City of the Future

Chicago buildings!  Here's something sweet - this city has some of the most innovative architecture in the world.  (These pictures are just from a very small section of the downtown area where I was walking; there is so much more.)  I like how beautiful and clean the skyline looks.  On top of this there is a huge cultural scene, lots of parks and green space, the beautiful lake shore, great public transportation, and tons of good food.  (Check out this article.)  That's why it's such a nice place to visit; there's a huge variety of things to do and see, great and affordable food to eat, and it's easy to get around.  

Blowin through the Windy City

On the way home from Luzerne I made a couple stops to visit friends, the first one in Chicago.  I love this city!  A good friend of mine just moved down there to start at Northwestern, so we met up for a day and made breakfast, walked around, went swimming in Lake Michigan, and had sushi and Thai iced coffees (so good).  Swimming in Lake Michigan is wonderful; I've swum in the Atlantic, Pacific, Caribbean, Mediterranean, and various rivers and lakes, and I think the best swimming experience I've ever had is still in the good ole' gigantic midwestern lake.  Not that the others weren't awesome :)  While at the beach, a bunch of planes flew across the sky and wrote an advertisement - neat.  You don't often see skywriting in real life.  
At night I walked around the city with another friend, stopped for Vietnamese food, went to the top of the Hancock building for a night view, and watched fireworks by the water.  Not a bad visit!