Exploring the USA - all 48 States - in our Motorhome: Chicago, Illinois

August 29 - September 12, 2022

By Marty

Our 15 night visit to Chicago was a fair bit longer than our typical 5-8 nights stay in one spot for two reasons: 1) my parents were from Chicago so we needed time to visit with family on both sides and, 2) I had to extend our visit to watch the SF Giants play the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Given the length of time we were in the area and the amazing things there are to see and do in Chicago you won't be surprised to learn that I have a lot of photos to show you. I considered breaking Chicago into two posts but decided to give you the whole enchilada!

Our first order of pleasure was the Bikes, Bites & Brews bike tour, a 13 mile tour that took us through the Streeterville, Gold Coast, Lakeview, Wrigleyville, and Lincoln Park neighborhoods.

The "bites" part of the tour included three stops to enjoy Chicago dogs, deep dish pizza, and cupcakes! Note the absence of ketchup on the Chicago dog. We were told that there would be no end to the shaming heaped upon the person that puts ketchup on a Chicago dog.

The 'brews' part of the tour included an IPA at Lou Malnati's pizza and a sampler of Kolsch and IPA at the iconic Murphy's Bleachers located just beyond the center field bleachers at Wrigley Field.

Our tour guide was the very informative and long time Chicagoan, Jeff. There were two guides on the tour (Nate was the other) and we learned at the end of the tour that we were part of Jeff's final training tour. Wow! We never would have guessed. We can highly recommend Bobby's Bike Hike Chicago and you could not do better than to have Jeff as your guide!

The final segment of the 'bike' part of the tour took us south about four miles on the Lakefront Trail back to our starting point. If you are wondering about Janell's "outfit" for the ride, she and I were recruited by Jeff to bring up the rear of the group (after he learned that I had pedaled across the U.S.) Janell was less than thrilled to have to wear an orange safety vest...

The Chicago Lakefront Trail is an amazing amenity for Chicago area residents and visitors. It runs along Lake Michigan for 18 miles.

It was a huge bonus that the trail is divided into separate lanes for cyclists and for pedestrians, as you can see from the photo above and this video:

Centennial Wheel at Navy Pier

The Ferris wheel that we all know and love was designed by George Ferris and introduced at the 1893 Columbian Exposition (more commonly known as the Chicago World's Fair). The first Ferris wheel reached a height of 264'.

We were told that Fair visitors, fearing for their lives, were reluctant to ride this new contraption. Each of the 36 gondolas on the wheel held 60 people, for a total of 2,160 people if all gondolas were full. The trepidation issue was resolved when a bartender and bar were added to each of the 60 cars. Inhibition? What inhibition...? I couldn't verify this part of the Ferris Wheel story on the web, so make of it what you will, but it does make for a good story!

Today's Ferris Wheel, the Centennial Wheel, at just under 200' tall, debuted in 2016 to honor Navy Pier's 100th anniversary.

The view from the top of Centennial Wheel with the western third of Navy Pier in the foreground

You can't appreciate the scale from this photo but the Chicago Theater sign is six stories tall and quite impressive. Unfortunately we didn't have a chance to see it at night, or get inside the beautiful theater.

The Rookery Building

Chicago's oldest skyscraper, the Rookery, was designed by renowned architects Daniel Burnham and John Root. The 11 story building was one of the tallest buildings in the world when it was completed in 1888. For a 1905 renovation Frank Lloyd Wright was commissioned to redesign the stunning two story sky lit lobby.

The "money shot", as our tour guide called it. You are looking up nine floors from the landing of the suspended staircase that you see in the lobby photo above this one.

The building is a hollow square to provide light to interior offices and to the lobby below. This view is from the circular staircase out to the hollow square.

The Rookery is located in Chicago's financial district

A few blocks away is Willis Tower. Opened in 1973 as the Sears Tower it was the tallest building in the world until 1998, and still the second tallest building in North America.

Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park

Cloud Gate, aka "The Bean", in Millennium Park

The Bean is one of the world's largest permanent outdoor art installations. Made of stainless steel, it's reflective surface was inspired by liquid mercury.

The Chicago River from Dusable Bridge

The Chicago River flows from Lake Michigan to the Des Plaines River and on to the Mississippi River. But this was not always the case...

Until 1900 the Chicago River flowed into Lake Michigan. That year, after a monumental engineering and construction effort, a 28 mile long canal was completed to reverse the river to flow to the Des Plaines River. The canal construction required the removal of 42 million cubic yards of earth, enough to to fill two city blocks as tall as the Willis Tower!

But why go to all the trouble? Here's why:

Chicago’s main water supply has always, unsurprisingly, been Lake Michigan, not the Chicago River. During the Industrial Revolution, the Chicago River became polluted with animal waste, sewage, factory runoff and general filth. The river became a breeding ground for diseases like typhoid, cholera and dysentery, and because it flowed east through the city, the Lake was also a breeding ground. In 1852 and 1854, Chicago experienced waves of Cholera epidemics which killed over 1,600 residents.

For a more thorough explanation of why and how the Chicago River flow was reversed you can read this article:

Why Does the Chicago River Run Backwards?

The beautiful Wrigley Building (left foreground) and Tribune Tower (right), completed in 1924 and 1925, respectively, anchor the southern end of Chicago's Magnificent Mile.

Crown Fountain in Millennium Park

The fountain features two identical 50 foot towers projecting the faces of 1,000 Chicago residents.

From the website of the artist, Jaume Plensa: The faces intermittently emerge from the flow of water and become for a few moments a kind of contemporary interpretation of a "gargoyle" by spouting water from their mouths.

Watch this short video to see the facial movements followed by the spouting water:

Art Institute of Chicago

Thorne Miniature Rooms

This is not a photo of a drawing room! It is a three dimensional miniature stage set featuring an English drawing room of the Georgian Period, 1770 - 1800, constructed on a scale of one inch to one foot by master craftsmen according to the exacting specifications of Narcissa Niblack Thorne of Chicago.

And guess what... There are 68 of these Miniature Rooms!

This is a close up of the miniature room that Vanna, I mean Janell, presented to you in the photo above this one. Check out the level of detail. It's mind boggling!

A close up from a different miniature room. The dresser is less than 3" tall. Think about that and imagine the level of detail and craftsmanship that went into creating the dresser and everything on top of it!

Early evening view of The Wrigley Building and Tribune Tower

Nighttime view of the same two icons and the Chicago River

A view from the Lakefront trail looking north to the Chicago skyline. We brought the bikes into the city, parked at the Museum of Science and Industry, and pedaled about 10 miles north to North Avenue Beach.

North Avenue Beach. It was a busy Labor Day weekend along the lakeshore. Seeing the leaping volley ball player in the Speedo and cowboy hat on the right of the photo was worth the price of admission...

The dramatic 101 story St. Regis Chicago, designed by Jeanne Gang, is the tallest building in the world designed by a woman. It is also the third tallest building in Chicago.

Agrifolia Majoris, by Nancy Rubins

Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry is in the only building remaining from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, which was visited by 26 million people. Daniel Burnham, co-architect of The Rookery, was also the lead architect for the World's Fair. The building, a Neo-Classical or Beaux Arts style, was built to serve as the Palace of Fine Arts for the fair.

By the way, if you have not read "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson we can highly recommend it. It is the true tale of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and a serial killer who used the fair as a lure.

In 1954 The museum obtained the U-505 Submarine, a German U-boat whose capture by the U.S. Navy in June, 1944 helped the allies win World War II. U-505 is one of only five U-boats still in existence and the only one in the U.S.

With more than 400,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space, the museum is the Western Hemisphere's largest science museum.

A Boeing 727 aircraft is part of the Take Flight exhibit. You can walk onto the plane from the mezzanine level. Sections of the plan have been opened up on the inside so that you can see how it was constructed.

Two can play that game...

The Moore-Dugal Residence in the Oak Park neighborhood is Frank Lloyd Wright's first independent commission after starting his own firm in 1893. The home was designed in 1895 and significantly redesigned in 1922 by Wright after a fire destroyed the third and fourth floors of the home.

Frank Lloyd Wright lived and worked in the Oak Park neighborhood of Chicago from 1889 to 1909. His home and studio are open for tours. Wright designed or remodeled over 25 homes in the Oak Park neighborhood during this time. What a good neighbor! As you might imagine, it's a lovely neighborhood!

NOT a Frank Lloyd Wright home...

...but noteworthy as the home where the Ward family lived at the time of my birth! We had a nice visit with my Ward cousins in the Chicago suburb of Berwyn and they were kind enough to point me to the home where my Dad was born and raised and, a few blocks away, the home where I was born (well, I was born in a hospital, but you know what I mean...)

You may know that I am one of nine siblings. My mom and dad were native Chicagoans who met and married a few years after WWII. My dad's career took them immediately to Philadelphia where my three oldest siblings were born, then back to Chicago (Berwyn) where my sister Jeanne and I were born, then a move to White Plains, NY where the next three Wards were born. If you're keeping track you know that is only eight Wards. For the grand finale my mom and dad moved the whole brood to Sacramento (Carmichael) where our last, but far from least, sibling Susie was born.

Chicago Cultural Center

Completed in 1897 as Chicago's first central public library, the building was designed to impress and to prove that Chicago had grown into a sophisticated metropolis. This is looking up three levels from the foyer. It is a very cool and impressive space with the wide angle lens photo making it somewhat more abstract than in real life.

The Tiffany Dome, 38 feet in diameter, is the largest Tiffany glass dome in the world, containing over 30,000 pieces of Tiffany Favrile glass cut in the shape of fish scales.

The Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Hall in the Chicago Cultural Center.

We wanted a bird's eye view of Chicago. Our options were Willis Tower or the John Hancock Center.

We chose the 100 story, 875 North Michigan Avenue building (formerly the John Hancock Center).

The 94th floor offers 360 degree views of Chicago and Lake Michigan

This 3D graphic on the floor of the 94th floor viewing area creates the impression that we are perched on a crane just outside of the building. Was it terrifying? Uh, no...

The Chicago River

Bucket list!

I would have told you three years ago that going to a game at Wrigley Field when we got to Chicago was a given. To learn that, with a modest manipulation of our schedule, we could see our beloved (yes, beloved) San Francisco Giants play the Cubbies at Wrigley during our visit would be too much to hope for.

We were treated to a 5-2 Giants victory with Logan Webb pitching a gem and catcher Joey Bart blasting a three run home in the photo above.

As if catching the Giants at Wrigley field weren't a dream come true...

... we also attended the San Francisco 49ers game vs the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field the next day! The stars aligned so that the Giants and the Niners were playing in Chicago on the same weekend. We saw fans decked out in Giants and Niners gear all over the city that weekend.

Soldier Field - Niners vs Bears

Our good friends and neighbors in Livermore, Marty and Minda, are from Chicago and have season tickets to the Bears games. Marty and Minda flew into Chicago for the weekend where we shared an AirBnb and attended both games.

What a difference a day makes! The Saturday Cubs game weather was all that you would want! The Sunday Bears game? Not so much...