We flew into O’Hare Airport in Chicago in 1994 for a week of timeshare and visiting the city as tourists. We had expected much to do and were not disappointed in any way. Our timeshare was located about 60 miles from the “Windy City” and we knew that transportation would be a problem. We had a rented car, but took the train into Chicago the first day.
With the advice of a policeman near the rail line, we were pointed to a ticket booth and told that the most economical ride would be to get a week long ticket and use it wherever and whenever we cared to travel from place to place. These worked perfectly for the whole time we were in the city.
Our timeshare was located in the soybean country and we were surprised to find that these plants were so plentiful in the state of Illinois. We would find out more, later at the soybean portion of the Museums of Natural History and Industry. We found it more convenient to drive into Chicago and get free parking at at Shea Stadium and we used it often.
It was here while traveling to Chicago that we saw the sight of a crashed plane in a soybean field and we stopped and spent some time in trying to understand the significance of it.
We found it to be a memorial to the farmers who had experienced hard times in the crash of farm prices, but had hung on and make it a successful operation. We thought that it was a very unique method of honoring those who had suffered, but made a comeback during the hard times of crop failures.
We were impressed with the many sights of the City and spent a lot of time in touring the various areas and seeing it from different perspectives and heights.
We viewed the city from across the water and thought it to be spectacular.
Later, we went to top of Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) and saw even more amazing sights.
There was so much to see and things to do that we were on the go constantly and we still felt that we left out so much we had wished to do.
We enjoyed the Shedd Aquarium with all the water animals and show
We also spent much time in the Shedd Museum of Natural History and Industry and was not at all disappointed.
We visited one or two of the Art museums and the Crown Foundation Building.
We were able to take our first ride on the two-wheeled scooter and found how to shift our weight to stop and go.
We drove to Freeport to see the statues of Lincoln-Johnson debates which occurred there. There was more than one of these debates.
We also the large statue which was dedicated to the heroes of WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam. We visited the Logan Square part of Chicago, which had it’s own unique history.
We saw the Norsk Museum, which honored the Norwegians and their culture.
We went to the Swedish Museum because of my DNA, which is 25% Swedish from my grandfather, who emigrated from Sweden in about 1890, moving to Texas.
And, best of all, we were able to visit the home of Jane Adams and the Hull House. Barbara enjoyed this as she felt that she and Jane were in the same field of study and shared a common bond.