Why Chicago?

  As we begin to wrap up this first year's travel adventure, two questions have yet to be answered; why did we choose to finish up in Chicago?; and why stay in a hotel rather than a furnished apartment, such those we have been renting throughout this trip? The simple answer to question one is that Chicago is conveniently located between our last stop, Montreal, and our temporary home base in Columbus, Ohio. Plus, our children have been encouraging us to visit "the Windy City" for years. The more complicated answer, at least for question two, involves our wanting to "pamper" ourselves a bit to celebrate completion of our initial foray into this travel adventure. And pamper ourselves we did! The Palmer House is luxurious! We were upgraded to the "Executive Level" floor, which included breakfast, dinner, and snacks daily. Conveniently located within the "Chicago Loop", we were able to walk to most of the major attractions (with the exception of the Museum of Science and Industry, which was a brief ten minute bus ride). It has been a little difficult for us to fully grasp the idea that this year is nearly complete, but we are already looking forward to continuing the adventure after we catch up with our children and their families. Without any hesitation at all, we believe that taking this journey was one of the best decisions we have ever made. We have had a fabulous time and have met some wonderful people along the way. To all the followers of our adventure, we wish to say "Thank You" for sharing this journey with us and for offering your many kind comments on the different segments. While this part of our journey may be ending, we will not be abandoning the blog. Over the next few weeks, we will be posting some final wrap-up ideas and tips that we have been gathering as we traveled. We hope that you find them as helpful and entertaining as the other postings.

Part of the Chicago skyline from the edge of Lake Michigan.

The Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower) is one of the tallest structures in the world, standing at 1353 feet and 103 stories.

...and we were here on the glass overhang near the top (...well at least Lori was brave enough to step out on this overhang while I "braved" taking her picture from more solid ground).

...at least I was able to lean out and grab this picture of the adjoining overhang before falling off of the face of the earth.

View of Chicago from the 103rd floor of the Willis Tower.

Some of the architecture of Chicago is stunning.

We found this plaque on a building just a couple of blocks from our hotel. The Standard Time System for the United States was established at a convention held in this building in 1883. This plaque commemorates the establishment of the four time zones with which we are so familiar.

Thank you to our son, Carl, and his family for recommending that we stay at this very pleasant hotel.