The Lincoln Zoo and Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza

Well yesterday was my final day in Chicago and it was great. We started off eating breakfast at B&B’s again, except this time the waiter knew us and he talked and joked around with us before he seated us. He took us to the back of the place and sat us with the regulars, it was a little thing to do but it meant the world to us. We just got to watch people interact and we were away from the craziness in the front of the restaurant.

Something that was really neat about Chicago was the “EL” which stands for Elevated. Their public transportation system or subway was elevated throughout the city and would pass over you when you were walking all the time. I have never seen anything like it. Well after another great breakfast the grandparents and I checked out of the hotel while Amy and Mom did some last minute shopping. We jumped back into the car and then headed to Lincoln Zoo.

The Lincoln Zoo is a public zoo located in downtown Chicago. It was so fascinating because it was free and had been since 1868 when it was formed. The zoo was very historic looking and was separated into different galleries or houses.We went to the small primate house and the lion house, both which were super awesome.

It was really fun photographing and looking at the monkeys because they were having so much fun. This one shot below of the Jojo the gorilla was one of my favorites of the trip because I just sat next to the glass and we made eye contact just long enough for me to snap this photograph.

After we walked around the Lincoln Zoo we became hungry and decided to head to Gino’s Pizza for Amy and I’s first true Chicago deep dish pizza. When we got there we walked in and immediately I recognized a similarity with a food place I eat in College Station, Tx called Freebirds. The walls were covered in permanent markered signatures. The place had atmosphere. Well the waiter described to us that the deep dish pizza’s take an hour to make; they have a cornbread crust and they layer it with the cheese on the bottom with tons of sauce and then whole Italian sausages on top. Well we ordered a large for the family. When it came it we were blown away, the waiter dish out the pizza to us and we all dug in. Seriously, I was full with only one slice but of course I went for a second.

After the deep dish we packed up the car and drove around the city for a little bit longer and then made our way out of the city.

Chicago is such an unique city. It had similarities with other big cities I have been for example, the chaos of downtown like New York City, a main street with stores like Dublin, and it was also like Dallas because it the building seem to stretch out forever. But overall I could not have asked for a better spring break because I was with family. They truly are the some of the best parts of my life and it was such a blessing to get away from college for a bit and chill with them. To everyone who has been keeping up with my trip to Chicago, I thank you. Hope you enjoyed the photos and stories but keep reading the blog because I put up new stories and photos frequently.

The Art Institute of Chicago and a Big Metal Bean

So today I woke up early and went to a corner bakery at the street level of the hotel and posted up the previous blog. I then went back upstairs to meet up with everyone and then headed back down to breakfast. We at B&B and it was glorious. I had the Lumberjack Omelete, which consisted of meat, cheese, and eggs. It also was glorious.

After we had breakfast and coffee we made our way two blocks north to the The Art Institute of Chicago which house many famous works of art, including Monets’ and a few I have seen in books before. The gallery was an interesting place to photograph because I could either photograph the artwork or photograph people looking at the artwork. Enjoy a sample of some of these photographs.

After we spent hours going through the different levels looking at impression and modern art made our way to one of the tallest buildings in the Chicago skyline, the John Hancock building. We went up 95 stories to the observatory where we had a sandwiches and salads. The view from up here was just great. You could look every which way and even from this high up you couldn’t see the other side of Lake Michigan. After we spent time circling the top we went down and walked the streets for a bit.

Grandma and Grandpa went back to the Palmer’s Hotel and Amy, mom and I walked quite a few blocks down to Millennium Park. We reached the park right at dusk so the skies were blue and the streetlights were starting to come on. At first I was a little disappointed because I thought the photos wouldn’t come out but they did. The park is a very modern looking park, wide spaces and stainless steel everywhere. The park had an outdoor amphitheatre and lots of sculptures around it. One of the sculptures we went to was “The Bean”. It looks just like it sounds; it was a huge metal bean like sculpture in the park that people would walk under and around, that’s it. The reflections that came of this huge metal bean were just super fun to play with. I took a time lapse again as well as many wide-angle shots.

After the girls and I walked around in the park, we went to Miller’s Pub and met up with the Grandparents there for dinner. It was great, the food was awesome and it was literally right next to the hotel. Well I have one more full day here in Chicago; hope you have enjoyed the photos thus far. You’re awesome!

Valporaiso University and Indiana

A few weeks ago my mom called me and asked if I wanted to spend spring break with my grandparents and her and my sister. Of course I said YES. So I came up to from college station late friday and the next morning I got up early  around 5:30 in the morning to fly out to Chicago. When we were about to walk out the door my dad said something about picking up something in Indiana. Dumbfounded I asked “what?” and found out that we were really going to Indiana first to drive with the grandparents to Chicago.

So we arrived in Indiana and chilled at the grandparents house for the day. We had a great dinner with them and Uncle Dick and Uncle Mikey. Today we went to church and then started driving to Chicago. We took our time and visited Purdue University as well as Valparaiso University.

Valparaiso University is a small Lutheran College in north Indiana with about 4,000 students. It was founded in 1859 and was one of the first coeducational (men & women) colleges in the United States. We liked Valpo so much that we got out and walked around for quite a while. Once we walked into the chapel we saw an intricate organ as well as stain glass overload. It was glorious. What was also really neat was the amount of natural light that came into the chapel. Well once were done walking around we jumped into the car ate dinner near campus and then headed to a hotel.

Tomorrow we go into Chicago, I am super excited and will keep posting photos and stories through the week. Dad and Grant I know you are reading this, wish you could be here.