Friends, old and new

When I did my roadtrip in 2014, one of the sites I visited, was the old Yerkes-refractor outside of Chicago. Beautifully placed beside Lake Geneva in southern Wisconsin.
After Chicago, we were heading for a long time friend in Wisconsin, and decided to stop at the observatory. I just had to see it one more time. The area, the building, and the refractor itself. The largest in the world. With a lens more than one meter in diameter. A beauty. The last time, I was more or less alone, save for some family that showed up at the same time. This time, there was a whole group. And I didn't get to get up close and personal with the scope. But just the sheer size of the instrument makes it worth it. I cannot remember the first time I saw pictures of the telescope, but I do remember that I wanted to see it one day. When I grew up. When I had my own money. When.... And so on. This was my second time. I know that they arrange observation-nights so people can have a look through the telescope, not just at it. But we didn't have the time to do that for our short stay. We were heading west. And fast. But more on that later.
Here are a few of the photos I took of the scope and the observatory. I took a load of images of the telescope. To try to frame it properly. But I am never able to quite capture its size and sheer magnificence. So I guess you just have to visit yourself.

The dome of the 40 inch Yerkes refractor

The entrance to the observatory

Our guide talking about the reliefs on the buildings

Library

Old friends

One of the things I like best about travelling, in addition to seeing new places, experiencing new cultures and foods, is getting to know new people. And on my first real trip abroad, a trip through the US with a friend in 1993, I met a girl on a bus trip from Chicago to Tulsa, Oklahoma. She sat behind me and my friend on the bus. And at one point, she asked us if we had the time. Later, she revealed that she had removed her watch so she would have an excuse to talk to us...
For the rest of the trip to Tulsa, we sat talking. And when we parted, we exchanged addresses. We have been friends ever since. It would take 18 years before we saw eachother again. And this year was my third visit. And this time, I brought my sister and one of my nieces. She was excited that she would meet some people in my family. She was 16 when we met, and now she is all grown up with a family of her own. She still lives in Wisconsin. Or Wiscansin as they pronounce it...

Friends for soon to be a quarter of a century

The first evening, we went out with her family to a mexican restaurant in a nearby town. The food and the company was great.
And the day after, we spent the whole day together, walking around the small town she lives in, and had some exercising in a park full of large rocks and cliffs. Lots of climbs and rock formations. Great fun for the kids... :-) I am no longer in my twenties, so I stayed with the old folks...
One of the things I also loved about this meet, is that more friendships were created out of this. Strangers becoming friends. It is a beautiful thing.
(I do not want to display pictures of the kids, so none of that here.)

Walking the field near a natural reserve (which turned out to be closed...)

Weird old tree in the park

Climbing rocks and going through tunnels to get our sweat going.

Cool car. Wonder what model it is.

Ragnar,
Traveller

Sweet home Chicago

The weather forecast for New York said terrible weather, but hoping and praying helped. Our flight left on time, and even though the small metal tube that contained us was shaken through the clouds, we managed to get out before the real storm hit. We left from the oldest of the terminals at La Guardia. A beautiful relic from an old era. When planes were all sea-planes. The terminal only had one checkin area with a couple of desks. I loved it.

Flying in to O'Hare had better weather. Skattered clouds. And unlike JFK in New York, O'Hare was a breeze. Our luggage arrived just in time for us to leave. And then a shuttle bus took us to the car rental company.
I had booked an SUV, and this proved to be more complicated than anticipated. We had to wait for ages. And in the end we realized that they couldn't find the SUV. It took 15-20 minutes before we finally were on our way. An hour later, we arrived at our hotel in the town of Woodstock. (No, not THAT Woodstock.) A small town north-west of Chicago.
Woodstock is a town with a small, but interesting old part. And it even sports an opera house! That was a big surprise. And it also has a train station that would take us to the centre of Chicago the next day.

We had planned to take the 7.48 to Chicago, but arrived early to be sure we didn't miss it. As we parked our car, a train pulled in. We got out and ran to the station. Asking a local guy, he informed us our train hadn't arrived early, this was the express train. How convenient. The ride to Chicago was nice. And we loved the fact that they had "old fashion" tickets on the train. Not just printouts or receipts. We kept them as souvenirs.

On the ledge

Our first goal for the day, was easily spottable as we left the train station. Once the tallest building in the world. It is still amont the top 5. Willis tower. When I was here in 2014, I found they had installed some glass boxes on the outside of the building. Letting you "walk on air", 400 meters above the ground below. Even though I am not (significantly) scared of heights, stepping out on the ledge was something my brain just tried to resist. But I managed to overcome my brain's impulses and step out.
This time, I had brought someone that is close to fainting at the sight of a height. When she looked up at the tiny boxes way up there, she flatly denied she would even consider stepping out on one of them.
We arrived at Willis just after 9, and found that they had just opened. So we were among the first. Almost now queue. Just the way I like it. We hadn't checked, so this was just coincidental. A few minutes later, we had tickets, and we stood in the elevator. With a clear and obvious accelleration, it whisked us 103 stories up in no time. And we stepped out into the Skydeck and the awesome view. After some shots of the view, we moved towards the ledge. We stood in line, and my sister said she would stand in line too just so she could take pictures. After waiting for almost 10 minutes for a couple of young ladies to finish their model images of eachother, me and my niece stepped out on the ledge. My brain still refused. And again I managed to control my impulses and step out. It was just as exhilarating as the previous time. My sis managed to stay calm and take pictures of us. Then my sis did the unthinkable; she overcame her fear of heights and stepped out. With the look of someone about to die, she stood in the corner as we took her picture to document the event. Then she jumped to "safety", shaking like a leaf. One small step for mankind, one giant leap for my sis.

Bean of the milennium

There was one interesting piece of art we wanted to see. "The bean" in the millennium park. We walked through the streets of Chicago and just took in the many old and magnificent buildings of the city. Some monumental with large columns. The park was to the north-east of Willis tower.
Entering the park, we were greeted by a gigantic, skeleton structure that proved to be surrounding an concert arena. And a symphonic orchestra was playing classic pieces as we walked through. Some people were sitting on the grass underneath the skeleton structure. Enjoying the weather and the music. We walked passed it and came to the open space where the "bean" was located. It was a truly magnificent piece. With mirror surface, it warped the image of everything around it. And walking around and even under it, gave different warped images. It was like a continous hall of mirrors. I absolutely loved it.

Walking around the city

Reminded me of the famous chase-scene from "Blues Brothers"

The pier

Our last stop of the day, was the pier down by the lake. It had shops (of course...), a garden with trees and fountains, cruises and high speed boats taking people for a thrill ride. We opted for the garden and some ice-cream. The garden was like a greenhouse. And it was hot and humid. But wonderful. And the fountains cute. Some made up arches one could walk under. Others sent small "spits" of laminar flow streams of water that flew in perfect arches through the air.

After walking along the pier, eating ice-cream and enjoying the view, we took the free trolley back to the centre of the city to enjoy some italian food. We found one and enjoyed a delicious meal of pasta. A perfect ending to our day in Chicago.