Chicago - Day 1

My sister Kim, brother Kent, and I traveled to Chicago to help our sister celebrate her 50th birthday.  I think it is the first time we have ever gone anywhere together where our parents weren't there.  We left Manhattan at 7:30am, got into O'Hare at 9:00am and took the train in to the stop closest to Darci's house.  She lives in an interesting area called Bucktown which is just NW of downtown.  The area has been renovated through the years she has lived there with new additions or remodels of old row houses each time I am there.  She can see a lot of the downtown buildings from her patio on her rooftop such as the old Sears Tower, now the Willis Tower.  I forgot my camera but am pretty pleased with the pictures off my new Droid Pro phone.

 This might seem like a strange place to start for my three day trip to Chicago, but Whole Foods was certainly an interesting grocery store.  I had heard about it but had never experienced it.  While the prices were high, the variety of unusual foods made it a fun place to visit.  This was the well stocked olive bar.

 Kent, Kim, and Darci at the sidewalk restaurant for lunch.  It was low humidity with highs in the low 80s.  It felt really good.

 Shopping on Michigan Avenue.

 This is called Cloud Gate officially, but it is known to Chicagoans as The Bean.  It is fun to find your reflection in the rounded surface.  This and the face fountains which I didn't get a picture of are in Millennium Park.  It is an area that used to be train tracks in downtown Chicago and they have made a beautiful park.

 This concert pavillion is also in Millennium Park.  The food we bought at Whole Foods made for our picnic while we listened to a concert.  Darci is prepared with a fold-up table and chairs.  It was a beautiful night, in fact, we got a little chilly.