Chicago!!!

I was able to go to Chicago with a group of teachers from Wasatch High. It was great! We attended a conference, of course, which was worthwhile, and also had a lot of fun sightseeing. The picture above is after a tornado went through downtown Chicago. Like all dumb tourists, we had to set out to see the damage. We had been protected during the storm in a pizzeria, where the news flashed an ignored warning, and the city's sirens were wailing for about 15 minutes. The streets became instant creeks, with about 3 or 4 inches of water in some places and a few areas where it reached the undercarriage of the van! The lightening was spectacular over Lake Michigan...it was a scary, thrilling experience. This is a taxi that got smashed by the tree we are standing by.here is part of Chicago's skyline as seen from the Navy pier. I was impressed with the downtown area and the pier, pretty clean, family friendly. We did however, drive through some of the less desirable area, by accident of course, but I was glad for the "cultural" experience! haha
Here's our group on the architectural river tour. Very interesting, especially for someone like me who loves history. The buildings are beautiful! I wish I could have learned more about the mobs and gangsters.....It seemed like no one really liked to talk about that era in Chicago...I think its fascinating! Oh well....guess I will just have to read more about it!
Kind of hard to see, but the Sears' tower is the dark building, and actually much taller than the building in the forefront, which is only half as tall as the Sears....its an optical illusion as you pass by. The reflection (hard to see) in the Sears' tower shows its true height.....I thought this was pretty cool!

We were also able to go to a White Sox game (vs. Detroit Tigers) which went 14 innings and ended up as a win! I love baseball, so it was fun to go!

I'd love to take my family and go again to Chicago to see and do more! We really didn't have a lot of time due to the conference, but I got a taste of it and like it!