Sunday, September 03, 2006

John Hancock Tower, Shedd aquarium

This rounds out the photos from the Chicago trip. Below is a photo from the outside of the John Hancock Tower, considered the "best view of Chicago".


Below is a view of the city from the 94th floor observation deck. Unforntunately, it was a bit foggy that day. On a clear day it is said that you can see four different states: Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and my home state, Michigan.


This is a closer shot of the Sears tower, the tallest building in the USA.


These are a few photos from the Shedd Aquarium, located on the waterfront close to the Adler Planetarium and the Field Museum.

This fellow is from the Iguana display near the front entrance. He's a blue iguana from the Carribean.


Man, that looks like one tasty crabbie patty! Fry me one up, SpongeBob!


Moray Eel, the only flash photo I took.

Navy Pier

The top photo of Navy pier was taken from the 94th floor of the John Hancock tower. If you look closely, you can see the 15 story high ferris wheel that the rest of the photos were taken from. There is a shopping mall, Children's Museum, bars, restaurants and a small amusement park on Navy Pier. A great place for both kids and adults to have some fun. There was also a free fireworks display at 9:30 PM on Wed. night.


Spinning wheel swing ride from 15 stories.

Looking out at Lake Michigan.

The city skyline

Saturday, September 02, 2006

More Chicago

These photos, from top to bottom: Enigma code encrypter and code book captured from U-505. Nazi war flag captured from U-505. Piston replica from U-505, as tall as I am! USCG Huey, the type used when I was in the Guard in the early 1980's. STUKA dive bomber, the only one that I have ever seen on display


Friday, September 01, 2006

Chicago!

Last week the family went on vacation in Chicago. We stayed right across from Grant Park and had easy access to the Field Museum, the Shedd Aquarium, John Hancock Tower, the Adler Planetarium, and the Museum of Science and Industry, all of which we visited while there. We each bought a City-Pass, which includes everything I just mentioned for $50 ($39 for under 12).
We also went to Navy Pier, and the Magnificent Mile to browse all of the stores. I finally broke down and got a decent camera for this trip, so here are some pics:


This is the Field Museum. They are currently showing artifacts from King Tut's tomb and photos were not allowed. They had tons of stuff, most of which has been seen on the History Channel, etc. that were amazing. There were also huge permanent displays animals, historical objects, gems and minerals, religious artifacts, world cultures past and present, and so many things I could go on and on. This one alone took an entire day to see.





This is a photo of U-505, the only German Uboat to be captured by the U S Navy. She has been completely restored and is on display at the Science and Industry Museum, which has a lot of historical displays as well as a look into the technologies of the future.