Traveling Sisters

From Dubuque, Iowa to Millennium Park, Chicago
"The Bean"

Dubuque's distinctive County Court House with its gold leaf dome

Day 12: My last post ended in Dubuque, Iowa, where the state borders both Wisconsin and Illinois. The city of Dubuque is split across the Mississippi River. We had spent the night on the side west of the river, and toured the town in the morning before hitting the road again.

St. Mary's has one of the highest steeples in the area

Then, we crossed the mighty Mississippi to the other side of town. River was high here, but not flooding.

Crossing the Mississippi River

Couldn't resist this sign for a B&B. I use a reference to the Snoop Sisters in my mystery, The Body at Battle Mountain. Guess that says something about my protagonist and her sidekick!

We drove across the north tip of Illinois on Hwy 20 to hook up with I-90 to Chicago.

Here's a shot of the Chicago skyline as we approached.

And a fancy bridge into town.

On the way through town, I snapped this picture of a car under the Chicago 'L,' the city's elevated rail system. Can you imagine being under here when a train goes over? Eek!

Since this was such a quick trip across the country, we couldn't spend much time in any one place. So we chose a particular sight to see in Chicago, ran in to see it, and ran back out. Okay, we got lost and meandered for a while. The point is, you could spend days seeing all Chicago has to offer--but we didn't.

Our stop in Chicago was Millenium Park , , ,

. . . which is right across the street from the Chicago Art Institute.

The Cloud Gate sculpture, by artist Anish Kapoor, is the centerpiece of AT&T Plaza in the park. It is nicknamed "The Bean" for obvious reasons. The mirrored surface reflects sky, people and city. Really wonderful!

"The Bean"

Obviously, I was very taken with it.

Cindy and "The Bean"

Here, you can see the reflection of me taking the picture, Greg beside me, the city, and a bird flying overhead

The gardens were lovely--a wonderful break in our days of driving. In the background is a lattice-work structure that covers an area where concerts are held.

A raised path overlooks the park and the street down to Lake Michigan. We strolled to the harbor, checking out the Blues bandstand, and sharing a shaved ice purchased from a cart in small park along he way..