From: casarollnotes.blogspot.com Tim and Linda Bunyan
We choose an open space right next to the metro train. There is a shade tree and we love the sound of the train.....it is quiet, once it passes by.
Our view of downtown Chicago from our RV site is located at McCormick Place Convention center. RV parking is allowed at the largest and most flexible use convention center in the U.S. located near the shore of Lake Michigan. It faces the iconic skyline and is 1/2 mile to the bike path for Tim and me to access to go anywhere in the city. 
We have a beautiful afternoon to stroll the Old Town and just across the street are the
History Museum and Lincoln Park.
Norween Leather Company makes Wilson-brand footballs for the NFL and the Superbowl.
Note the Starbucks logo; indicates this is a Starbucks Coffee Shop.
We spent the afternoon walking around Lincoln Park. It is Chicago's largest park and one of the most affluent neighborhoods in Chicago.
Ponds within the park. Beautiful and serene. Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837. The Lincoln Park Zoo opened n 1868. The park lies along the lakefront Had a cocktail at Kelly's Pub, a former Dillinger hangout; that opened in 1933 after Prohibition was repealed.
The first Chicago scoop shop opened in 2013: We came upon Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream. Online delivery anywhere in the U.S. Excellent ice cream.
Lincoln Park Zoo; Admission is free!
We enter the Lincoln Park Zoo
to discover the award-winning,
state-of-the-art Regenstein Center for (Western Lowland) African Apes.
Daddy and baby.
The apes live in a naturalistic indoor and outdoor living space. The Study and Conservation of Apes experts provide touch screens to the great apes to help them learn how they feel and what they prefer.The Second City
Theatre: Having secured an online parking permit for the truck we went to the famous Second City Theatre in the Pipers Alley district where comedians John Belushi, Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, Joan Rivers, and Martin Short began their careers.
After the theatre, we came out onto the city street to find a Bicycle parade with all its lights on!
Next Day: We leave the truck and RV and hop on our bikes. A half-mile away and we are on Chicago's scenic Lakefront Trail, a 26-mile paved path that follows the Lake Michigan shoreline on the Cit's eastern edge.
Big Boats in DuSable Harbor and Columbia Yacht Club.
Plaza and fountain area. Nice rest stop.
Nacy Pier is formed with a midway and entertaining center with
200 feet soaring height of Centennial Wheel.
Corner store along the bike path
This is a beachfront city! Sandy shoreline for sunbathing and swimming.
We turn off the bike trail into town onto Addison Avenue.
We must go to Wrigley Field. To our delight, there is a game with all the fanfare going on! Home of the Chicago Cubs! A very exciting, active section of town.
Bronze of Ernie Banks who played 19 seasons with the Cubs. He won back-to-back MVP awards. His uniform #14 was retired in 1982, the first to be retired by the Cubs.
The stadium is so transparent it seems as tho the experience of the game can be enjoyed inside or outside of Wrigley Field.
I loved this ad "Fuel That Breaks Curses (milk).
street side cafe to enjoy the game .....outside the stadium.
Another walk around the block shows the fans on rooftops across the street that have a view of the ongoing game. This is a very festive, captivating ballgame atmosphere filled with avid fans.
By the time we left, we felt like Cubs fans! Quite a happy place and we are so glad we scouted out the location of Wrigley Field, left the bike trail, and journeyed into the city to find this remarkable place.
The Bean is a reflective surface. The shiny exterior reflects the people moving around the park, the lights of Michigan Avenue, and the surrounding skyline and green space.
The 'Cloud Gate' is named this colossal sculpture because 80 percent of its surface reflects the sky. We take a beak at this plaza filled with people filled with curiosity to discover their own reflection in The Bean.
Millennium Park in the Loop community. Another exciting, intriguing spot in this city.
Spectacular view of famous skyscrapers.
Building code required buildings to be built set back from the shoreline; many set back the first floor of the structures.
Commercial buildings and high-rise condos to live with a view. Also, a marina at your front door.
Along Chicago's Magnificent Mile.
Magnificent tour in the heart of the Chicago River
Many boaters on this river too!
The daily newspaper was founded in 1847. The Chicago Tower Landmark is a 463-foot-tall, 36-floor neo-gothic skyscraper now converted into luxury condominiums.
We walked our bikes all around the blocks circling Wrigley Field.
Gallagher Way is one corner area outside Wrigley Field where there is a large screen to watch the game while dining outside the patio area.
The corner sports bar across from the field; had big screens inside to watch the game!
Bleachers Seat entrance.
The next day we bike ride into downtown Chicago to the famous Millennium Park. This city is remarkable with easy access, many high-rise buildings, and a city on a beachfront, filled with happy people and places.
A must-do! Shoreline Sightseeing Architecture Tour! World-famous architecture on the three branches of the Chicago River.
W
Walkabout town.
A stone from Edinburgh Castle is embedded in the limestone of the Chicago Tribute building. Prior to the building of the Tribune Tower, correspondents for the Chicago Tribune brought back rocks from a variety of historically important sites throughout the world. This is a stone from Edinburgh Castle in Scotland.
Jason recommended we go to the Chicago Athletic Association Hotel. Rich in history and many other means it began as a private athletic club for over 100 years. It is repurposed as a boutique hotel.
Even the most independent of us like to feel part of something exclusive sometimes.
This place gave us this feeling from the front door of this Gothic beauty to the lobby to the drink at the carved mahogany bar, and the towering fireplaces, and rich brown leather.
In the 1890s, consumed with preparing for the World's Fair, Chicago's elite knew their city would provide the amenities to which the East Coast elite had become accustomed. Private clubs were places where the rich and powerful (male) members of society could congregate with each other as a respite from work while networking in a more casual, luxurious setting.
A few most notables: inventor of the mechanical harvester: Cyrus McCormick, Marshall Field a mercantile owner, A.G,. Spalding (the sporting goods tycoon).
Here is famous Tim Bunyan, a notable person.
The interior is ornate with mosaic marble tile. The doorways and arches were outlined with stained glass, some coffered ceilings, a light airiness to the otherwise dark and masculine feel of the rooms.
The billiard room, library, and private meeting rooms. Club member William Wrigley, the founder of Wrigley's chewing gum, indulged in the high class and high-spirited revelry as Johnny Weismuller, the five-time Olympic gold medal champion practices his laps in the club's pool.
After a refresher at the Athletic Association Club, we strolled the neighborhood Magnificent Mile. So many upscale ships and landmark buildings. This thoroughfare has a mix of parks, restaurants,
Field Museum, Harris Theatre, and bridges throughout the area.
The Music Pavilion building was designed by architect Frank Gehry, opening officially on July 16, 2004.
1871 Chicago Fire devastated the city and from its ashes the people of Chicago caused a new and greater city to rise.
Michigan Avenue crosses the Chicago River. We stroll the River Walk with fine views, music, and places to relax.
Rest Stop along the River Walk.
Our Life Insurance Company CNA is located in this building at 333.
DeSable Bridge is two double-decks that allow for service road and pedestrian levels over the river.
1871 Chicago Fire devastated the city and from its ashes the people of Chicago caused a new and greater city to rise.Walking across the bridge on South Michigan Avenue
Riverside cafe to enjoy the view.
The Chicago Riverwalk provides a continuous walkway along the Main Branch of the Chicago River to Lake Michigan. The dock wall was extended into the Chicago River by welding new steel piles and pouring concrete creating a new strip of usable land.g for all boater visitors and locals.
We enjoy this unique urban view walking along the river's edge.
Chicago Remembers
These steps, a place in the city to pause; this memorial is dedicated to all veterans of the Armed Forces.
Odd buildings around 
town.
O
Final Day: Bike Ride: Burnham Wildlife Corridor Bike Trail and Chicago University.
Named in honor of the man who built Chicago's first World's Fair, the "White City" in 1893 over 300,000 people attended the 6-month-long World's Fair. Daniel Burnham was the Director of Works for the 1893 Wold's Columbian Exposition.
The University of Chicago. Barack Obama went on to teach at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2003.
In the neighborhood of Hyde Park on the South Side of Chicago is the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house: for Frederick C. Robie (entrepreneur and an inventor and owner of bicycle companies.) The 1920 prairie-style house features a cantilevered roofline that reaches over exterior spaces and bands of windows and doors that counteract the solidity of the wall plane.
We stop for lunch in this University Town.
Our turnaround point at the University grounds indicates the area where the Midway was built during the 1893 World's Fair. You can see the broad width of the walkway which now serves as
the bike and pedestrian trail.
I waited an hour, then we were on our way.
We leave Chicago behind. This city has been exciting, beautiful, and captivating. We enjoyed the bike trail access to much of the city. The beach scene along the shore of Lake Michigan is delightful and a surprise to see many people enjoying the sun and water and beach. The downtown architecture is amazing and Chicago is certainly a utopia for the visitor/tourist to be intrigued and entertained.
Goodbye Chicago, we would love to come back.
Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) is one of America's largest electric companies and the only
Chicago electricity provider
We leave this famous city for Elkhart, Indiana to visit the RV/MotorHome Hall of Fame
Rose Elizabeth
