From Somewhere in Indiana - Day 12

Continuing with our Chicago adventure...

After our great architecture tour, we wandered down Michigan Avenue and enjoyed a good lunch, then made our way to the Chicago Cultural Center. It is a magnificent 1897 building, built as the Chicago Central Library. In 1977 it was repurposed as the city's cultural center. The building itself is very beautiful and would have been a treat if there was nothing else to see there.

 

Lucky for us there was a wonderful exhibit of paintings by Harlem Renaissance artist, Archibald Motley.

There were a number of beautiful portraits, including this self-portrait.

But my favorites were the lively narrative pieces depicting African American life in the '20s and '30s. The one below is called "Holy Rollers". ( sorry about the quality of the photo—unavoidable reflections)

Google him if you want a treat.

In another gallery was an exhibit of advertising art from a Chicago company called Valmor that made perfumes and hair pomade and skin-lightening creams and other products. I know I remember these images from my childhood. Surely the use of these products would make one irresistible and one's life perfect! Very fun exhibit.

Across the street from the Cultural Center is Millenium Park where we dragged our tired bodies and found a bench for a breather and a little people-watching. We were rewarded with this little tableau:

 

We gathered just enough of a second wind to check some of the wonderful features of the park.

Outdoor concert venue designed by Frank Gehry.

 

"Cloud Gate" (aka "The Bean"), this mirrored sculpture is mind-bendingly fascinating! Photos don't do it justice.

The Crown fountain is delightful.

And this is lovely. Millenium Park is terrific!

 

A very good day in Chicago. Still more to come.

Today we are driving to Columbus, Ohio and as I write we are somewhere in the middle of Indiana. If you are reading this you will know that we got to Columbus and I was able to connect to the Internet and post. Tomorrow is another driving day and I'll finish up my Chicago pictures.

 

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Chicago - Day 11

tulips on Michigan Avenue

 

The first time I visited Chicago I was 17 years old, traveling cross-country by train to attend a Girl Scout encampment in Maryland. One of the girls I was traveling with had an aunt and uncle who lived there and hosted us for several days and took us out to see the sights of Chicago. It was my first big city experience and I loved it. I bought a pair of sling-back, square-toed, red flats in a shoe store on Michigan Avenue. Boy, did I love my "Chicago shoes". I knew there was not another pair like them in Pocatello—probably not in the state of Idaho, and when I wore them I thought about walking down Michigan Avenue, thinking I had probably walked past more people on the sidewalk that day than lived in Pocatello. Over the years I have been back four or five times, once in the dead of winter with an icy wind blowing off the lake. I loved it even then. So I was looking forward to being in Chicago again.

We've spent the past two days in Chicago and I have taken so many photos that my system has fallen behind. It will take me a couple days to catch up, but I am finally ready to start. Yesterday morning we took the Chicago Architecture Tour given by the Chicago Architecture Foundation, and it was grand! The tour takes place on an excursion boat on the Chicago River and our docent for the tour was superb. She knew the history, the architects, the inside stories of all the incredible buildings that make Chicago the city of incredible architecture.

I took way too many photos to post. Here's my iPad screen after I winnowed them down to my best shots...

 

And a few of my favorites...

 

 

 

The tour was terrific and worth every penny it cost. If you go to Chicago, take the tour. Just do it.

So—more to come. I'm not finished with Chicago, though we say goodbye in the morning and are off to Ohio, with tired, walked-out Chicago feet. A day in the car might be just the ticket.

 

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Welcome to the Heartland - day 8

The flat, windy highways of Nebraska gave way to the softer, greener rolling farmland of Iowa, and rain.

 

We learned that our Idaho sister-in-law, Kristin, is in Iowa caring for her mother who is quite ill and with only some minor adjustments to our plans we could arrange to see her and meet her mother. We wound our way through the lush farmland to the lovely little town of Independence and had a good visit with Kristin and her frail, sweet Mom, then headed to Cedar Rapids for the night. This morning we went out to see the Amana colonies, which were founded by a religious group in the mid 1800s as a communal society, providing everything the members needed within their group. They are known for their fine craftsmanship. (Read more here)

The setting and old, but scrupulously maintained buildings and homes are beautiful.

 

Here is Ray, headed for the well-stocked quilt shop. (You know how he loves a quilt shop!) Nice shop

We wandered down the Main Street and saw a few beautifully crafted items in the shops, but I was truly dismayed by all the kitschy, tacky stuff crammed inside those beautiful old buildings. Very little was locally made and much of what was locally made was church bazaar stuff—hotpads and knitted mop covers (really!) and the like. We tired quickly of the hoards of people and unappealing goods. I think they are cheapening their brand and turning this national treasure into just another tourist trap, but who am I to argue with what appears to be "success"?

One thing I did especially enjoy was the Woolen Mill, where they weave beautiful wool and cotton blankets.

We left Amana and drove to Iowa City to check out the highly recommended Prairie Lights Bookstore and found ourselves in a town crowded with University of Iowa graduation celebrants and festivities.

Soon we were back on the road, crossing the Mississippi River into Illinois. A long driving day involving traffic, lots of road construction and paying for all this fun by repeatedly stopping, in sometimes long, slow lines to pay tolls. But we are ready for a few non-driving days in Chicago—a great town— indeed a "toddlin town". I'll let you know if we find out what that means.

 

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International Quilt Study Center - Day 7

We are in Lincoln Nebraska today and we spent the morning at the International Quilt Study Center, at the University of Nebraska, a place I have wanted to visit since I first heard about it.

 

This beautiful building houses not only a collection of incredible antique quilts, but a state-of-the-art facility for research, the study and conservation of quilts. We saw several exhibits and I took photos of some of my favorite pieces that we saw today.

This '30s appliqué quilt depicting lotus blossoms was so typical of that era's colors and techniques, but I thought the design quite a bit more sophisticated than most.

 

Another '30s quilt. The fan pattern is a really unusual variation on a common theme and the docent pointed out that the fans, while they look identical, vary quite a lot.

Oh, how I love red paisley!

 

This may be the craziest crazy quilt I've ever seen.

 

Beautiful stitching on a Baltimore album quilt.

 

An exhibit called "Covering the War" made me think about my friend, KristIn LaFlamme's military themed quilts. I think this one is so interesting in the placement of the stars. The info card tells the story.

 

 

And what a wonderful surprise to find the Boise Peace quilt in the collection. In the '80s the Boise Peace Quilters created several quilts promoting world peace and opposing nuclear proliferation. This quilt was circulated among members of the U.S. Senate with an invitation to sleep under it in the hope that it would inspire dreams of world peace that they would carry into their work. 55 senators, including John Glenn and Strom Thurmond accepted the invitation embroidered on the quilt to ''rest beneath the warmth and weight of our hopes for the future of our children.'' The names of all the Senators who slept under the quilt are embroidered in the sashing between the blocks.

What a beautiful place this Center is, where the work of so many hands is celebrated and preserved and so beautifully exhibited. What we saw today is a very small part of their collection, but an expansion is underway that will create more gallery space.

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Thanks for all the comments. Blogging is my way of journaling our travels and using my photos. So it's really more for me than for you, but I enjoy sharing them. So far I am keeping my photos pretty well organized, which is one of my goals here. I take a lot and if I don't edit and label them right away I lose track of what was taken where. Remember the old days when you brought back rolls and rolls of film from a trip and then, when you finally developed it, you couldn't remember taking some of them? I love being able to relax at the end of each travel day, transfer photos from camera to iPad and delete the stinkers and label and file what I want to keep. Then I pick a few favorites to include in a blog post.

Tomorrow we move on to Iowa. Do you think it will be as windy as Nebraska? I am beginning to understand why pioneer women went mad in their sod houses out on the plains with the incessant wind whistling down the chimney...

 

 

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Out of the West—Long Straight Highways - Day 6

We have transitioned from the Western States map to the Central States map. Yesterday was a long drive to Cheyenne on the straightest highways I have ever seen. It was good to arrive at the Plains Hotel, in Cheyenne, our home for the night. It is one of those great old hotels with a grand lobby and a tiny elevator and long narrow hallways. The bathrooms have wonderful old tile floors in odd colors—a great place. We recommend it, though the WIFI is spotty.

After our long drive it felt good to get out and walk around Cheyenne. The hotel is in a historic part of town not far from the state Capitol. Across from the hotel is Depot Square and the beautiful old sandstone depot building.

These big boots seem to be all over the place.

Lots of great old buildings in the area.

 

After a margarita and revitalizing Mexican food we were back to the room. This morning we hit the roads and crossed into Nebraska. More long, straight highways.

We broke up our trip with a lunch stop in North Plains and a visit to the Golden Spike Tower where you can view the huge North Plains Bailey Yards, where the Union Pacific Railroad's huge operation, the largest switching yard in the world, is located. Trains as far as the eye can see.

 

Though not as cold as it has been, the intense winds in Nebraska today made driving stressful and tiring. Tonight we are in Kearney, Nebraska, heading for Lincoln in the morning.

 

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