Chicago - Part 1

Our visit to DC was wrapping up, but luckily we had a few more days of vacation left. This was a sort of hybrid vacation, we split our week of vacation between DC and Chicago. So since we hadn’t spent enough time in the airport, we went back through the TSA lines and got ready to fly out of DC. We flew out of the Reagan National airport, then had a connecting flight in Detroit. By the time we finally landed in Chicago, we had hit a total of seven airports so far (Little Rock, Dallas, Denver, Washington Dulles, Washington National, Detroit, Chicago). Most of the added flights were due to a storm messing with our flights a few days before, but I figure it’s good practice for when we're on The Amazing Race.

We landed in Chicago, and then took the train into the city. It was right at rush hour, so I’m sure all of the other riders were delighted when they saw us try to maneuver our bags on and off the subway. But we made it in, and checked into the hotel. We got a good deal on a place downtown, just a block from Michigan Avenue. This was the view from the top.



The next morning we went and visited the massive Art Institute of Chicago. The Art Institute is the second largest art museum in the US, and one of the most visited art museums in the world. It is definitely worth seeing when you're in Chicago.



The Art Institute has works that span over 5,000 years of human art, and has over 260,000 pieces of art in its collection (if they need more photography, I'd be happy to sell them some).





An amazingly large amount of great art hangs on the walls here. There was a room filled with Monets, and this statue by Auguste Rodin (who also made The Thinker), which represents Eve after the Fall.



It's easy to get a little overwhelmed when visiting huge galleries like this, but it is always a neat feeling to walk into a room and then say, "oh look, that was painted by van Gogh." Or "oh huh, that's a Picasso." One of the Art Institute's most famous works is A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat. It's a huge painting (7 feet by 10 feet), so it's not hard to miss.



We walked a few blocks to find a Garrett's Popcorn store, which is amazing and lives up to all the hype. We snacked on the popcorn in the plaza by the Federal Building, home to the large Flamingo statue by Alexander Calder.



No trip to Chicago would be complete without a visit to the Cloud Gate sculpture, and the huge Bean was reflecting the city and the pack of tourists surrounding it. My favorite detail about this picture are the seagulls perched happily on the top of the sculpture.





And the view from under the Bean, or if you want to use the fancy term - the omphalos of the sculpture. Here it looks like a kaleidoscope.



From there we walked a few blocks down Michigan Avenue to the bridge over the Chicago River.



A walk around this part of town is a good way to see the evolution of architecture here. Old, classic skyscrapers like the Wrigley Building sit right next to modern skyscrapers like the Trump Tower. Which is a neat looking building, except for the glaringly tacky sign that is unfortunately affixed to its side.



And then a few blocks down is the old Chicago Water Tower. The tower was built in 1869, and is one of the few buildings in the area to survive the great Chicago fire a few years later. Now the tower is dwarfed by the skyscapers around it, like the 100 story Hancock Tower.



More from the trip coming soon!

Washington, D.C. - Part 3

The next morning we headed back out to visit a few more places in DC. The first stop was the Newseum, a large museum that documents the history of journalism. There were a lot of really interesting exhibits there, and it was one of the best museums that we visited while in DC. There is also a great view from the top of the building, overlooking Pennsylvania Avenue. The large building on the left is the headquarters of the Federal Trade Commission.



And the view from the other side, looking down Pennsylvania Avenue towards the Capitol. The Capitol dome is covered in scaffolding while it undergoes a renovation.



One exhibit here showed every Pulitzer Prize winning photo, and would even occasionally have the actual camera that was used to take the picture. There were also other artifacts on display that have been part of big news stories, like the Unabomber's cabin and the actual shoe bomb used by the Shoe Bomber. There were several artifacts there from the September 11th attacks, including part of the antenna that was on the top of the World Trade Center. The Newseum is also home to the largest section of the Berlin Wall that is on display outside of Germany. They also have a three story East German watch tower from Checkpoint Charlie.



It is a really neat museum, we actually spent more time there than any other museum in DC.



From there we walked over to the Capitol Building for a tour. The part of the Capitol that you can visit on the tour is small, only three rooms. I guess they don't want to have too many tourists running around the place all the time. But it's an interesting tour. After watching a little video they herd everyone into the Crypt, the room that sits directly beneath the Rotunda. From there you head upstairs to the Rotunda, which was partially covered by scaffolding and tarps from the renovation.

This is the statue of Martin Luther King Jr. that sits in the Rotunda. Behind him is a painting depicting the baptism of Pocahontas.



From there the tour takes you to the National Statuary Hall, a large chamber that houses statues that have been donated by each state. There are several statues of some famous Americans in the collection, like George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Rosa Parks, Helen Keller, Brigham Young and Dwight Eisenhower. Also quite a few statues of people you've never heard of before. One of Arkansas' statues is of James Paul Clarke, who probably isn't our most treasured son and could maybe be replaced with a more well-known figure from Arkansas history. Like Hattie Caraway, William Fulbright, Douglas MacArthur, Daisy Bates, Winthrop Rockefeller, Neil Compton or even Johnny Cash.

This shot is of a statue from Oregon, of Jason Lee (not the actor from My Name Is Earl, but a missionary from the 1800s).



Before it was the Statuary Hall, this room used to be the home of the House Of Representatives. It was first used for the House starting in 1807, but had to be rebuilt after being destroyed by the British during the War of 1812. It reopened in 1819, and was used for several decades.



The chamber was the site of the inaugurations of several presidents, like James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson and Millard Filmore.



But the chamber's size, and its persistent echo, was too much for our delicate representatives. So they constructed the current chambers for the House, and moved into them in the 1850s. The room sat empty for a few years, until it was decided that it should become an art gallery. The first statue was placed here in 1870.



After this, the tour ended and we were shepherded back into the Visitor Center. Looking to stay in the air conditioning for as long as possible, we went through the tunnel that leads to the Library of Congress. Located just across the street from the Capitol is the Thomas Jefferson Building, which is the oldest building belonging to the Library of Congress. It's also one of the prettiest buildings in all of DC.

Built between 1890 and 1897, the interior of the Jefferson Building is an amazing and elaborately decorated wonder. This is the Great Hall, which was awesomely beautiful.





The artwork was incredibly detailed, with rich symbolism. At the bottom of this shot is a large mosaic of Minerva, the Roman goddess of Wisdom.



And here is a shot of the breathtaking Main Reading Room. A tour group came in while we were there, and the guide explained the symbolism of the statues along the walls and the historic figures they represented. Then she added, "and before you ask, yes this is where they filmed the National Treasure movies! Nicolas Cage was right in this building!"



We headed out and walked by the Supreme Court. The building was completed in 1935, and was especially quiet considering this was just a few days before the Obamacare and same-sex marriage verdicts were announced. Only a few people and security guards were wandering around. I tired to take a few pictures, but the sun was reflecting off of the bright marble and was almost too bright to look at.



This was the end of our visit to DC. But luckily not the end of the vacation. We would head out the next day to visit another great city next. More on that soon!

Washington, D.C. - Part 2

After a cancelled flight and the ensuing airport adventures caused us to miss a day of our vacation, we tried to squeeze as much sight-seeing in as we could. So after an early dinner, we headed back to the National Mall and visited the Korean War Veterans Memorial.



Nineteen statues of combat troops are set in a field of juniper and blocks of granite, which represent the rough terrain of Korea. The effect is really quite eerie and somber.



From there we headed across the Mall to the solemn Vietnam Veterans Memorial. There were hundreds of roses lined up against the black granite, many with notes written on them. One said "Happy Father's Day Dad."



Next stop was the Lincoln Memorial, which is massive. The huge throng of people inside were dwarfed by the tall ceilings and the 19 foot tall marble statue of Lincoln.



The Lincoln in the statue looks down in a stern way, as if he was annoyed by all the people carrying selfie sticks with them while visiting the Memorial.



Along the way to the National World War II Memorial, I passed this little family of ducks standing on the side of the Reflecting Pool. They didn't seem too concerned with people, and were probably used to the attention. This baby duck wobbled along the sidewalk before dropping back into the water.



The National World War II Memorial sits at the end of the Reflecting Pool, and is about halfway between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. Along the walls leading into the memorial are several bas relief depictions of the war.



And then back along the Reflecting Pool, with the ducks floating through the Lincoln Memorial reflection.



It was starting to get dark as I headed back to the Lincoln Memorial, which was still packed with people. From a distance, the crowds of people moved across the marble like a horde of ants.



I wanted to get a shot of the Washington Monument being reflected in the Reflecting Pool. But I didn't have my tripod with me, so I sat the camera on the edge of the Pool, just a few inches from the water. A few ducks, which might have been the same ones I saw earlier, would occasionally float through the shot.



And one last shot of the Lincoln Memorial, which I was amazed turned out ok since it was hand-held.



It was a long day, but we would head out again the next day to see a few more sights (including one of the prettiest buildings in all of DC). Next post will be here shortly!

Washington, D.C. - Part 1

Last month, my wife and I took an inadvertent trip across the country.  It started out with what was supposed to be a quick flight to Washington DC (with a layover in Dallas) to start a week-long vacation.  But storms over DC closed the airport, and our flight was cancelled.  So instead of flying out, we got to spend the night in a hotel by the Dallas airport.  We tried to head out the next morning to DC, but all of the flights leaving Dallas were completely booked.  So the airline put us on a flight to Denver, and then another flight to DC.  So we flew a big circle, but eventually made it to DC (just a day later than we planned).

So the next day we headed out in the morning to do some sight-seeing, and headed to the National Mall, where I tried my hardest to refrain from making a lame joke about where the Gap or Old Navy was. Our first stop was the National Gallery of Art, a sprawling museum that stretches across two large buildings. It was one of the highlights of the trip in DC.

The architecture of the National Gallery of Art is grand, including the massive rotunda that was modeled after the Parthenon. The museum was actually designed by the same architect that did the Jefferson Memorial.



The museum is filled with some great pieces of art by some famous people like Monet, Rembrandt, van Gogh and Leonardo da Vinci. There was even some photography on display (taking photos in the photography gallery, ironically, was forbidden).





The oldest building here, which opened in 1941, sits on the former site of an old train station. It was actually the site where President Garfield was shot in 1881. Although you would never know from strolling through the museum now. The galleries were were calm and quiet, even with a few noisy tourists walking through.



We saw a lot of people there who brought their own canvas and paints, trying to do their own version of some famous paintings.



But the majority of people were happy to take the easy way out with a quick cell phone picture. We were in DC for only a few days, but I quickly grew to despise anyone who was walking around with a selfie stick.



An underground concourse leads to the East Building, the home of the gallery’s modern art collection. The concourse is home to the Multiverse, a 200 foot long light sculpture that is made up of 41,000 LED lights.



The East Building opened in 1978, with a much more modern and geometric design than the neoclassical architecture of the gallery’s original West Building. The center of the East Building is dominated by a large atrium, with light pouring in from huge skylights.



After the National Gallery we walked over to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. This museum is the home to Star Spangled Banner, and other countless artifacts. But it was absolutely packed there, practically filled to the brim with some obnoxious school groups. Not to sound too much like an old person complaining (the teens these days!), but it was a little annoying to see people taking duckface selfies with the hat that Abraham Lincoln was wearing when he was assassinated.

We didn’t stay there long, and I didn’t take many pictures. So instead here’s a shot of the National Gallery that I forgot to post above.



We walked back across the Mall towards the Washington Monument. It's kinda crazy visiting a city like Washington. The buildings and streets here are shown so often on the news, or as the background of a movie, that it feels slightly weird to finally see it all in person.



The Washington Monument is much taller than I thought it would be. At 554 feet, it's the tallest stone monument in the world and the world's tallest obelisk. When construction was finally completed, it was the tallest building in the world (the Eiffel Tower would steal that claim shortly after).



We weren't able to get tickets to visit the top of the tower, since those were booked months in advance. So I had to just walk around the base instead.



From there we walked past The Ellipse and went by the White House. This is the view of the southern facade, taken through the bars of the fence. Luckily no one tried to jump the fence that day.



Coming soon! Part 2, with visits to a few other memorials and monuments....