as if this needs a title... testing

[plum]

I just realized I've never done one of these theme photo projects on BN before. so hooray for something new!

I live in western suburbs of Chicago, so I took the Metra train into the city and hopped a bus towards the lake. The area was so jam-packed, the bus driver had to go back the other direction about a mile to drop us off . This resulted in a nice stroll through the River North neighborhood and a Farmer's Market on the way to Oak Street Beach, but my ankle was crying for mercy after only the first mile.

You'll have to imagine these things, because I didn't get batteries into my camera until we hit the water. Just get in touch with your inner child, and I'm sure it'll work out

Once I powered up my little Pentax point-and-shoot, the day looked like this:

When 3.1 million people attend a weekend event, you just have to follow the crowd! I loooove water. So seeing the big blue of Lake Michigan was a balm.

We didn't want to hang out on concrete all day when the real action was happening past the tents at North Street Beach (past the tents at the skyline above). So we walked some more, and all I got were blurry pics of random butts, crooked pizza vendors, and more ugly concrete. I'm sure there's an ironic t-shirt for just that situation.

Once we got to the sandy (hot!) beachfront, we searched for some place to plop down. This is the view behind me (over the shoulder shot!). Godzilla's blow-up doll cousin made it to the show. Check out the Sears Tower cowering in the background in fear of the malicious bananas.

Since I'm afraid of large ships, I was surprised the boat-like architecture of that building didn't give me the willies. those big red things are "smoke stacks".

It was hot, and the crowd was huge. See the coastline? Those are all people, a great many of them shirtless; apparently Chicagoans take every opportunity to show off the midwestern physique.

My coworker Valerie and I went together, and we met up with a volleyball teammate of hers named Greg. He is slightly short.
I thus discovered that it's not the height of the man that makes a woman drool, it's the size of his... lense. Photo geeks, this one's for you:

More in the next post!

 

[plum]

Greg and Val (and Godzilla's cousin)

Val and I, baking. My face and upper shoulders are now quite crisp (ouch!). Check out my super-hawt farmer's tan.

Everyone seemed to be in the Olympic mood on Saturday. The party in front of us won the silver medal in synchronized shirtless rubbernecking.:

We're all about the half-naked studs here in Illinois, folks.

Oh, right, why were we there? An Air Show!
Both the Navy and the Army brought out the big jumps. We had the best seats!

I love it when pilots play chicken:

Yes, they made it safely

More loop-de-loops!

If you've seen one fighter jet, you think you've seen them all... until you watch the Blue Angels do their amazing supersonic stunts!

I'm really noticing the blur and distortion in my pics, but what can you expect from a jostling motion shot with a little point-and-shoot? hehe.

After a few hours of hearing announcer-after-announcer glorifying the arsenal of weapons we take to war (essentially imitate Tim Allen's grunt of "More power! uggghh ughhh ughhh!"), and seeing testosterone-pumped men salute the loudest fly-by's with raised beer cans... I began to think this whole thing was just an expensive recruitment commercial. Basically, "We may be in a war, but we can spare our best weapons for live entertainment! Come join!"

Anywho, our walk/ride home is in the next post!

 

[plum]

The exodus begins!

Greg offered to drive us home, but he was parked much too far away to walk the whole distance, so we went cab-hunting.

As we battled the crowds down Lakeshore Drive's sidewalks, we passed some of the ritziest condo high-rises. Most of them were too blurry to show, because I wasn't able to stop and take a proper shot. People are very, very cranky when you stop the flow of foot traffic.

I loved this statue outside the International College of Surgeons:

Ice cream trucks were at every corner! Again, too blurry to show.

The first cab we caught was stolen from us by an old woman with a bat--err--a walking stick... but she looked threatening and was very snotty, so we let her have it.

Once we snatched our own cab (death-defying stunt that it was, since everyone else had the same idea), we took a crazy drive down Michigan Avenue, "the Miracle Mile"

This isn't the used-to-be Marshall Field's Macy's but it is a pic that came out fairly sharp.

Ahh, the river! How I love thee! those honeycomb buildings are half ugly and half a relief from the boring flat-faced architecture.

It just so happened my ride home was parked inside the National Guard Armory.
I know, I have all the connections.

No, this is not my ride But isn't that rad?! I actually tripped over a Hummer/tank looking hybrid while trying to get this shot. I was quite scared as I looked back and saw that thing looming over me.

I hope you enjoyed the pics! I'm excited to finally have something to show here. heehee.