Tuesday, November 9, 2010

A Chicago Birthday Experience

Yesterday was a magical day for me! For my birthday in July the kids gifted me a Chicago carriage ride. Rich and I had just decided to move our Seattle trip up and were leaving in little more than a week so decided to wait and enjoy this gift when the weather was more suited to my taste and we had time to truly relax and enjoy it, rather than scheduling it between trips.

I love the city...
     I love the architecture...
          I love the skyline...
               I love the lake...
                    I love the energy...
                         I love the sore neck I invariably get from craning to look up at the magnificent buildings...

Well, maybe not so much that last one! And the weather was perfect yesterday...sunny with temps in the 60s!

As you would expect, I took lots of photos. As you would hope (haha) I'm only going to post a few here. The Sears Willis Tower on the left with other magnificent Chicago buildings and Navy Pier which has always been so much fun, especially when experienced with the grands.













Grabbing a quick lunch in the upstairs cafe at Borders provided a great view of the little park surrounding the Water Tower. Rich reminded me about the lovely (for me, frigid for her) December day we spent with Sandee, strolling along Michigan Avenue nearly two years ago when she and Shawn were in town, staying at a hotel near here for his work Christmas party.


Here at the corner of Michigan and Pearson is where we met our carriage.


The ride through the city was such a treat. We saw many well-known restaurants and sights...like the Hancock building and Tavern on Rush...
 
















...but the best part was the slow pace along some residential streets allowing us the opportunity to truly appreciate the unique characteristics of each home and marvel at the lack of parking. I cannot imagine life without a vehicle or any way to park one on my property...a curiously fascinating lifestyle to someone like me who is accustomed to the open spaces of small towns and suburbs.


How about this next sight?!?! Do you remember the famous 1999 Chicago Cows on Parade? This is one of the 300 artistically painted Cows that appeared all around the city. This one is named Lady Bug and it remains where it was originally installed for the event all those years ago. We would never have noticed this if we had been driving on this street in a car. In an open carriage, however, so much more is visible and the gentle pace allows one to take it all in.
All too soon though, this magical experience came to an end. Rich took this final photo of me in the carriage; our driver, Adam; and his horse, Fredo.

Just two more shots, indulge me please. Before leaving the city, Rich drove past Trump Tower and the Sears Willis Tower...my neck will recover in time...tee hee
Thank you so much Sandee, Shawn, Jackson, Dylan, and Shelby for this gift of experiencing Chicago in such a magical way!
Lovin' Life ~~ Magical Gifts and Time to Enjoy Them
  Bev 

3 comments:

  1. What a great gift!! And the weather couldn't be better. You got a lot of nice pictures. It's really an awesome city.

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  2. What amazing, thoughtful gifts you both got! I love the puzzle. I'm keeping that in mind for a xmas gift for D. Perfect for him.

    So excited your heading this way again! I just thought of you guys this morning while I was making those fabulous egg and cottage cheese pancakes :) love g,d, k & b

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  3. i am glad that you and rich had a great time in the city and you are right about not seeing the cow where it was at in the side of the building what cool pics you took. that was a great idea for a birthday gift.
    G,J,K,S

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