Urban (Chicago, to be exact!)

Photo 52, Week 32:  Urban

One good thing about being in charge of Photo 52 is that I get to set the theme schedule.

Believe me, I am not above choosing "urban"
(although it was suggested by another participant)

when I was about to head out to Chicago with my family.

A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do--

within reason.

I have come to love cities by exploring my own.

Of course, the biggest cities are all on rivers or large bodies of water.

For Chicago, it's beautiful Lake Michigan.

Our first stop was Navy Pier the evening we arrived.

In one direction, the fabulous skyline…

…and in the other, the lake.

One of the highlights of that evening 

was finally meeting my friend Laura face to face

after a few years of online photo projects together.

We just picked up as though we had seen each other a week ago.

Another place we chose to visit was Shedd Aquarium.

I love how stately all the old museums are--

and beautifully state of the art on the inside.

Next stop, Museum of Science and Industry.

I went here twice as a little girl.

It's grown up a lot!

The kids loved the science experiments.

I loved experimenting with having long legs.

Since it's our tradition to squeeze one too many things into the time we have,
we walked up Lakeshore Drive, past Buckingham Fountain
to The Bean and Crown Fountain at Millennium Park.
Thankfully the fountain was more than willing to pose for me
with or without the family.

If you go to Chicago, you need to relax and enjoy Millennium Park!

Thankfully my family managed a smile for the nice lady who volunteered to take our picture.

They had tired feet.

But it was worth it!