Wanderlust

I'll admit it. I have severe wanderlust. I get antsy if I spend too much time in Madison. And 2014 was a good year to satiate my cravings.

Becky and I started the year off exploring Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam on our first trip across the Pacific.

In April, we road tripped it with the family to Captiva - home of the traditional Klimowicz spring break destination. Thane and Nastassja went on a little side trip with me to the Everglades and Key West - the highlight was Hemingway's home and his five-toed cats.

In May, Becky and I went camping for the first time, exploring the Great Smoky Mountains and taking a Walk in the Woods.

In June and July, we took the girls west to Wall Drug, Mt. Rushmore, and Yellowstone. 

Sandwiched in between, Thane and I went to Chicago and the Rock Island, at the tip of Door County.

And to close out the year, Becky and I are on our way to the country that has been the dream of many a travelers from Christopher Columbus to the Beatles. India.

Happily New Year!

Poor Sods

June 29, 2014

After hitting the Corn Palace the night before, Sunday promised to be a day of seeing almost everything else famous in South Dakota. From the glorious Badlands to the Wild West of Deadwood, we planned to see it all in 12 frenetic hours. But first, we needed to contemplate one of the greatest of North American rivers, the Missouri.

Recreating the famous 1804 Lewis & Clark photo-op on the banks of the Missouri River

As we left our Super 8 Motel in Chamberlain, we crossed the Missouri, which incidentally is the longest river in North America. And by adding the Mississippi River, the two become the fourth longest river system in the world - only behind the Nile, Amazon, and of course the Yangtze. Isn't that a fun fact?

As we arrived on the west bank of the Missouri and the little town of Oacoma, we reached the spot at which Lewis and Clark and their pal Al camped at on September 17, 1804. Al really didn't want to go all the way to the Pacific with Captain Lewis and Second Lieutenant Clark because he was more of a trader and less of an explorer. So as the expedition continued up the river, Al stayed behind and set up a little trading post that he dubbed Al's Oasis.

Can't seem to find the main entrance 

Today, the "oasis" consists of a large restaurant, a supermarket, and an obligatory western apparel shop.

Most importantly, Al had managed to preserve the exact spot on which Captain Lewis proclaimed "This hereby locale is where the west begins." The good captain's declaration thereby sparked a 200 year controversy between St. Louis and Oacoma as to where the west really began. St. Louis attempted to settle the dispute in 1965 by constructing the colossus Gateway Arch.  

At the Arch's dedication, St. Louis mayor Alfonso Juan Cervantes taunted Oacoma's mayor, who was attempting to crash the dedication ceremony, by proclaiming "I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty-headed animal food trough wiper! I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!"

Two centuries of rancorous controversy between Oacoma and St. Louis continue

About an hour west of Al's Oasis, we reached our first destination of the day, the Prairie Homestead, located outside of the entrance to the Badlands National Park. One of the last remaining homes on the prairie built with dirt, the house was constructed with sod bricks and a grass roof. Wikipedia says that the home was built in 1909 by Ed Brown and his wife. Apparently, Mr. Brown's spouse was a nameless poor sod.

The Browns took advantage of the federal government's Homestead Act that allowed people to gain ownership of 160 acres of land if they agreed to "improve" and live on the land for at least five years. The area near the Badlands was one of the last parts of South Dakota to be homesteaded.

The so-called "improvement" of the land led to land erosion and the Dust Bowl of the 1930s inspiring Mr. Brown's nameless wife to sing

I close my eyes only for a moment, and the moment's gone
All my dreams pass before my eyes, a curiosity
Dust in the wind, all they are is dust in the wind

during the famous April 14, 1935 Black Sunday dust storm that blew away all of the topsoil on the Brown's homestead.

Devastated by disaster, the Browns packed up their truck and headed west to California, leaving only the prairie dogs and goats behind. We were greeted by the descendants of these friendly critters.

Not wanting to look like tourists, we had brought appropriate sod-era clothing for our visit. For unknown reasons, Nastassja refused to go along with this plan and asked us to walk 20 feet in front of her so no one would think we were related to her.

Early photo of Mr. Brown, his nameless wife, and their daughter

Don't be deceived, behind the beautiful wooden exterior lies lots of dirt

Homestead Gothic

In addition to the original dirt home, the site has a modern visitor center and gift shop. Unfortunately, the restrooms facilities were not up to 21st Century standards and left little privacy. Because reading material is scare on the prairie, locals were apt to join you on the two-seater toilet.

"Say Ed, what ya readin' there?"

The Homestead life was a rough life indeed

You can't use amazon.com for toilet paper

We said good-bye to the prairie dogs and goats and entered Badlands National Park, which was just 1/2 mile away.

Go West Young Women, Go West

June 28, 2014

It was almost July 4 and the corn around Wisconsin was knee-high - a perfect time to head west and begin another epic Griswold family road trip. This time, we decided to heed that advice from the 19th Century newspaper editor, Horace Greeley, who famously once said:

Go West, young woman, go West. There is health in the country, and room away from our crowds of idlers and imbeciles.

The young women are excited at getting away from crowds of idlers and imbeciles

Because Nastassja and Emily had a swim meet that morning (coincidentally at which we didn't see any idlers or imbeciles), we were unable to begin our road trip at our usual break of dawn and did not leave Madison until noon.

Becky started out in the driver's seat so I could watch Brazil match up against Chile in the World Cup on my iPhone. The last time I had headed west was in June 2004 and with no smart phones back in those dark days of mobile internet coverage, I missed out on the first two weeks of Euro 2004. This time I was determined to keep up with the World Cup through our travels. However, by the Wisconsin Dells, AT&T's mobile network had failed me and the cell phone signal could no longer support streaming video. I resorted to an outmoded 20th Century means of communication and listened to the end of the match on the radio.

As we crossed the mighty Mississippi by La Crosse, I was inspired by Chevy Chase in Vacation to sing about the deep river to the children. Unfortunately, as I began to sing, Nastassja and Emily  immediately put their headphones back on, thereby missing out on my tribute to old man river.

The kids were not impressed with my Chevy Chase imitation. 

As the afternoon began to wear on down I-90, we decided to look for our daily perk-me-up with a latte. We took the Austin exit, hoping to find a local coffee shop. According to Wikipedia, Austin is known for three things - the Hormel factory that makes most of North America's Spam, major tornadoes, and major floods. I'm not sure which of the three is worse.

After we drove past the lovely Spam factory, the first local coffee shop we encountered was the the Brick House Coffee House, which not only appeared to be someone's house, but was also closed on a Saturday afternoon. Their website also stated that reservations were encouraged. Reservations for a coffee shop?

Next, we went down Main Street and saw that the Coffee House on Main was also closed. Finally, we drove by a third coffee shop that came up on the app Around Me, which I believe was the Morning Grind. However, all we saw was a building that look like a funeral parlor or church.We ended up going to McDonald's for lattes.

So much for helping out the independent small business. But it got worse. When Becky asked for skim milk in her latte, the McDonald's cashier told her that they only had non-fat and whole milk. Obviously, the nearby Spam factory had affected the locals in a bad way.

And so we continued west on I-90, Becky driving while I attempted to watch Columbia play Uruguay on my phone. Without Luis Suarez playing, Uruguay was of course, toothless.

About an hour later, we approached the little town of Blue Earth, which is considered the midway point of Interstate 90 because the east and west construction teams met here in 1978. To commemorate the linking of I-90, Blue Earth constructed a giant statue of the Jolly Green Giant.

Highway finished - Jolly Green Giant constructed - an obvious cause and effect, right?

Anticipating this great symbol of American vegetables, we had all brought a can of Jolly Green Giant vegetables for our expected photo-op. Unfortunately, we arrived at the statue during a downpour and couldn't get the canned veggies out of the back without becoming soaked. So we all ran to the front of Mr. Green Giant and snapped a quick photo in the rain. Ho Ho Ho.

An odd homage to the longest interstate highway in the USA. Ho ho ho.

After our veggie photo-op, we continued west on I-90 passing Adrian, Minnesota and yelled "Yo Adrian!" The landscape of western Minnesota made us think of Michael Landon.

Ubiquitous Wall Drug signs began popping up everywhere as we crossed into South Dakota. The surrounding terrain also became flatter, with few trees. It was almost like we were traveling on a great plain.

An hour into South Dakota, we arrived in Mitchell. The town had special significance to us being named after Alexander Mitchell, that famous banking scion from Milwaukee. Old Alexander founded the Marine Bank of Wisconsin back in the 19th Century - which makes a lot of sense, Wisconsin only being 1,000 miles from the nearest ocean.

Although not nearly as famous as Alexander Mitchell and his Marine Bank, the town also boasts the World's Only Corn Palace. The original corn palace, built in 1892, was used to encourage people to settle in the area by claiming South Dakota had rich soil. However, by 1933, angry farmers attempted to burn down the palace after all of the "rich" soil had blown away in the Dust Bowl. 

Moorish (or for fans of Trivial Pursuit and Sienfeld, Moopish) minarets were added in 1937 and used as watch towers against any angry farmers that approached the palace. By 2004, the Department of Homeland Security was spending money to protect the Corn Palace against any terrorist farmers. Today, the Corn Palace is a sedate icon of South Dakota that is used for high school basketball games and senior proms. 

With such a storied and tumultuous history, a stop at the Corn Palace was a must on our westward trip.

A corny #selfie

Guard booth constructed with funds from the Department of Homeland Security

Tractor used by angry farmers in their assault upon the Corn Palace in 1933

Camouflage used in 2004 by the Department of Homeland Security to protect the Corn Palace from terrorist farmers 

After our visit to the World's Only Corn Palace (which is a good thing . . .), we ate dinner at Corona Village, which is Mitchell's second finest restaurant according to Tripadvisor. The food was bland and insipid. Perhaps this says something about culinary tastes on Great Plains.

After dinner, we drove for another hour arriving at about 10:45 pm at our final destination of the evening, the Super 8 in Chamberlain. Sitting where the Missouri River crosses I-90, Chamberlain is billed as Where the West Begins by Al's Oasis, a local establishment. Unfortunately, the Super 8 did not live up to this majestic slogan.

Although the woman who checked us in was chatty, explaining that she had just moved up from Kansas, worked another job at the hospital, and had never been to Mount Rushmore, but was going to see in this fall - she later told us that we should not walk around our room because the person below us was complaining we were loud. Apparently, the floor at the Super 8 is Super Thin.

And so ended our first day of our westward adventure.

Black Friday 2013 - One Thousand Years of Civilization and Literature

November 29, 2013

Black Friday - the height of consumer madness. As an alternative in 2011, I took Thane and Nastassja to Springfield, Illinois to see the sites of that hallowed American saint, Abraham Lincoln. In 2013, we spent Black Friday touring the greatest prehistoric city in the United States and one of the oldest European settlements in the Midwest: Cahokia Mounds and St. Louis - which are located within eight miles of each other.

We left Madison around 7 o'clock in the am as the sun was just starting to rise with temperatures in the teens. The drive south from Madison across the flat lands of central Illinois is one of the most boring routes in America. Flat farmland that is only broken up by a few giant wind farms north of Bloomington-Normal. After five hours of this bleak landscape we arrived at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site.

One of only 21 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the United States, Cahokia Mounds was the largest settlement in the Native American Mississippian culture, reaching a population as large as 40,000 people by the 12th Century. More importantly, Cahokia was the center of pre-Columbian Mounds candy bars production.

By the time Europeans had arrived, the site had been abandoned for unknown reasons. Proposed theories for this abandonment include over-hunting and deforestation. However, most modern scholars now believe that the domestication of the almond led to the Mounds downfall as the Almond Joy candy bar was both tastier and more nutritious.

On arrival, we toured a very nice visitor center which contained an informative and well-done exhibit on Mississippian culture. It also contained the famous Birdman tablet which, contrary to popular belief, is not an image of Robert Stroud, otherwise known as the Birdman of Alcatraz.

After leaving the visitor center, we walked over to Monk's Mound, the largest of the many mounds on the site. Named after the French Trappist Monks who grew food on the mound and attempted to revised the Mounds candy bar production in the early 19th Century, the mound is 100 feet high and was constructed over 1,000 years ago by the Mississippian culture.

Nastassja was as happy as a monk to be climbing the mound on this fine fall day.

Original steps built by the monks so they could quickly access their famous Trappist beers, which they stored at the top of the mound.

Once we reached the top of Monk's Mound, the views were incomperable as you could see the city named after King Louis IX of France in the distance, along with the Gateway Arch. Unknown to most, the Gateway Arch was the fulfillment of Louis IX dream to build an arch so high that it appeared to reach the heavens. 

Originally, Louis IX had planned to set out for the city on the Mississippi named after him in 1271 in his famous "Golden Arches Crusade" in order to construct the Gateway Arch. Alas, the famous king died during the Eight Crusade in August of 1270. Various causes of his death have been put forth, including typhoid and bubonic plague. However, modern scholars now believe Louis IX was poisoned by the Burger King, ruler of England at the time, who was afraid that Louis's Gateway Arch would be used as a symbol of a rival fast-food empire.

High atop Monk's Mound, the Gateway Arch, the culmination of Louis IX's lifelong dream, can be seen eight miles away.

After climbing Monk's Mound, we took a short drive to the nearest gas station so I could buy a Mounds Bar to consume outside the other famous site in Cahokia, Woodhenge. This timber circle is similar to England's Stonehenge and may have been used as a giant solar calendar. Whatever its use, the producers of This is Spinal Tap originally wanted to use Woodhenge in their famous megalith scene but were unable to to secure the rights to use the timber circle and had to settle on Stonehenge.

The kids excitement at seeing Woodhenge was so intense as to be palpable.

Finished with our visit of Cahokia Mounds, we headed up the road a little ways to the Lewis & Clark State Historic Site located at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. The site was located near Camp River Dubois (the original camp is now in the middle of the Mississippi due to changes in the river's course), where Huey Lewis and Clark W. Griswold camped during the winter of 1803 and 1804 before setting out on their famous voyage to the Pacific Ocean.

The historic site had a nice little visitor's center, which included a tour of the replica fort that Huey Lewis and Clark Griswold sheltered in, a facsimile of the boat the pair took up the Missouri, and a little old lady at the visitor center desk who told Nastassja that she had a service for taking care of obnoxious brothers.

A replica of the boat that Huey Lewis first performed "Back in Time" while heading up the Missouri River in 1804.

During the short tour of the fort, in which we were the only people under the age of 80, our guide enlightened us on the meaning of "rolling in the hay" and informed Nastassja that back in the days of Lewis & Clark, girls were married off at the age of 14. In addition, one of the elderly women on our tour (who probably remembered when girls were married off at 14) inquired about borrowing one of the replica canoes on the site so she could take her friend all the way to New Orleans. Oh that octogenarian humor!

There you have it - the confluence of the two greatest North American rivers.

In keeping in the spirit of Clark W. Griswold, we continued our whirlwind tour and headed straight to the Gateway Arch. The world's tallest arch was constructed as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States in the 19th Century. However, the inside of the monument, including the "space-age" elevator feels much more like the 1960s Star Trek vision of the future.

Believing that the arch was the entrance to a giant McDonalds, Thane and Nastassja are excited about the french fries they believe are just ahead. 

After a quick dinner of pizza at the nearby Angelo's Taverna, we took the Ferris Wheel like elevator to the top of the arch. Beautiful, but tiny views of downtown St. Louis and the Mississippi river greeted us.

Like the original Enterprise on Star Trek, the designers of the Arch left a spartan and tiny window to view the city below.

Buildings in Chicago

Chicago Open House - October 19, 2013

Every year, the Chicago Architectural Foundation hosts Open House Chicago, a two day event in which the public is allowed to visit many buildings. Having a Saturday free of swimming obligations, we headed down to our favorite Midwestern city for the day.

First stop was the Prairie Avenue District, an area of Chicago that we had never visited. The district is famed for its history, including the 1812 Battle of Fort Dearborn where George Ronan and his 47 Samurai were killed. By the end of the 19th Century things had settled down and wealthy Chicagoans, such as George Pullman and Marshall Field, built mansions on Prairie Avenue.

We began our tour with the John J. Glessner House, a Downton Abbey themed castle constructed in 1887 by a vice-president of International Harvester. The house's unique design was particularly upsetting to George Pullman, who lived across the street - causing him to exclaim "I do not know what I have ever done to have that thing staring me in the face every time I go out of my door." Because he could not tolerate looking at the house, Pullman designed a railway sleeping car so he could spend his nights away from the Glessner House.

The house that caused George Pullman so much consternation that he would rather face a nationwide strike than sleep next door.

Nearby was the Henry B. Clarke House, which is the oldest surviving residence in Chicago. Built in 1833, it resembled a southern plantation house more than a Midwestern home due to its Greek Revival Style. 

Small potatoes compared to the ancient Greek architect Ictinus's Parthenon

Unknown to most Chicagoan, the headquarters of Lollipop Guild was next door to the Henry B. Clarke house until nearby residents complained about the incessant singing that emanated from the building at all hours of the night.

Former headquarters of the Lollipop Guild

Next up was the Keith House, an 1870s mansion converted into an art gallery.  Oddly, there was a shower in the public restroom.

The Keith House - surprisingly older than the Rolling Stone with its namesake

We also toured the Wheeler Mansion, another 1870s house turned boutique hotel. While on the second floor, we witnessed people at the house next door smoking pot on their balcony. This caused an aging, hippy appearing man in our room to yell - "hey Norman share some with me!"

The last house we viewed in the Prairie Avenue District was the William W. Kimball House, former home to the piano manufacturer's founder. Built in the Châteauesque style (think of the Château Frontenac in Québec City), Kimball wanted a house that was more glorious than that of Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg. In Kimball's later years, he became a big patron of United States Soccer, being instrumental in bringing David Beckham to play for Los Angeles by offering him a lifetime supply of pianos.

The Kimball House - where pianos melded with international football

Finished with the Prairie Avenue District, we moved onto the Loop and the Blackstone Hotel. Called the Hotel of Presidents, the phrase "smoke-filled rooms" originated here when the 20th Century's greatest president, Warren Harding, was selected as the Republican nominee by a bunch of old white men in one of the rooms. Since a bunch of old white men had never picked a presidential nominee before or after, the Blackstone Hotel became immortal in the eyes of today's Tea Party.

Al Capone would use a baseball bat on guests that were loud and unruly

The Presidential Suite at the Blackstone; also the bed in which both JFK and Jimmy Carter lusted in their hearts after women who were not their wives.

After all this walking around, we had worked up a lusty appetite so we arrived at Kramer's Health Foods. The restaurant / health food store's only clientele appeared to be aging hippies who apparently would never need to use the WC because the place lacked a bathroom. In addition, the vegan ham in my sandwich neither tasted nor had the remote appearance of a meat derived from our porcine cousins.

A restaurant without a loo is not groovy.

After a short walk, we arrived at my favorite building in Chicago, the Fisher Building. Built in 1896 for the paper magnate and great grand-father of Jeff Bridges (who appeared in the the Fisher King), Lucius Fisher, it is the oldest 18 story building in Chicago. Containing lots of aquatic leitmotifs, we were able to tour an apartment and adjoining hallways.

The nearby L causes the Fisher Building to sway back and forth regularly.

Across from the Fisher Building, the Harold Washington Library is the largest public library in the world. If you look carefully, you can see the owl Hedwig (of Harry Potter fame) on the corner of the building; J.K. Rowling was Mayor Washington's favorite English author.

The Fisher Building continues to contain the world's largest valve factory.

After the Fisher King building, we briefly toured the headquarters of the architects, Holabird & Root, located in the Marquette Building - named after the French explorer and basketball scion. In its heydays, the firm designed iconic buildings such as the Palmer House, the Chicago Board of Trade, and of course Solider Field, the backyard of Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers.

Trying to find a more modern architectural firm, we visited Adrian Smith & Gordon Gill Architecture, designers of the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa.

Early model of the Burj Khalifa at the headquarters of Adrian Smith & Gordon Gill Architecture. The property's developers, Emaar Properties, wanted something a little taller so Adrian Smith went back to the drawing board and conceived a building slightly taller.

After looking at models of the Burj Khalifa and other post-modern skyscrapers, we craved more traditional buildings so we set off to Randolph Tower. This historic Gothic Revival skyscraper was built in 1929 for the Steuben Club of Chicago to promote the loyalty of German-Americans to America after the bad rap they received in World War I. 

The Steuben Club decided that the best way to demonstrate their loyalty to the ideals of America was to recruit Americans of German heritage who were engaging in time-honored American occupations, such as that of bank robber. Thus, the Steuben Club became a hang-out for gangster John Dillinger, who dated one of the coat-check girls. 

Long after the Steuben Club was gone, the 45 story building fell on hard times and chunks of the terra cotta facade began falling off in the 1990s. Luckily, the building underwent a beautiful renovation in 2012 and now serves as a residential apartment building.

Upon arrival at Randolph Tower, we took two different elevators to the apartment's fancy club house high above the street, which was littered with relics left over from the days of the Steuben Club.

Clubhouse of the German-Americans

Tree brought over from Berlin to promote German-American friendship

Dillinger used this spot as a look-out from the Feds

Matching his and her lounge chairs commissioned by Dillinger his coat-check gal 

Sheep brought over from Hamburg as a show of German-American friendship

Life-size chess pieces constructed in Munich to symbolize the Kaiser's magnificence

Having had our fill of German-American heritage, we walked across the Chicago River to the world famous Merchandise Mart Building.

Smiling because the Dave Matthews Band wasn't dumping waste into the river today

The world's largest building until the Pentagon, the Merchandise Mart was built in 1930 by Marshall Fields to centralize Chicago's wholesale goods business. It was so large that it had its own zip code until 2008 and is still a leading retailing and wholesale destination.

Owned by the Kennedy family for 50 years, Joseph Kennedy had eight huge bronze busts of famous American merchants placed outside to become the Merchandise Mart Hall of Fame. Through the years, the Hall of Fame has generated much controversy; Edward Filene objected when his bust was placed in the basement and David Letterman called it the Pez Hall of Fame because the busts atop tall vertical pedestals resembled the candy's dispensers. The Hall of Fame's ignominy was complete when it became the favored resting spot for the Windy City pigeons.

The Pez Hall of Fame, Joseph Kennedy's greatest contribution to American culture

Karl Marx, one of America's greatest merchants

Former Sears Roebuck president, Robert Elkington Wood, was secretly a stool pigeon

After seeing the Pez Hall of Fame, we entered the Merchandise Mart to tour 1871, which is a sort of club for digital start-ups and is named after the year in which the Great Fire of Chicago occurred. The lobby on the main floor of the Merchandise Mart is as vast as the building itself and interestingly appeared in the Coen Brothers film, the Hudsucker Proxy.

Wishing Tim Robbins would appear and say "You know, for kids"

Following our tour of what was once the world's largest building, we walked about a mile south down Michigan Avenue to see what was once the world's largest auditorium, housed in the creatively named Auditorium Building. 

Located at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Congress Parkway, the building was completed in 1889 by the famous architects Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan. Intended to make high culture accessible to the working classes of Chicago, the building ultimately became more accessible to Deadheads when the Grateful Dead played there 10 times in the 1970s.

Today, the building is home to Roosevelt University, a progressive University named after Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, which purchased the building in 1947 for the massive sum of one dollar. Unfortunately, we were unable to visit the actual auditorium because it was closed after noon and had to settle on seeing the university's gorgeous library on the 10th floor the building. 

The library's stunning view of Buckingham Fountain inspired noted Roosevelt University alumni Al Bundy to include the fountain in the opening credits for Married . . . with Children.

Buckingham Fountain - made famous through the efforts of Al and Peg Bundy

For the last building of the day, we walked to the nearby Fine Arts Building. This 10 story building constructed in 1885 was known as the Studebaker Building because it was built to display carriages  for the wagon and automobile company of the same name. 

In 1898 is was converted into an artist's colony and has remained dedicated to the arts for over 100 years, housing art galleries, dance studios, and musical instrument makers. Famed Wisconsin architect Frank Lloyd Wright had an office there in the early 1900s. 

Although the building was supposedly was recently renovated, it contains a huge crumbling and abandoned theater and faded but ornate Art Nouveau motifs and murals. Despite the disintegrating nature of the building (or maybe because of them), the building was my favorite of the day due to its fascinating character. It even had a lift that still had a live elevator operator who made small talk with you while taking you to the heights of the building. 

Door that was the inspiration for the Hall & Oates song, Private Eyes, 

Lee was a distant cousin to the Stradivarius family

Frank Lloyd Wright's favorite Arabian style door

Beautiful remodeling work in the Fine Arts Building

Only those wearing Elevator Shoes allowed to press this button

Waiting for her favorite elevator operator to take us to the heights

Castles, skyscrapers, gangsters, and of course corny jokes, our tour of Chicago's buildings had it all and we look forward to coming back again for the 2014 Open House Chicago.