2006 retirement trip

USA March 7 to March 22

1 USA
1
 Tuesday 7 March, 2006 Took United Airlines 840 to LA and then UA to Phoenix Arizona. Arrived the same day and picked up a super-bland Ford Focus at Phoenix airport.
2
 Wednesday 8 March, 2006 The next day we headed for the malls. This is the Desert Sky Mall in Phoenix.
3
 Wednesday 8, 2006 We picked up clothing for the cold days ahead. Later that day, we picked up Caroline from Phoenix airport. The three of us had dinner at Stuart Andersons - always a favourite of ours.
4
Thursday 9 March, 2006 With Caroline, we drove north through Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon National Park. Entry fee was $20, surely one of the best bargains ever. This is the Watchtower at Desert View, our first stop. It was built in 1932.
5
 Thursday 9 March, 2006 Our first glimpses of the eastern end of the canyon from the South Rim. That's the Colorado River in the distance.
6
 Thursday 9 March, 2006 The north rim is closed because of snow at this time of the year.
7
 Thursday 9 March, 2006 Jenni had a new digital high definition video camera to record our adventure. Unfortunately, in learning the camera, she accidentally erased this part of the trip.
8
Jenni and Caroline. I have known Caroline for 40 years and she's a month younger than me.
9
 Thursday 9 March, 2006 Looking in the western direction of the canyon towards the main park areas.
10
 Thursday 9 March, 2006 Jenni recording the views from the Watchtower.
11
 Thursday 9 March, 2006 The Colorado River winds its way through the canyon to Lake Mead where it supplies water to Southern California and Nevada.
12
Thursday 9 March, 2006 Things look serious.
13
 Thursday 9 March, 2006 I took this photo with the remote infra red device I'm holding in my hand.
14
 Thursday 9 March, 2006 Jenni doing some more recording in the area to the west of the tower.
15
 Thursday 9 March, 2006 There are 13 separate geological layers in the canyon. The youngest is 270 million years old.
16
Thursday 9 March, 2006 270 MYA the earth was oxygen rich, vertebrate animals and plants existed and the earth had experienced two mass extinction events where nearly all life had been wiped out. There were three more to come. (Prokaryotes and eukaryotes are single cell bacteria but eukaryotes have a nucleus that contain their DNA).
17
 Thursday 9 March, 2006 The oldest geological layer is 1.84 billion years old, before the time multi-cellular life evolved on earth. The bottom of the canyon exposes a time when the only life on earth was bacteria.
18
 Thursday 9 March, 2006 It's amazing what clings to life on the canyon rim.
19
 Thursday 9 March, 2006 conifers seem to thrive.
20
Thursday 9 March, 2006 This was a common shrub that thrived in the canyon area.
21
 Thursday 9 March, 2006 From the south rim to the Colorado River below is an elevation change of 4600 feet. The river is still 2450' above sea level. The canyon itself is is relatively recent and was carved over a period of only 5-6 million years.
22
 Thursday 9 March, 2006 The canyon was formed by water flowing around the hard rocks and cutting into the softer rocks. This is a ledge that formed the early course of the river 5 million years ago.
23
 Thursday 9 March, 2006 It was cold.
24
Thursday 9 March, 2006 The ladies at play - forgetting about the cold for a moment
25
 Thursday 9 March, 2006 This was aimed at me. Can you believe it?
26
 Thursday 9 March, 2006 Colliding tectonic plates formed the Colorado Plateau, and most of the mountains of the American west, about 70 million years ago.
27
 Thursday 9 March, 2006 The American plate is lighter than the Pacific plate so that when the plates collided 70 MYA, the lighter plate slid over the top of the heavier plate. Because of this, the plateau was uplifted many thousands of feet but was spared the tilting that occurred in other areas of the American West.
28
Thursday 9 March, 2006 The canyon is 277 miles long. The layers are called sedimentary layers.
29
 Thursday 9 March, 2006 Its width varies from 8 to 16 miles.
30
 Thursday 9 March, 2006 Colorado - colour red - comes from the red rock that forms part of the canyon walls
31
 Thursday 9 March, 2006 Caroline and Jenni found this rock formation interesting for geological reasons they said.
32
Thursday 9 March, 2006 Some precipitation-bearing clouds added to the dramatic feel of the canyon.
33
 Thursday 9 March, 2006 This is the area near the main tourist centre of the park. The lookout in the front centre gives the most popular views of the canyon
34
 Thursday 9 March, 2006 We later learned that these clouds were snow clouds as, the next day, heavy snow falls stopped traffic into and out of the park.
35
 Thursday 9 March, 2006 Snow-covered ledges add to the canyon's beauty.
36
Thursday 9 March, 2006 Jenni taking the video that we never got to see.
37
 Thursday 9 March, 2006 The sun shone through the snow clouds for a moment and with a brilliant burst of colour, highlighted the red colours of the canyon walls
38
 Thursday 9 March, 2006 These are the views from the park centre. This is where most of the tourist buses stop but, thankfully, there weren't too many today.
39
 Thursday 9 March, 2006 These are the really hard rocks that have survived 5-6 million years of erosion. Should we call these the three sisters?
40
Thursday 9 March, 2006 The Colorado looks to be little more than a trickle - this must be a tributary
41
 Thursday 9 March, 2006 We headed back to Flagstaff to spend the night there. Caroline took us to dinner at a very nice Mexican restaurant. We slept poorly but were delighted to see that it had snowed overnight.
42
 Friday 10 March, 2006 From Flagsstaff we took the scenic route back to Phoenix using US89. Points along the way were, Sedona, Jerome, Prescott and Yarnell. We joined the traffic into Phoenix at Wickenberg.
43
 Friday 10 March, 2006 It didn't stop snowing either. By the time we got back to Phoenix, Flagstaff had been snowed in.
44
Friday 10 March, 2006 Our little car lightly dusted. The temperature was - 2°C and it was windy as well. This is the coldest weather we'd been in for many years.
45
 Friday 10 March, 2006 The very nice Day's Inn in Flagstaff - $42 a night including free wireless internet. This was the best value accommodation of the whole trip.
46
 Friday 10 March, 2006 There are two Day's Inns in Flagstaff. We got it right the second time.
47
 Friday 10 March, 2006 Heading out of Flagstaff on our way back to Phoenix - cold and windy.
48
Friday 10 March, 2006 As we neared Sedona, the snow had stopped. These are some of the red cliffs for which Sedona is famous.
49
 Friday 10 March, 2006 Still cold. No leaves on the trees.
50
 Friday 10 March, 2006 Beautiful contrast in colours.
51
 Friday 10 March, 2006 Nearing the township of Sedona. Sedona is surrounded by red cliffs like these.
52
Friday 10 March, 2006 We stopped for real coffee and scoans (scones) in Sedona and continued south on US89. Sedona has re-invented itself as an extremely beautiful tourist town.
53
 Friday 10 March, 2006 We were leaving the weather behind us. However, we saw lots of snow plows heading north to Flagstaff as Flagstaff bore the full brunt of the storm.
54
 Friday 10 March, 2006 We're now in the old ghost town of Jerome, population 343. The mansion on the hill is the Douglas Mansion in Jerome State Historic Park with the Powder Box Church in the foreground.
55
 Friday 10 March, 2006 We were accompanied by a very pleasant guest - Caroline's very easy to travel with.
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Friday 10 March, 2006 Jerome was a copper mining town until the 1950's. On 5 February 1903, the New York Sun proclaimed Jerome to be "The wickedest town in the west" because of the number of 'houses of joy' there.
57
 Friday 10 March, 2006 Looking back down the hill on US 89A.
58
 Friday 10 March, 2006 The weather here was quite mild even though the town is 5250' above sea level.
59
 Friday 10 March, 2006 Jerome became a ghost town when the copper ran out in the 1950's.
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Friday 10 March, 2006 Jerome is mostly in its original decayed condition and that gives it an air of authenticity. We wouldn't want to see a rebuilt ghost town because then it would hardly be a ghost town.
61
 Friday 10 March, 2006 At one time, Jerome was Arizona's fourth largest town. The large building in the centre upper, which was once a hospital, is the Grand Hotel.
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 Friday 10 March, 2006 Main Street, Jerome Arizona.
63
 Friday 10 March, 2006 To get to Jerome, we had to climb from the plains below up US89A.
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Friday 10 March, 2006 The town started to revive as a tourist attraction when the arts and crafts people moved in. What wonderful foresight.
65
 Friday 10 March, 2006 I still have no idea why they would want to go into a "House of Joy".
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 Friday 10 March, 2006 The House of Joy.
67
 Friday 10 March, 2006 Timber construction was very popular in early US towns and it's remarkable to read about the buildings that fire had destroyed. Often, what looks to be original, is a rebuilt copy of the original building.
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Friday 10 March, 2006 Jerome had three major fires between 1897 and 1899, burning out much of the town.
69
 Friday 10 March, 2006 I went walkabout while the ladies buried themselves in Arts and Crafts shops.
70
 Friday 10 March, 2006 Just love the original wooden verandahs.
71
 Friday 10 March, 2006 All the streets are small which makes it so tourist-friendly. Walking is easy and the traffic is very light.
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Friday 10 March, 2006 Many of the old buildings are occupied but many are in a state of almost complete ruin.
73
 Friday 10 March, 2006 As the town gets richer, my guess is that the authorities will bury the power and communication cables. This is what happened in Tombstone Arizona.
74
 Friday 10 March, 2006 Spoils it a bit - but it was a mining town.
75
 Friday 10 March, 2006 The large and luxurious Montana Hotel, built of brick, burned in 1915.
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Friday 10 March, 2006 The "Oldest family owned saloon in Arizona"
77
 Friday 10 March, 2006 Here, at the Connor Hotel, you can communicate with your long-deceased ancestors. It has rebuilt rooms ranging in price from $105 to $140.
78
 Friday 10 March, 2006 More ruins. The bricks are interesting and look as though they were hand moulded or maybe cut from stone.
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 Friday 10 March, 2006 This is the abandoned Little Daisy Hotel which was a dormitory for the miners at the Little Daisy Mine. The concrete shell still stands today.
80
Friday 10 March, 2006 The remains of a brick wall on the remains of a stone foundation. It's hard to see what it was originally.
81
 Friday 10 March, 2006 The breakfast here is supposed to be very good.
82
 Friday 10 March, 2006 This is the Douglas Mansion in Jerome State Historic Park. James S. Douglas built the mansion in 1916, just above his Little Daisy Mine. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
83
 Friday 10 March, 2006 Ye old town hall. Note the Cadillac limo - how'd it get around the switchbacks?
84
Friday 10 March, 2006 The remains of the Montana Hotel from lower down the street. The town was obviously quite prosperous at one point in time.
85
 Friday 10 March, 2006 A ruin in dangerous condition. The wall on the left looks as though it's ready to fall.
86
 Friday 10 March, 2006 Looking back down the main street. I'm on my way back to meet the ladies.
87
 Friday 10 March, 2006 What an interesting use for a ruin. It's now the "Victoria Studio".
88
Friday 10 March, 2006 Blasting in the mines frequently shook the town, sometimes damaging or moving buildings. After one blast in the 1930s, the city jail slid one block down hill intact.
89
 Friday 10 March, 2006 Lawsuits were frequent, but the mining companies usually won. That's the old school in the background.
90
 Friday 10 March, 2006 Leaving Jerome and heading for Prescott. We climbed for another couple of thousand feet before descending into the Prescott Valley and into Prescott.
91
 Friday 10 March, 2006 The Prescott Valley
92
Friday 10 March, 2006 The township of Prescott Valley is in the middle of the plain. Our route bypassed it and took us to Prescott.
93
 Friday 10 March, 2006 We stopped for photos but didn't stop in Prescott.
94
 Friday 10 March, 2006 Our great travelling companion - she's so full of life and fun.
95
 Friday 10 March, 2006 My long time travelling companion - through life that is.
96
Friday 10 March, 2006 Caroline's last name is Yarnall.
97
 Friday 10 March, 2006 Yarnell is close enough. Our journey from here took us to Wickenburg, a town with special memories for Caroline. She and Ranny had holidayed there many years ago.
98
 Friday 10 March, 2006 From Wickenburg, we joined the traffic into Phoenix and spent the night there. The next day, SATURDAY MARCH 11, we dropped Caroline off at the airport and continued on to the outlet at Casa Grande and then into Tucson.
99
 Sunday 12 March, 2006 Our dear friend Bob Whitely with Walt Mengis. We stayed with Bob and Jan for the week.
100
Sunday 12 March, 2006 No, they're not gay.
101
 Sunday 12 March, 2006 Rene Berger is from Switzerland but lives in Tucson for up to three months at at time. Pete Peterson lives in Tacoma Washington.
102
 Monday 13 March, 2006 Mike Keville (in the white) is the guy who started the Vintage Stunt Competition nearly 20 ago. The lady with her back to us is Shareen Fancher, a long time friend of the family. Bob and Jenni are the others.
103
 Monday 13 March, 2006 Jenni and Shareen.
104
Monday 13 March, 2006 The two paved circles. In addition, there are three grass circles.
105
 Tuesday 14 March, 2006 The grass circle in the foreground is where the Spark Ignition competition is held. Even this competition attracts 15-20 competitors every year.
106
 Tuesday 14 March, 2006 Many suppliers of hobby goods come to the VSC and set up tents.
107
 Tuesday 14 March, 2006 This is very early in the week before serious practice and the competitions begin.
108
Tuesday 14 March, 2006 Randy Powell getting his model ready for competition.
109
 Tuesday 14 March, 2006 Me with my 8 year old, crashed twice, Thunderbird. There were over 90 entries in Classic and about the same in Old Time Stunt. This is the world's largest competition for these older planes.
110
 Tuesday 14 March, 2006 Bob Whitely trimmed it and it flew very well after that.
111
 Tuesday 14 March, 2006 Hat and long sleeve shirt for the Tucson sun. Even in late winter, the sun was fierce. When we departed Tucson for Europe, I left the model with Bob and flew it again in 2007.
112
Tuesday 14 March, 2006 Bob
113
 Tuesday 14 March, 2006 Bob posing with his new plane; a Nobler.
114
 Tuesday 14 March, 2006 The gold in the lettering and on the fuselage is gold leaf - real gold.
115
 Tuesday 14 March, 2006 No young people here. They're a nice crowd and always make Australians feel welcome.
116
Tuesday 14 March, 2006 Randy Powell's Cobra with naughty stuff on the wing
117
 Tuesday 14 March, 2006 Ted Fancher's Ruffy. Ted is also along time friend of the family.
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 Tuesday 14 March, 2006 Ted and Ruffy.
119
 Tuesday 14 March, 2006 Ted doing some adjustments. He's being assisted by Bob Hazel from California. Bob is a New Zealander who is a permanent US resident.
120
Tuesday 14 March, 2006 VSC week is a continuous round of social engagements. This one is at Bill and Elaine Heyworth's.
121
 Tuesday 14 March, 2006 Masaru Hiki from Japan. We first met Masaru when he came to Australia for the national competition - which he won.
122
 Tuesday 14 March, 2006 Bob doesn't drink alcohol or kiss women who do. However, he drinks root beer and that tells you something.
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 Tuesday 14 March, 2006 Bill Heyworth, our gracious host for the evening.
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Tuesday 14 March, 2006 Ted Fancher.
125
 Tuesday 14 March, 2006 Always a big roll up at Bill and Elaine's. They have the event fully catered and all we have to do is to turn up.
126
 Tuesday 14 March, 2006 In the cowboy hat is Bob Emmett. He visited us in Australia.
127
 Tuesday 14 March, 2006 Sunset from Bill's back yard. Tucson is surrounded by very impressive mountains. Mount Lemon for example is 9150 feet. That's about 2000' taller than Mt Kosciusko, Australia's tallest hill.
128
Tuesday 14 March, 2006 There are coyotes in this area and mountain lions have been seen in the national forest to the north.
129
 Tuesday 14 March, 2006 Ted injured his shoulder in a bicycle accident and Bob broke his arm falling up stairs. The figures they quoted for their medical bills took my breath away.
130
 Tuesday 14 March, 2006 They were the walking wounded. Ted was growing facial hair for a part in an amateur play in which he was acting. This seems to be Ted's main interest now.
131
 Tuesday 14 March, 2006 Bill Heyworth's son had become the owner of my Kareela that I'd left in the USA in 1988. Bill rescued it and stored it in his garage.
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Tuesday 14 March, 2006 I'd taken the plane to the USA in 1984 to compete in the world championships. When I returned to the USA in 1985 for my three year assignment, I brought this plane with me.
133
 Tuesday 14 March, 2006 Lou and Linda Wolgast are also long time friends of ours. When I came to the USA for the World Championships in 1984 Lou looked after me, even loaning me his car. Americans are like that.
134
 Saturday 18, 2006 Me and Whitely.
135
 Saturday 18, 2006 Our good friend Masaru Hiki came a creditable 5th.
136
Saturday 18, 2006 Final day of flying. It was extremely windy but I managed to get through it OK. Here, I'm laughing about it with Lou Wolgast while Masaru looks after my plane.
137
 Saturday 18, 2006 We go back 22 years from the 1984 World Championships in Chicopee Massachusetts.
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 Saturday 18, 2006 After my part in the competition is over, I take the model to pieces to put in storage at Bob's place.
139
 Saturday 18, 2006 On Thursday (March 16) I managed to destroy a carbon fibre propeller by putting my fingers in it. I needed professional medical attention and I have to admit, it was a really dumb thing to do - propellers are expensive.
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Saturday 18, 2006 Ted Fancher presents me with a purple heart award for being wounded in action.
141
 Saturday 18, 2006 Keith Trostle expressing interest in my award. That evening we drove back to Phoenix airport and gave the rental car back after which we stayed overninght in a not too nice Day's Inn.
142
 Sunday 19 March, 2006 The next morning we caught a plane from Phoenix to Chicago. The US airline system is a mess and is to be avoided. We caught a train to the city from O'Hare which was a nice surprise at $9.
143
 Monday 20 March, 2006 We're staying at the Travelodge in E Harrison. It was a dump at $144 per night but the location was perfect.
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Monday 20 March, 2006 Looking up Michigan Ave a short distance from our hotel.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 These are the inter-city trains running parallel with Michigan Ave. Suburban trains run through the city itself in many places.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 The bridge over the rail lines at the end of E Harrison.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 The Blackstone Hotel is 21 stories and was completed in 1910. It is a designated Chicago Landmark added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 8, 1986.
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Monday 20 March, 2006 The sloping building on the far right is the Smurfit Stone Building. It was designed by a woman! The building with the spire to the left of the Santa Fe building is the Metropolitan Tower on the Park built in 1924.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 The area between Michigan Ave to the lake shore is taken up by parks and gardens. It's called Grant Park and is named after the civil war general Ulysses S Grant.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 This is the Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 The fountain was, understandably, switched off with the temperature being close to freezing.
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Monday 20 March, 2006 Kate Buckingham dedicated the fountain to the people of Chicago in 1927. The four sea horses represent the four states that touch the lake.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 Ms Buckingham set up an endowment fund to maintain the fountain so that future taxpayers wouldn't be burdened with maintenance costs. How unlike the present is that?
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 The trees in the park are very mature.
155
 Monday 20 March, 2006 We continued our walk north and crossed Lake Shore Drive so that we could walk beside the lake (Lake Michigan of course).
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Monday 20 March, 2006 The Daley family are power players in Chicago. Richard J Daley was mayor for 21 years. Richard M Daley, the current and second longest serving mayor, is his son.
157
 Monday 20 March, 2006 The yacht club is closed for the winter. The weather here was a complete contrast with Tucson.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 Getting our bearings.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 All boats are in storage for the winter. Chicago is also called the windy city and this is possibly some of the reason.
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Monday 20 March, 2006 Looking south back to the John G Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum of Natural History.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 A gull floating on the wind.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 The Columbia Yacht Club - established 1892.
163
 Monday 20 March, 2006 Abegweit was originally a Canadian ice breaker and ferry. It came to its present location in 1983 from Nova Scotia, via the St Lawrence Seaway, and is the club's headquarters.
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Monday 20 March, 2006 Look at those flushed cheeks. We felt the cold here much more than in Flagstaff.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 This marina is on the south side of the Chicago River and Navy Pier, in the distance, is on the north side of the river.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 We were far too cold so we decided to head inland. These are multi mega dollar apartments in Randolph St where movie stars and other celebrities live.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 We found a nice warm restaurant and had a lovely hot coffee and breakfast. We later learned that we'd entered the AON Center which is the second tallest building in Chicago.
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Monday 20 March, 2006 With our blood flowing again, we decided to stay away from the lake and to continue our walk along E Randolph instead.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 We were heading along E Randolph which is the northern extremity of the parks that hug the lake shore.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 The Harris Theater for Music and Dance in E Randolph. The Pittsfield building in the rear was once Chicago's tallest building. The Mid Continental Plaza is the box to its left and the top 15 floors are being converted into apartments.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 Gardens in E Randolph.
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Monday 20 March, 2006 Two Prudential Plaza building. Completed 1990 with 67 floors. This is right next door to the AON Center building.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 The Public Library of the City of Chicago. Fooled you. It's now the Chicago Cultural Center and was originally built in 1893.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 Looking south down Michigan Ave.
175
 Monday 20 March, 2006 Carbide & Carbon building was built in 1929 to resemble a dark green champagne bottle with gold foil. It has 37 floors and In 2004 it was converted into the Hard Rock Hotel.
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Monday 20 March, 2006 We're just about to cross the North Michigan Ave bridge. The Chicago Tribune tower is in the background. It was built in 1925 to celebrate the paper's 75th anniversary. This is the start of the miracle mile.
177
 Monday 20 March, 2006 Looking west along the Chicago river that divides Chicago into north and south. On St Patrick's day, the river is died green.
178
 Monday 20 March, 2006 In the 19th century, the Chicago river was re-engineered, for reasons of sanitation, to divert water from the lake into the river instead of vice versa. It now empties into the Mississippi Basin and on to the Gulf of Mexico.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 The Wrigley building in N Michigan Ave was built in 1921 for the Wrigley chewing gum company. The building is clad in approximately 250,000 individual glazed terra cotta tiles.
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Monday 20 March, 2006 Gothic features of the Tribune Tower building.
181
 Monday 20 March, 2006 Jenni videoing on N Michigan Ave. This tape survived being erased.
182
 Monday 20 March, 2006 The Chicago Avenue Pumping Station was built in 1869. It, along with the Chicago Water Tower, were a couple of the few buildings to survive the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 The 100 story John Hancock Center was built in 1969. It is the third-tallest skyscraper in Chicago and the fifth-tallest in the United States, after the Sears Tower, the Empire State Building, the Bank of America Tower and the Aon Center.
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Monday 20 March, 2006 The Chicago Water Tower was built in 1869 to house a 138 foot tall standpipe that could hold water and give the pressure needed for controlling water surges and to fight fires.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 This skyscraper was named for the John Hancock Insurance Company, an original tenant of the building. It is home to offices, restaurants and about 700 condominiums. It contains the highest residences in the world.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 View of Navy Pier from the Hancock building with the water treatment plant to the front of it. Olive Park is the bit with the circles.
187
 Monday 20 March, 2006 Looking down Michigan Ave to the south. The Sears tower is the black building over to the right.
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Monday 20 March, 2006 The AON Tower is the tall building in the centre. Two Prudential Plaza is to its right. The red building to the right of that is the CNA Plaza. It is a 44-story building located on S Wabash Avenue and was completed in 1972.
189
 Monday 20 March, 2006 I can't believe we went into AON and didn't realise it was such a tall building. On the lake foreshore is the aquarium and the Soldier Field stadium is behind the Museum of Natural History.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 Lake Shore Drive, US Highway 41. The yellow sand is probably imported.
191
 Monday 20 March, 2006 Looking up Lake Shore Drive to the North. O'Hare is to the NW from here.
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Monday 20 March, 2006 The lake is so big, it can easily be mistaken for the ocean. It is 321 miles long, 22,400 square miles in area and has a maximum depth of 923 ft.
193
 Monday 20 March, 2006 A cluster of sky scrapers
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 New apartments under construction on the north side of the Chicago River.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 Huge city.
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Monday 20 March, 2006 The Sears Tower has been the tallest building in the United States since 1973. It was the world's tallest building until 1998 when the Petronas Towers in KL surpassed it.
197
 Monday 20 March, 2006 After visiting the Hancock Tower, we caught a tourist bus for a wider look at Chicago.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 We're now travelling along W Wacker Drive. This follows the south side of the Chicago River.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 This is the building in the Blues Bros movie where several thousand police arrived to arrest them. The sculpture is by Pablo Picasso and is of a woman.
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Monday 20 March, 2006 Al Capone's penthouse suites at 35 Wacker Drive, at one time the tallest building outside of New York City.
201
 Monday 20 March, 2006 Elevated commuter rail system. Also shown in the Blues Bros movie.
202
 Monday 20 March, 2006 Picasso again at the Daley Civic Center on Dearborn Ave.
203
 Monday 20 March, 2006 The bus tour takes us down Michigan Ave past the Art Institute.
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Monday 20 March, 2006 There's the red building again.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 The bus takes us past the Soldier Field stadium
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 Soldier Field is currently home to the NFL's Chicago Bears.
207
 Monday 20 March, 2006 The stadium reopened in 2003 after a complete rebuild. It was originally called the Municipal Grant Park field and parts of the older complex have been retained such as the structure in the foreground.
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Monday 20 March, 2006 The Field Museum of Natural History.
209
 Monday 20 March, 2006 Soldier field was named in memory of US soldiers who had given their lives for their country.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 The tour continues north again along Lake Shore Drive. There's the red CNA Plaza building again.
211
 Monday 20 March, 2006 The Chicago Hilton, built 1927. Four U.S. presidents and numerous celebrities have stayed in the $5000/night Conrad Hilton Suite located on the 29th and 30th floors. The roof was the set for a scene in the movie "The Fugitive".
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Monday 20 March, 2006 NBC Tower completed 1989 in post-modern art deco style. Our tour guide advised us that this where Jerry Springer shows are recorded.
213
 Monday 20 March, 2006 The bus pulled into Navy Pier so we decided to get off for a while. We thought it a bit expensive at $25 each but we learned a lot about the city (and it was warm inside the bus).
214
 Monday 20 March, 2006 From here we phoned Dean. He'd got out of hospital the day before after back surgery on the bottom vertebrae. The damaged disk had left his leg numb. He was thankfully OK.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 We had a light lunch and a bit of a relax.
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Monday 20 March, 2006 Navy Pier is very centrally located. Turn 180 degrees and this is what you see. There's the Hancock Tower where we'd been earlier that morning.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 Navy Pier has entertainers who, uhm, entertain.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 This is a duplicate of the original Ferris Wheel built in 1893 for the Chicago World Fair on this very location. It was the first ever such wheel and it was designed by Ferris himself. It was in the age before aircraft and it was the first time people could see the Chicago skyline from the air.
219
 Monday 20 March, 2006 The Chicago skyline is something to behold.
220
Monday 20 March, 2006 EPA boat with the self-serving name of "Lake Guardian".
221
 Monday 20 March, 2006 After lunch, we headed for N Michigan and the miracle mile again.
222
 Monday 20 March, 2006 Interesting object at the top of Grant Park.
223
 Monday 20 March, 2006 Our first stop was in Nordstrum's. Nordstrums is an up market department store but we bought nothing.
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Monday 20 March, 2006 But we did go into the Harley Davidson store.
225
 Monday 20 March, 2006 And we did buy things. I bought another Harley hat and Jenni bought some gloves and a hat.
226
 Monday 20 March, 2006 Thoroughly footsore, we're heading back to our hotel.
227
 Monday 20 March, 2006 This is the London Guarantee building on the south side of the Chicago River. The ornate building on its right is 35 Wacker Drive and it was built in 1927.
228
Monday 20 March, 2006 The building originally had parking on the 2nd through 22nd floors. During the building's first 14 years it had a 22 story car lift that facilitated safe transfers for jewellery merchants.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 The Michigan Ave bridge over the Chicago river has ornate columns that decorate the bridge.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 For fun, we crossed the bridge on the lower level and discovered that a major part of Chicago's traffic travels beneath the upper road surface.
231
 Monday 20 March, 2006 Quite amazing. It's another city beneath the city.
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Monday 20 March, 2006 It's all Victorian era construction - rusting iron and steel.
233
 Monday 20 March, 2006 I took this photo for Dennis. Dennis is an engineer.
234
 Monday 20 March, 2006 We reached the other side of the river at the lower level and headed down the river for a little while.
235
 Monday 20 March, 2006 The miracle mile looks different from down here.
236
Monday 20 March, 2006 The Wabash Ave Bridge was our destination. We followed Wabash for a little while on the way back to our hotel.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 The champagne bottle building is very interesting.
238
 Monday 20 March, 2006 Wabash Ave with the overhead commuter train system. Can't think of too many any other cities that have elevated trains down the middle of city streets like this - bits of Paris maybe?
239
 Monday 20 March, 2006 Trains are clean and safe enough but the supporting structure is a bit of a worry.
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Monday 20 March, 2006 No city in the world would do this now. The noise and visual pollution would kill it.
241
 Monday 20 March, 2006 Being just retired from Sydney's traffic management centre, I was interested in Chicago's traffic management.
242
 Monday 20 March, 2006 Elevated train station platforms. There would have to be lifts installed for the injured and infirm.
243
 Monday 20 March, 2006 Interesting street though.
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Monday 20 March, 2006 Made right here in a factory in Chicago.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 Inside Marshall Field's department store.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 Looks a bit dated to me.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 On Washington and Wabash
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Monday 20 March, 2006 Heading back and it's getting cold again.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 The back alleys are interesting. Full of fire escapes and rubbish bins.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 We're back over near Grant Park on Michigan Ave again.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 Must be American spelling.
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Monday 20 March, 2006 With dark quickly approaching, the electronic displays had better contrast.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 The art Institute on Michigan Ave. We went by here in the bus earlier.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 Not too sure whether this is expensive or not. Upper bracket: does this means millions?
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 A pair of statues guard the entrance to Buckingham Fountain.
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Monday 20 March, 2006 One is the mirror image of the other. That night we had dinner in a lovely Irish Pub.
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 Monday 20 March, 2006 Our memories of Chicago are very favourable and we want to go back and see more. We only had the one full day here but it was great. Tomorrow we head for the airport for our trip to Frankfurt and on to Madrid. END OF OUR USA ADVENTURE. Madrid is next.
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