Illinois

Here we are in Illinois.  This is Richie's old stomping grounds  He lived here for many years.

 He took us by  the old homestead.

 I think he really missed his big shop.  

Just like Donald is gonna miss his.

Took us for a drink at the Legion.  I have to say I like this one better that the one in Mesa because they don't allow smoking here.  Plus they have a couple of one armed bandits.  :)

 Apparently they always have some kind of plane.  This one has a nice helicopter in front.

 We went golfing nearby.  You can see that fall is on the way because the trees are starting to turn.

It was very pretty.

However my game not still not gotten any better.  :(

We did luck out with the weather and it was a really nice day.

 Who knew they had crocks here???

Luckily it's just a floating head of a pretend crock.  Somebody thinks they are pretty clever.  

We spent a day in Chicago.

 Took the architectural cruise down the river.  It was very cool! 

And of course the $20 picture.  

We had the boat almost to ourselves and our guide gave us some great information as we cruised past the buildings.

You can hardly tell Donald from the guide.  :)

 He called these the corn cob buildings.  Apartments on the water run for around $1 million. 

And you can have a place to park your car for only about $32,000 a year.  What a deal!

This is the Willis Tower.  Formerly know as the Sears tower.  It has 110 floors and is now the 2nd tallest building in the US.  It was the tallest until the new building went up in New York to replace the Twin Towers. 

This is The Marshall Field's building or now know as Macys at State St. and is the 2nd largest (not tallest) building in the world.  In 1978 it was named a national landmark and a Chicago landmark in 2005.

 I thought this reflection of the buildings was really cool.

 These rivers are pretty busy and this is the end of September.  Glad we weren't here in July!

We checked out the museum of baseball memorabilia in Harry Caray's bar.  He was the announcer for the Cubs for years and he always led everyone in the 7th inning in "Take me out to the Ball Game."

What a Ham!  I mean Harry of course!  ;)

 This is the Garmin GPS Headquarters.  We should have stopped & talked to them about the gps telling us "You have reached your destination" when there is nothing there.  :(

 They call this one the Champagne Building.  It is really the Carbide and Carbon building.  The top is completely gilded in gold color and looks like a champagne bottle bursting.  Hmmm.... no wonder I liked it.  :)

OK... not a job for me!

And of course how could I not show you our future President's hotel building?  Who knows?  Maybe?

We had lunch on the Navy Pier.   

All the flowers were in bloom & it was really beautiful.

Beautiful view from the end of the Pier.

They even had a plaza named after you Alicia!  :)

We thought we might be picking him up from prison in a few years....

 Then we hopped on a cab & headed down town to the BEAN.

 Dawn is always sending me pictures of her when they are here.  Paul's family lives nearby so they visit often.  
So here's one of us Sis.... at the Bean!

 Or should I say our reflection in the bean?

This one is looking up inside. 

We drove by Wrigley Field. 

And that was our day in Chicago.  We had great weather & I really enjoyed it!  I could visit here again sometime.  

  Now you all know that I am a connoisseur of fast foods.  I have never been to White Castle but I have heard about it on TV.  


                            Apparently it is a very popular place out here in the Mid-West.  So I had to give it a try. Well that's how much I ate... one bite.  Yucko!!

I'm not sure exactly what they call meat but it was nothing I have ever seen or tasted  before.  Needless to say that was my first and last visit to White Castle!  











Sunday, Sept. 27th was our last day in Kankakee.  We visited with Richie's BFF Tommy and his fiancee Denise.   They will be getting married next month.  Congratulations!  And thanks for the pizza dinner.  It was soooo much better than White Castle!  :)
I forgot to take pics.  :(