Chicago

Just in case you haven't visited Kate's, JT's, or FS's blog in awhile, here are some Chicago pictures for your edification. I had a great time there with Kate over the weekend. Ate well, near perfect weather, great town. I could just about live up there if there wasn't such a thing as winter. Just about a perfect weekend.

The view from the hotel room, looking out over the Chicago River towards Lake Michigan. Nice hotel. Extremely loud co-guests.

The Bean (officially known as "Cloud Gate"), in Millennium Park.

The obligatory Bean reflection shot.

Inside Wrigley Field. Cubs vs. White Sox (apparently they don't like each other very much). Very close game, back and forth scoring, with the Cubs up 8 to 6 in the 9th inning with 2 outs. Then the Sox hit a 3 run homer to win the game. As the crowd goes crazy, littering garbage onto the field, a few annoyingly loud (and by this time, extremely drunk) White Sox fans in our section go wild, and after falling headfirst down the stairs, start several fights with angry Cubs fans. It was a near-riot. It was fantastic.

The hazy skyline from the top of the Hancock Tower. FYI, the men's restroom is view-free.

The Sears Tower and other tallness from the architectural boat tour along the Chicago River. Our docent from the Chicago Architecture Foundation was architecturally omnipotent.

The Mormon Temple, nowhere near Chicago but in Salt Lake. These are left over pictures that made it onto my first Chicago roll. The Mormon campus is in the middle of downtown Salt Lake. It is beautiful, spotless, and full of freakishly friendly Mormons.

Again, nowhere near Chicago but out in Yellowstone. I had really high hopes for this picture as the view across the geyser basin to the mountains was very beautiful, especially just after sunset. However, something went wrong and it came out blurry. If you don't enlarge it and use your imagination it still looks alright.