Day 2 – Sunday, July 4, 2010

Happy Birthday, America!

On Sunday, we decided to take a 90 minute boat tour down the Chicago River and onto Lake Michigan.  This would allow us to see the sights.  I don’t think we quite thought it through as thoroughly as we should have.  It was HOT in Chicago.  We started our boat tour around 11 and were on the top deck of a floating sun/heat magnet.  The heat was pretty unbearable for the beginning of the tour.  When we got out onto Lake Michigan, though, the wind picked up and it really felt good.  I did get a bit of a sunburn, though.

On to the tour…

The tour took us down the Chicago River.  The tour guide told us stories and pointed out buildings of interest.  It’s definitely a different perspective to see some of the buildings that way as opposed to on the street walking by.

To get out onto Lake Michigan from the river, you have to go through a lock.  It was interesting to see the lock system at work.  Lake Michigan is 2 feet taller than the Chicago River.  When the lock into the lake opened (after the lock into the river closed), water came rushing into the lock and we were able to watch the water level rise on the dock.  (Likewise, we could see the water level falling when we were leaving the lake.)

Lake Michigan was gorgeous.  It was like you were on an ocean because there was literally water as far as you could see.  It was a gorgeous color of blue.  Like I mentioned above, the wind really picked up (as did the waves) when we got out on the lake.  I would have loved to have been able to jump in the water for a swim.  The view of the Chicago skyline from the lake was awesome.

I definitely recommend a boat tour if you are in Chicago.

After the boat tour, we were all pretty hungry so we went to eat at Giordano’s Pizza.  We were all looking forward to eating some Chicago style pizza.  Giordana’s didn’t disappoint.  It is a stuffed pizza.  Basically, the layers are…crust, cheese (and lots of it), crust, topping (i.e. pepperoni), sauce.  The sauce was a marinara-style sauce, really tomatoee.  (Is tomatoee a word?  I might have just made that up.  I basically meant that it tasted mostly like tomatoes and not many spices.)

Here is a link to the photo album from my trip to Chicago.

Happy Birthday, Lindsey!

I hope you are having a wonderful time in Washington DC this week.

Happy Father’s Day, Daddy!  I love you!

(The photo above was taken in January 1981.  I’m not sure that I was even a month old at the time.)

This was the view out the front door of my house on Christmas morning.  While I remember a couple of Christmases where it snowed a little bit, I don’t remember actually waking up to a blanket of snow.  It was a gorgeous sight!  I was glad that everyone was coming to my house Christmas, though, because there would be no way I would drive myself anywhere in this!

As mentioned, my immediate family and my dad’s mom came over for Christmas dinner and gift exchanging.  Having a house to host dinners in is something new for this holiday season so I was excited to have everyone over.  I got some great gifts for Christmas.  My dad built me a dining room table that seats 8 with a bench that seats 3.

How were each of your Christmases?

Merry Christmas!

I hope each of you have a wonderful Christmas!