Chi-town bridge! This bridge links Chinatown to the Mexican…read morePilsen neighborhood. Technically, this bridge is a Scherzer rolling lift bascule bridge, designed by Scherzer himself. It's not especially a pretty bridge. The whole thing needs a paint job and is all pretty rusty. It's pretty amazing that this thing moves! It's so large, that is hard to fathom. I went cruising across this bridge looking for a Taco n' Tequla festival in Pilsen. There were several 'urban campers' set up along this bridge. I wouldn't exactly call this a five star bridge.

"We build too many walls and not enough bridges." ~ Sir Issac Newton…read more Chicago! The City of Broad Shoulders is home to many a landmark from the once world's tallest building, Sears Tower, to the new Frank Gehry Bandshell! As a displaced native, I have been fortunate to have lived in a number of differing bridge cities, but I always return to my native homeland of Chicago to recharge my Soul, and with each returning visit I discover and uncover more of Chicago. It's become such an ever-changing city in the Post-Industrial era of our society, but fortunately there are still many archeological and architectural remains to link the past to the present and this brings me to The Cermak Road Bridge. To quote the landmark sign posted at the bridge, "These four massive industrial buildings clustered around the City's last-remaining double-leaf Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge form the finest intact, early 20th-Century riverfront precinct in Chicago. Originally housing wholesale grocers, window shade manufacturers and other enterprises, the buildings represent an almost vanished aspect of the City's historic industrial character." You may recognize this Bridge as a character in numerous movies filmed around Chicago, or from many an Artist's still photograph, as it is such an iconic landmark of the great City of Chicago. Luckily for me the South Loop, Pilsen, and Chinatown are my latest haunts when I come to visit, and this great bridge ties them all together beautifully. Come here to the Cermak Road Bridge and feel the quiet history of Chicago that is lesser known than most landmarks in a City that is so iconic that it is in its entirety a great historic landmark to be cherished and renowned throughout time. I Heart Chicago!

This site is part of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County. It's a Native American burial…read moreground, which was altogether unexpected. Alexander Robinson helped establish relations between the Native peoples and white settlers here prior to the founding of Chicago. Robinson was leader of the Potawatomi, Ottawa, and Chippewa. Though this land was deeded to the Robinson family in perpetuity, their memory has all but disappeared. The other tombstones that once were here are no longer, and all that remains is a large stone for Alexander, and a small bulletin board that explains some of the family history. There are no services here, but there are a couple of benches near the marker. There is no parking lot at this site. However, there is a small wayside just in front of it where up to three cars can pull over, along East River Road. I've seen deer in this area almost any time I've drive along here, including today when I visited.

Don't roll your eyes; don't say 'she should be writing about great places for a martini'; don't say…read more'this makes no sense; Christmas is months away'. Well, you're going to thank me; have I got some info for you. My folks live near the prairie path and obviously it goes from here, to wherever. We were always charmed by the personally decorated trees along a way that we've walked the dog, jogged, and released frustrations. Well, when my father died recently I went in search of how to reserve a tree for him, in a special spot. It led me to the V.P. C of C. The woman who handles this was so kind and helpful: she lined us up for next year. But that's cuz I didn't know any better. If you're interested, a fresh pine with lights (donated) is yours for the decorating for 39.00. You can also choose a personalized sheet (they laminate it) for your tree; this nice woman sets it up. They go up typically around Turkey Day and come down the week after New Years. Usually, you reserve your tree in September or so. It isn't very often that you can tip your whatever at public servants who unselfishly do things just to make a family happy. What a doll!

Crossin' the South Branch of the Chicago River since 1928!…read more This bridge, also known as the 12th Street Bridge, is a nice looking bridge! It bridges the Loop with the liquor store down the way. It did a good job of holding up the bus as I traversed the South Branch of the Chicago River. The bridge has some cool looking features to it. Check out the obelisks with books on top, with a globe on that, with dolphins, or elephants, or other animals on them. It looks like they're advocating learning about the geography of dolphins. The statues are shout outs to various nearby institutions, like the planetarium, aquarium, or the university. The bridge houses have garlands with rams' heads on the top, that looks really Egyptian, and along with the obelisks, it looks like a bridge that you'd expect to be crossing the Nile! The bridge also crosses a bunch of railroad tracks. I wouldn't exactly hang out on this bridge, or under it! There's more scenic bridges out there to hang on. But it certainly doesn't look like other bridges I've seen and certainly stands out.

The Wabash Avenue Bridge was built in 1930. I really love walking over all of the bridges in…read moreChicago along the river. This bascule bridge In 1930, it was awarded it the "Most Beautiful" bridge.

Remember those who were massacred. Learn the true story. It's online. The new park is lovely.read more

In a cornfield north of Joliet, Illinois in 1942, Dominic Romano was developing a subdivision he…read morehad called Stern Park. When he heard of the Nazi atrocity against the village of Lidice, Czechoslovakia, he renamed the development Lidice in honor of those who lost their lives at the hands of the Gestapo. It was the first town or part of a town to be named in honor of the obliterated village, others would follow around the world. (Lidice is pronounced, roughly, "LEE-de-seh".) On June 9, 1942 the Gestapo surrounded the village and on June 10, rounded up everyone. They shot all men over 16 and children were separated from their mothers. The women and all the children, except for a few that were selected for "Germanization" were sent to a concentration camp, where many perished. The Nazis demolished the village, plowed it under, desecrated the cemeteries, and even diverted the river that once flowed through the village. Any trace of Lidice was gone. After WWII came to an end, the surviving women and children returned to Lidice where a new village was built near the old one. Crest Hill is a sister city to Lidice in the Czech republic. Romano created a memorial to Lidice in 1942 and the exiled president of Czechoslovakia attended the dedication of the memorial. This memorial is one of only two in the United States dedicated to Lidice. It is not easy to find, located in the heart of Romano's development. Still, it is worth a visit to remember and honor those who died at the hands of the Nazi war machine.

Full Disclosure, I work here, with some of the most professional Soldiers I have ever encountered…read more Very dedicated to making a impact on people's lives for the best.

They are awesome! They work very fast! My friend visited another office 2 months before me but the…read moreI swore a month before her. Really recommend here.

Start with the staggering notion that Eratosthenes developed the concepts of longitude and…read morelattitude, and figured out how to measure Earth's circumference pretty accurately in about 240 BCE, and from there you can have some glimmer of what it's like at the Newberry Library to view their internationally renowned collection of printed (some in color) 15th and 16th Century editions of Ptolemy's Geography, which was based and depended upon the then centuries-old work of Eratosthenes. The current exhibit, "Ptolemy's Geography and Renaissance Mapmakers" establishes the Newberry Library moniker as a misnomer. It is, truly, a remarkable museum. This exhibit runs through February 16, 2008, and is part of Chicago's current Festival of Maps, in which 30-something Chicago institutions are participating. You needn't be a bibliophile to appreciate this exhibit of extraordinary books. All you need is a moment to step back and think about how long we humans have known so much and so little about the earth. These maps illustrate and, among other things, explain Columbus's seemingly silly notion that he had landed in Asia when he had landed in the Bahamas. These maps illustrate a world to whom the North American continent was unknown; whereas, when we read about it in history books, it seems almost ridiculous. And, as singular works of art, each of the 37 books on display stand out in their detail, hand drawn precision and raw beauty. Don't miss this.