! I had to look straight down to protect my face, but especially my eyes (contacts) because I could feel fine road debris hitting my bare legs, arms and face. When the huge gusts subsided, we were able to maneuver off this direct line of fire. Much better! Yep, we are in the WINDY CITY!
We had a view of “the L” – the elevated train in Chicago. I instantly flashed back to the movie “The Fugitive”. Great movie! We might have to watch it again some evening. 🙂
We enjoyed some of the parks along our way. We came across these statues by at the south end of Grant Park. There are 106 nine-foot high, headless and armless statues entitled “Agora” – a greek word meaning meeting place These cast iron statues were created in Poland, and installed here in 2006.
The artist, Magdalena Abakanowicz is an internationally-acclaimed sculptor. Born in 1930, she lived outside Warsaw and was deeply affected by WWII and the forty-five years of Soviet domination that followed. From her writings:
“…in times which were extraordinary by their various forms of collective hate and collective adulation Marches and parades, worshipped leaders, great and good, who soon turned out to be mass murderers.”
” I was obsessed by the image of the crowd…I suspected that under the human skull, instincts and emotions overpower the intellect without us being aware of it.” What a profound statement!!
Magdalena explored the theme of crowds for more than twenty years!!
For more information on Magdalena Abakanowicz click here.
Millenium Park – I saw this tall rectangular prism fountain. There were two of them with a splash area in between them. Then I noticed a face on the one further away, Wait a minute–that face just changed! I was intrigued…
There was a face that appeared on the opposing faces of these two rectangular fountains. OMG. There was so much more. Watch the following video to see the fun…
THE BEAN
The Bean was pretty cool in person. It was already hot standing in the sun, so we tried to get our pictures and move on. As I look at a couple of our pictures, the Bean also looks like a bicycle helmet to me!
From the center looking up…weird! Alien-like for sure. LOL
Our reflection on the Bean:
I asked a ranger if the trains were anything to take to see something special. She looked at me as though I was crazy. LOL – But a friendly lady right nearby asked if she could help me since she knew the public transportation system well. Then she asked me if I knew of or had been to the Baha’i Temple. She suggested we take the red line to the purple to go there – get the purple express early. It is the only one for all of North America. My interest was definitely piqued, so I looked into it later that evening. When Barry looked at the map, we could easily stop when we leave Chicago on our way north. It made more sense to cut over and make that a stop on our way instead of taking most of the day tomorrow with the trains and our bikes. Plus it sounded like we’d have to stand the whole time to “hold” our bikes.
We saw this structure behind us, so we went over to check it out.
It was an amazing outdoor concert venue! An orchestra group was rehearsing for their free performance tonight at 6:30 as part of the Summer Free Wednesday Evening Concert Series. We sat and listened for a while. I was really impressed with the acoustics even when we moved around the outer edges of the lawn area. The sound integrity remained consistent throughout! Impressive.
The BP Bridge took us over the highway to the Lakeside Bike Trail that led us to the Navy Pier.
On our way to the Navy Pier via Lakeside Bike Trail
We stopped along the trail when I saw a bicycle service/accessories shop stop right there! We checked to see if they could fix the rear break on the Orbea bike. They could! YEA! It would be $35 and take only about 15-20 minutes or so. Awesome. So we enjoyed some shade, a snack and the view!
So now that my (Orbea) bike is fixed, do we switch back? I’m really liking Barry’s, and he prefers the Orbea tires that are just a bit wider. They allow him to go into curves and corner tighter and a little faster. So, for now anyway, the Orbea is Barry’s, and the Velotric is mine. Maybe we should name the bikes instead of “my bike/your bike” since that’s a bit confusing…hmm… Velotric is a yellow-orange, so Mango? And the Orbea is more of a red-orange –Tango (Tangerine)?
The Navy Pier
While making our way down the Navy Pier, I went through a door where I stumbled upon these beautiful Tiffany glass window pieces! This was an unexpected highlight on the pier for me. Tiffany Glass has a long history in Chicago.
The large beer garden concession that had nice cushioned outside seating areas was closed. Not sure if at this point it opens for the weekends only – maybe till the 4th of July weekend??? We were still able to sit for a while in one of the shaded outdoor blue cushioned seating areas.
I was somewhat disappointed in the Navy Pier because I had heard so much about it that even though I didn’t know exactly what to expect, I expected more. LOL We weren’t interested in any of the carnival-type rides that were here. Water views though were great.
“Someone” needed more beer and wine. There was a Whole Foods less than a mile down Illinois St. We rode down to it.
We locked up our bikes. Now to figure out how to “bag and transport” our groceries back to Sadie. Only one bike has a rack, but it is a small rear flat rack. Entering the produce department we noticed the boxes used in many of the fruit displays. We asked if we could have one. The produce manager went into the back and got us a fresher, sturdier one. PERFECT. Now we could shop mindfully and prioritize additional items till the box was full. 🙂
Barry securely loaded the groceries.
We biked home to Sadie via the Lakeside Trail. “Delivery Girl”
Oops – We went about 2.5 miles too far south. We rode back and caught the turn off at the Pier 31 Beach & Cafe for the crossover road over the freeway to Moe Drive where McCormick Place Parking Lot B was. We made it! What a great way to get around!
What an absolutely gorgeous evening. We enjoyed sitting outside for a couple hours after dinner. NO bugs, just a pleasant breeze. Barry stayed out there till at least 10 PM.
The sun and the heat today wore us out. Instead of taking the Chicago “L” up to Wilmette, to visit The Baha’i Temple tomorrow, we decided it made more sense to simply drive there as we head north from here on the 13th. Tomorrow we will ride our bikes more. We want to check out an enticing beach or two along Lake Michigan.
Day 2:
Today we road the Lakeside Bike trail south to the “end”. The temperature was at least 15 degrees cooler today with overcast skies, and wind.
It was still a beautiful ride.
We turned to head back north with the plan of riding beyond the Navy Pier to the north end of the trail. (Trail is a total of 22 miles – one way).
We stopped to have lunch at 63rd Street Beach. It was way too windy, but I noticed the next “park area” north was heavily treed, so maybe the trees will block a lot of the wind. I believe it was Burnham Park / Promontory Point.
Yes! The wind was not an issue here! We enjoyed our packed lunch. I even took off one of my jackets! Wow-is it finally warming up?!?
We were so glad we did the biking we did yesterday when we could clearly see the Chicago skyline and got some great pictures at the Navy Pier!
As we followed the edge of the lake around this beautiful treed park, and turned back onto the main trail north, the wind and the chill hit full force again. I had to put my jacket back on! It was going to be a strong headwind the whole way back! When we made it to the 31st Street Beach where we get our turn off to go over the highway to Sadie or choose to continue north on the trail, we both looked at each other and immediately agreed to called it a day.
We really enjoyed biking along Chicago’s Lake Michigan coastline. It reminded us of three years ago when we were in Michigan and biked along sections of the lake. It is definitely a big, beautiful lake!
Tomorrow we will stop in Wilmette, IL to visit the Baha’i House of Worship!