Jodik: I was just lurking around the GW forums and caught you're posting. I have never been to Chicago, so I found your photos fascinating. Thanks for putting them up. By the way your flower pictures were great to enjoy also. Ross.

Thank you very much, Ross! I'm glad you enjoyed them! The last time I was in Canada, the year was 1967... The World's Fair was in full swing! I was rather little, so I don't remember much... but I do remember it being a wonderful time!

The nicer parts of Chicago are quite beautiful... Lake Shore Drive and the Gold Coast with their regal buildings, lovely parks and gardens, and breathtaking views of Lake Michigan... what I didn't capture with my camera were the homeless families living under the viaducts and overpasses on the way out of Chicago... sad, too sad.

Great pictures! I love the coneflowers and their shadows - very artistic. My family moved to Canada from England in 1967 - guess what we did every weekend that first summer? That's right -Expo 67! We lived only 2 hours away. I was little too, but I also recall it was very festive with a real feeling of celebration.

Anna

Thanks, Anna! I've been documenting the gardens and flowers with photographs since spring... and every once in a while, I see a very artistic scene through the viewfinder!

Canada has always been rather special to my family... my adopted brother is French-Canadian, from Quebec! He was only 2 when he became my brother, but he holds a dual citizenship, which we've always thought was pretty cool!

In 1967, I was 6 years old... my memories of Expo '67 are extremely patchy, but I do recall the festive atmosphere!

Oh Jodi...this brings back such good memories of our Chicago trip last summer. I am having trouble downloading pics from my older memory stick. I only got to download this one and then the pc won't let me anymore.

Oh well...better than nothing...lol!

Ana and Emem at Navy Pier
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Here's a pic of them in Dollywood which is like 2 hours drive from here. They are currently having their "Kids Festival" and we had fun, fun, fun!

Ana and Em and the sand sculpture. Do you see Dolly Parton?
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And right across Dollywood is Splash Country. Ana experienced her very first "swimming in the waves" here. Of course it was that artificial waves but she was so happy and called it the "Best Place Ever"!

My beloved daughters...
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Fabulous photos, Maria! Your daughters are always so beautiful, and always smiling! It looks like they all had fun on vacation, and especially swimming in the wave pool! Thank you for sharing those!

I live so close to Chicago, and yet, it's been years since I've been to any of the museums, or Navy Pier, or anywhere else, for that matter! We're always just passing through, on our way to doctors or to conduct other business...

I'd really like to attend some concerts or visit the Field Museum or Shed Aquarium, or one of the other fun places to see in Chicago... perhaps we will this summer, or maybe next...

Pretty cool Jodik
Always wanted to have a trip to the US, always had a pic of chicago as a cold windy place, full of old guys playing chicago blues. Cold and windy would not be acceptable, a few beers, and some blues would be!
i would prefer somewhere warmer tho.
Are your pictures taken recently, as I have Glads, echinaceas, just aboout to flower, I thought we would have been out of sync, for some reason
Good pics tho!
Andy

Thanks, Andy! Yes, the photos were taken the day before they were posted, I believe. The Glads are just opening, and both of my Echinacea patches are in the first stages of blooming... they'll go on for quite some time! I'm a bit disappointed in the Glads, though... they're fading soon after opening. I was hoping they'd last longer. Perhaps they aren't liking the heat we're having... this is the first year I've grown them, so I'm not certain what to expect. I planted both whites and greens, and the whites are lasting longer, so far.

Chicago is hot and beautiful in the summer, and cold and very windy in the winter! I love the Blues, and there are some wonderful blues clubs in Chicago and the surrounding area! It's been a long time since I went to a good blues club to hear a band play... eons ago, I would go to a little place called "The Blue Note" to see different bands... they got shut down due to the illegal trafficking of certain chemicals, I heard! Imagine that! There was also a place in southern Wisconsin called the "Silver Moon" that featured wonderful blues! I saw a band called The Kingsnakes there, and the sax player was out of this world!

My favorite music is Classic Metal and Rock, but I still have the complete set of Robert Johnson recordings packed away somewhere! You know what they say... "the Blues had a baby and they called it Rock & Roll"!

Maria, your daughters are absolutely gorgeous. How do you manage to grow such beautiful girls and such beautiful Amis all at the same time :-) Jodi, thanks so much for posting all those wonderful pictures of Chicago. I've never been there so really enjoyed your pictures. They are very good for being on the move.

Thanks, Kitty! I owe it all to my trusty digital camera, and to Larry, who fixed the settings for me so I'd always get good pictures! What you don't see are the many photos that were too blurred by movement to make it into my photo album! I bet I deleted 20 photos to get the ones you see here! But I think it was worth it, and I think it turned out good.

I've always wanted to get some good shots of the Chicago skyline and the lake... and every 3 months, we head toward the city in the early morning for our quarterly check-up with Doc. Every time we go, I get mad at myself for forgetting the camera! But this time, I remembered!

I, too, have always wondered how Maria does it! Four gorgeous girls, and all those beautiful flowers... to grow all that takes some mighty fine skill! :-)

You are one very Blessed person, Maria! To be surrounded by all that beauty and all that love... it doesn't get any better! Looking back, my kids gave me a lot of time to play with my flowers, too, and they were encouraging, in their own way... every once in a while, they'd tell me how nice the garden looked, or how pretty my flowers were!

The traffic in Chicago can be quite scary and a bit daunting if you're not used to it! The major highways are bumper to bumper gridlock twice a day, most days! Rush hour! Going into the city in the morning, you encounter gridlock... and going out of the city in the afternoon, it's gridlock once again! Even weekends have some pretty thick traffic! But, Chicago is like no other city I've ever been to... and I've seen them all! The skyline is quite beautiful, and there's lots to see and do!

I'm glad you and the girls enjoyed our fine city! If you ever come back this way, please let me know! I can be in Chicago in less than 4 hours!

I had never heard of the Tanger Outlets until yesterday, in fact... our Sunday edition of the paper had a flier for the outlet, and there's one here in Tuscola, not too far away. I love to shop, and will have to check it out!