(no subject)
So, here we go, with a post CHOCK FULL OF PHOTOS.
We begin with Starved Rock. It's a state park out in Illinois. The actual rock is where a tribe of injuns natives were besieged and starved to death. It's an easy hike, and there's not much to it. Further on we came across this idyllic scene:
And here we have Tom (left) and Jon (right, our host) basking in naturedom:
St. Louis Canyon was the first stop, and included a pretty waterfall...
And MURDERCAVES!
Those would be the caves where a few women were found frozen and butchered back in the eighties. History is awesome!
The also quaint Wildcat Canyon is pictured yonder:
And, naturally, we can't have the Tymeless Beauty of Gaia without some vandalism:
But moving on!
In Illinois it is illegal to purchase fireworks. In Indiana, where we were staying, it is legal to purchase, but not use, fireworks. I don't get that logic. But since there are plenty of Illinoisians who want to blow shit up, Indiana is more than happy to deal to them. And nobody more than Krazy Kaplan, who as approximately ten thousand billboards on Highway 294, which runs from Illinois to Indiana. Here's just one:
At certain points it's entirely possible to see five at once. With the fourth of July approaching, it was only natural that we'd go in:
Oh yeah. God bless America. This is for the little show we put on:
This is what twenty bucks, not especially frugally spent, will buy (my share):
Included in there is the "Clustering Bees" fireworks. I bought them just because I liked the name. And despite the pile we amassed for ourselves, it really didn't compare to our neighbours', who put thousands of dollars into their displays. A good two hours of fireworks going off all around you puts most shows up here to shame. The best we could muster was when one of my clustering bees fell over and nearly punched through someone's car.
Of course, it wasn't all nature and explosions. Sometimes we wasted time in front of the TV:
Not too bad a choice, although I'm sure Brendan will note that it's not HDTV. I didn't care.
Of course, I went to the area to see Chicago, and we went there (on the 4th, incidentally). Driving in provided a view:
Probably harking back to the roaring gangster days of yore, a building near where we parked sported this decoration:
Starved Rock isn't the only memorial to slaughtered indians. It seems to be a common theme in Illinois, which had several statues for that purpose. So, when we ran across a much larger statue dedicated to a man who no doubt participated in the slaughter, he was the one who deserved the picture. USA! USA!
And this, just because. I don't sacrifice coherence for speed when I type, so this "hip ad" didn't strike me like I imagine it would others:
After that, we made it to the Art Institute of Chicago. So, for you, MODERN ART!
This one's very wide.
Of course, that's not all that's there is there. The Institute has a spectacular collection of impressionalist and modern (not contemporary) paintings. A room just for Monet, and there were a couple Magrittes, Dalis, American Gothic, and Van Gogh's Self-Portrait. The last one I hadn't expected, and it's absolutely electric in person. Beyond that there's a room for miniatures, a huge exhibit on furniture (and paperweights!), and this and that and oh it was glorious. We spent five or six hours there, and didn't see it all, either.
But let's not forget one of the most recognizable paintings at the Institute thanks to Ferris Bueller. La Grande Jatte is a fascinating painting, because the more you look at it the more bizarre things you notice (that woman has a monkey on a leash!). What starts out as a pleasant scene turns into a mess of decadence. Also, it's a fucking huge painting. A small girl is provided for scale:
Once we moved on, we stepped outside, to discover that staple of Americana, the spontaneous protesting of America!
Onwards we went, to the Taste of Chicago, which surrounded this fountain, which I thought was worth snapping a shot of:
The Taste Of Chicago is a gastronomical experience. You buy tickets, and then use those tickets at the various booths. There were oh so many booths, and I managed to score both a Chicago-style hotdog and Chicago-style pizza. The pizza, incidentally, is awesome. Nuff said. Here's the crowd:
And here's the funnel cake (10 tickets) we ate:
Aaand here's a view of Chicago downtown from the festival:
Last but not least, have you ever asked yourself "there's all this turkey breast product out there, so what do they do with the rest of it?" The answer is that this one place in Chicago buys them all, barbeques them, and hands them out. LOOK AT THE FUCKING SIZE OF THEM!
Those people are absolute strangers. I just walked up to them an asked them to pose with their turkey legs. They were pleasantly confused.
Chicago's architecture is astounding. My big regret (besides not eating more pizza) was not visiting the Chicago Architecture Foundation. The whole city burned down, as you well know, so they decided to build up with interesting buildings, rather than "it's hip at the time." So you get a very neat mix of styles, as well as more avant-garde stuff like this:
We can't forget the Sears Tower. Of course I went to the top. But here's a pastiche of it looking up:
And one of the "looking down" views. The observation floor is 103 stories up, which is the highest in the world. The skyscraper we're looking down at would probably be one of Calgary or Edmonton's tallest:
The view south is nice...
...but it doesn't compare to the view north, to more of the downtown. That is a beautiful city. If I go back (entirely possible) I will definitely spend more time downtown.
LOOK AT IT!
And that concludes my photojournal. Lots and lots of photos. Here's the last I took, a fitting picture, a sunset on my flight back to Calgary:
While that might look serene, there was a hellish story behind it. I flew in and out with US Airways, and since their hub is in Phoenix, the cheapest flight involved hopping to Phoenix between Calgary and Chicago. The flight to was painless, but the flight back was something else.
On the flight from Chicago to Phoenix (6a MST), two hours in, we start descending. This is odd, I think, and I begin to worry about it, and then the pilot comes on overhead, announcing that the AC unit has failed, and due to safety regulations we have to land at the nearest airport: Denver. We wait and wait, while USAir tries to place everyone on other flights. But it's the end of the 4th of July weekend, which means EVERY flight EVERYWHERE is booked solid, and we have to wait for the plane to be repaired. I miss my connecting flight (11a MST) and we finally manage to leave at the time I should have arrived in Calgary (2p), towards Phoenix.
But it doesn't stop there! On the way, flight control directs us around some bad weather. We miss the storm, and thanks to their cleverness we RUN OUT OF FUEL. We do not have enough fuel to make it to Phoenix, so we land in Albuquerque in order to refuel. Eventually (6p) we make it to Phoenix. The flight to Calgary was rather straightforward, except that we needed to reposition the passengers, since the plane was unbalanced. I get home (11p), and get to work right away.
So, in conclusion, Chicago is a land of contrasts.
I'll gladly do it again, I've finally taken my own vacation, hopefully you enjoyed my shots, and I'll see you all next week, super-duper promise.
We begin with Starved Rock. It's a state park out in Illinois. The actual rock is where a tribe of injuns natives were besieged and starved to death. It's an easy hike, and there's not much to it. Further on we came across this idyllic scene:
And here we have Tom (left) and Jon (right, our host) basking in naturedom:
St. Louis Canyon was the first stop, and included a pretty waterfall...
And MURDERCAVES!
Those would be the caves where a few women were found frozen and butchered back in the eighties. History is awesome!
The also quaint Wildcat Canyon is pictured yonder:
And, naturally, we can't have the Tymeless Beauty of Gaia without some vandalism:
But moving on!
In Illinois it is illegal to purchase fireworks. In Indiana, where we were staying, it is legal to purchase, but not use, fireworks. I don't get that logic. But since there are plenty of Illinoisians who want to blow shit up, Indiana is more than happy to deal to them. And nobody more than Krazy Kaplan, who as approximately ten thousand billboards on Highway 294, which runs from Illinois to Indiana. Here's just one:
At certain points it's entirely possible to see five at once. With the fourth of July approaching, it was only natural that we'd go in:
Oh yeah. God bless America. This is for the little show we put on:
This is what twenty bucks, not especially frugally spent, will buy (my share):
Included in there is the "Clustering Bees" fireworks. I bought them just because I liked the name. And despite the pile we amassed for ourselves, it really didn't compare to our neighbours', who put thousands of dollars into their displays. A good two hours of fireworks going off all around you puts most shows up here to shame. The best we could muster was when one of my clustering bees fell over and nearly punched through someone's car.
Of course, it wasn't all nature and explosions. Sometimes we wasted time in front of the TV:
Not too bad a choice, although I'm sure Brendan will note that it's not HDTV. I didn't care.
Of course, I went to the area to see Chicago, and we went there (on the 4th, incidentally). Driving in provided a view:
Probably harking back to the roaring gangster days of yore, a building near where we parked sported this decoration:
Starved Rock isn't the only memorial to slaughtered indians. It seems to be a common theme in Illinois, which had several statues for that purpose. So, when we ran across a much larger statue dedicated to a man who no doubt participated in the slaughter, he was the one who deserved the picture. USA! USA!
And this, just because. I don't sacrifice coherence for speed when I type, so this "hip ad" didn't strike me like I imagine it would others:
After that, we made it to the Art Institute of Chicago. So, for you, MODERN ART!
This one's very wide.
Of course, that's not all that's there is there. The Institute has a spectacular collection of impressionalist and modern (not contemporary) paintings. A room just for Monet, and there were a couple Magrittes, Dalis, American Gothic, and Van Gogh's Self-Portrait. The last one I hadn't expected, and it's absolutely electric in person. Beyond that there's a room for miniatures, a huge exhibit on furniture (and paperweights!), and this and that and oh it was glorious. We spent five or six hours there, and didn't see it all, either.
But let's not forget one of the most recognizable paintings at the Institute thanks to Ferris Bueller. La Grande Jatte is a fascinating painting, because the more you look at it the more bizarre things you notice (that woman has a monkey on a leash!). What starts out as a pleasant scene turns into a mess of decadence. Also, it's a fucking huge painting. A small girl is provided for scale:
Once we moved on, we stepped outside, to discover that staple of Americana, the spontaneous protesting of America!
Onwards we went, to the Taste of Chicago, which surrounded this fountain, which I thought was worth snapping a shot of:
The Taste Of Chicago is a gastronomical experience. You buy tickets, and then use those tickets at the various booths. There were oh so many booths, and I managed to score both a Chicago-style hotdog and Chicago-style pizza. The pizza, incidentally, is awesome. Nuff said. Here's the crowd:
And here's the funnel cake (10 tickets) we ate:
Aaand here's a view of Chicago downtown from the festival:
Last but not least, have you ever asked yourself "there's all this turkey breast product out there, so what do they do with the rest of it?" The answer is that this one place in Chicago buys them all, barbeques them, and hands them out. LOOK AT THE FUCKING SIZE OF THEM!
Those people are absolute strangers. I just walked up to them an asked them to pose with their turkey legs. They were pleasantly confused.
Chicago's architecture is astounding. My big regret (besides not eating more pizza) was not visiting the Chicago Architecture Foundation. The whole city burned down, as you well know, so they decided to build up with interesting buildings, rather than "it's hip at the time." So you get a very neat mix of styles, as well as more avant-garde stuff like this:
We can't forget the Sears Tower. Of course I went to the top. But here's a pastiche of it looking up:
And one of the "looking down" views. The observation floor is 103 stories up, which is the highest in the world. The skyscraper we're looking down at would probably be one of Calgary or Edmonton's tallest:
The view south is nice...
...but it doesn't compare to the view north, to more of the downtown. That is a beautiful city. If I go back (entirely possible) I will definitely spend more time downtown.
LOOK AT IT!
And that concludes my photojournal. Lots and lots of photos. Here's the last I took, a fitting picture, a sunset on my flight back to Calgary:
While that might look serene, there was a hellish story behind it. I flew in and out with US Airways, and since their hub is in Phoenix, the cheapest flight involved hopping to Phoenix between Calgary and Chicago. The flight to was painless, but the flight back was something else.
On the flight from Chicago to Phoenix (6a MST), two hours in, we start descending. This is odd, I think, and I begin to worry about it, and then the pilot comes on overhead, announcing that the AC unit has failed, and due to safety regulations we have to land at the nearest airport: Denver. We wait and wait, while USAir tries to place everyone on other flights. But it's the end of the 4th of July weekend, which means EVERY flight EVERYWHERE is booked solid, and we have to wait for the plane to be repaired. I miss my connecting flight (11a MST) and we finally manage to leave at the time I should have arrived in Calgary (2p), towards Phoenix.
But it doesn't stop there! On the way, flight control directs us around some bad weather. We miss the storm, and thanks to their cleverness we RUN OUT OF FUEL. We do not have enough fuel to make it to Phoenix, so we land in Albuquerque in order to refuel. Eventually (6p) we make it to Phoenix. The flight to Calgary was rather straightforward, except that we needed to reposition the passengers, since the plane was unbalanced. I get home (11p), and get to work right away.
So, in conclusion, Chicago is a land of contrasts.
I'll gladly do it again, I've finally taken my own vacation, hopefully you enjoyed my shots, and I'll see you all next week, super-duper promise.