My hosts from Pennsylvania to Chicago, Illinois and back again!
Thanks! What a fun time I had!
Here we are on the
giant ferris wheel at Navy Pier.
Chicago, Illinois is a long trip from Hershey, Pennsylvania!
It took us 10 hours to drive there. That's longer than a day
spent at school! But it was alot of fun! Do you think perhaps
this picture was taken as we drove through Ohio?
Chicago sits on Lake Michigan. Look at the beautiful skyline!
Frank Lloyd Wright, was an influential architect of the 20th century.
More than 300 of his building designs were built and of those
more than 100 can be found in the Chicago area! Some of Wright's
buildings in Chicago are: Coonley House, the Robie house and of
course, his own home. Did you know that Ernest Hemingway was born
in Chicago? He was a great writer. By the time you reach high
school, you will probably have read at least one of his books.
Having fun at breakfast before going out to tour the city!
We stopped at Marshal Field and Company.
Their Christmas tree reaches to the top floors
of the complex. Here I am at the base of the
tree with my friend.
A self-made man, Marshall Field (1835-1906) came
up through retail, establishing Marshall Field & Co.
in 1881. He’d rebuilt one store with partner Levi Leiter
after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871; a conflagration
in 1887 imposed another setback. But Field always rebuilt,
and on a grander scale. His market was the carriage trade,
whose numbers increased as Chicago grew and her importance
as an industrial center expanded. The newly rich needed
furnishings that matched the elegance of their new mansions,
and they looked to Marshall Field to provide the greatest
quantity and highest quality of domestic and imported products.
The construction of The Sears Tower started in 1970.
It was designed by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill
and was completed and opened in 1973. It is 1,454 feet
tall and weighs 445,000,000 pounds. The Sears Tower is
110 stories high and the antennas are over 200 feet tall.
It took three years to build and over 12,000 people work there.
It is the second tallest building in the world.
Navy Pier is a large pier on Lake Michigan,close to
Chicago's downtown. It is one of two piers called
for in Daniel Burnham's 1909 Chicago plan. It was
originally called Municipal Pier. The other pier
was never built. With many attractions and 50 acres
of parks and gardens it attracts more than 8 million
visitors each year; and this year, I was one of those!
The most eye-catching is the 148 ft Ferris Wheel. It
was modeled after the first ferris wheel built for the
1893 World Columbian Exposition. Go back to the top of
this page, and you can see me and my hosts on the ferris wheel.
Click our picture for more information on Navy Pier
The next picture is of the water tower.
The architect of the tower was William W. Boyington.
The tower was completed in 1869 and it survived
"The Great Chicago Fire of 1871". It is built with
limestone blocks which were quarried in Joliet, Illinois.
I got to walk along The Magnificent Mile!
If you are an Oprah fan, you know that she
mentions this "mile" on her show and all of
her guests stay at hotels here.
In this picture, I am with a friend at Borders.
Bob from the reality show "The Bachelor" was
signing his new book, so we stood in line to
meet him and have him autograph his book for
my friend! COOOOOOOOLLLLLL!!
I got to take a carriage ride through the park.
I had so much fun in Chicago! The town is just
full of things to do and see! The history
of Chicago is fascinating! Do you know how
the baseball team, the White Sox, came to be
nicknamed the Black Sox? Or that Chicago was
host to the World's Columbian Exposition? To read more
about it, click HERE!
A BIT OF CHICAGO TRIVIA
"Windy City" actually refers to the ability of Chicagoans
to brag about themselves. In the early part of the 19th
century, Chicago promoters went up and down the East Coast
loudly promoting Chicago as an excellent place to invest.
Detractors claimed they were full of wind. Later, Chicago
and New York were competing to hold the 1893 World Expo.
An editor at the New York Sun wrote an editorial advising
against the "nonsensical claims of that windy city. Its
people could not hold a world's fair even if they won it."
Guess which city won? CHICAGO! So, perhaps they DO have
"bragging rights".
CLICK TO RETURN TO MY HOMEPAGE
