We took the commuter train from Robert’s hometown, Hinsdale (a suburb of Chicago), into the city to play tourist for the day. Chicago is so much cleaner and prettier than we remember from our teenage days playing and shopping in the city. We walked from Union Station to the lakefront and saw Buckingham Fountain start up at 8am! We continued our walk past the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium, then along the harbor filled with sailboats to Navy Pier. From there we backtracked to Millenium Park and the train station for our return train ride and got home for lunch!

Buckingham Fountain dwarfed by the ever changing and growing Chicago skyline.

The Field Museum has an appropriate exhibit for the weather we’ve experienced this spring!

Grant Park with the Sears Tower in the background.

A Four Masted Schooner docked at Navy Pier. Available for tours on Lake Michigan.

“The Bean” also known as Cloud Gate, at Millenium Park on Michigan Avenue. We’re reflected somewhere on the shiny surface.

An amazing Fountain/Sculpture at Millenium Park. The faces projected on the glass block ‘screen’ change periodically, and the water spouts only when the lips are pursed. About 25, 000 Chicagoans were photographed to get 5,000 usable images. Water also cascades down the front and sides and falls to a shallow pool that children were playing in.

We joined the Winona Area Peacemakers for their weekly Thursday afternoon vigil to protest the war in Iraq. We expressed an emphasis on taking care of business here at home such as failing infrastructure!

A few of the 17 ‘marchers’ who showed up this Thursday. The Winona Area Peacemakers are part of a larger organization United for Peace and Justice. (Learn about them by clicking on the name.)

On our Monday walk across the bridge into Wisconsin we saw the Minnesota Dept. of Transportation trucks with long booms apparently inspecting the structure.

Robert scoffed at me when I expressed concern on the narrow walkway as semi trucks rumbled past, inches away, and the bridge vibrated. But I guess my concerns were warranted on Wednesday!

We took a long walk on the bridge across the Mississippi onto Latsch Island, a wildlife sanctuary, and into Wisconsin. The house boats lining the banks were picturesque, but how do they deal with the mosquitoes?

A three and a half day drive across six states got us to Winona, Minnesota, on the banks of the mighty Mississippi river, to visit with family. In true midwest form, the weather was hot and muggy with thunderstorms and tornadoes threatening. Over the weekend we did some sightseeing across the river in Wisconsin. On Saturday night we had a great walleye dinner at the Hillside Fish House near Fountain City and some fantastic bloody marys at The Golden Frog Tavern in the heart of Fountain City on Sunday morning. In between the two we stopped at the abandoned farm house that once belonged to my maternal great grandparents. They ran a ‘truck’ farm and provided fresh produce year round by means of a big greenhouse they heated with a woodstove. The farm is gone as is the greenhouse, but the house and an old barn still stand. (If you click on ‘The Golden Frog’ above you will see a view of the tavern when perhaps my great grandfather, emigrant from Germany, frequented the establishment!)

A view of Winona with the bump of Sugarloaf, the only registered mountain in Minnesota, to the left and the Winona County Courthouse on the right.