Beautiful city

We all love Chicago.  We’ve been here several times before and yet it never disappoints.  Everything is just as wonderful as we remember, the skyscrapers are just as spectacular and from the minute we arrived we felt so glad to be here again.

But this morning, waking up on the 27th floor we were nearly up in the clouds, for what we’d have referred to in Hull as “sea roke” had blown in off the lake, making it “lake roke” I imagine.

Out on Michigan Avenue, the taller skyscrapers drifted in and out of visibility though in the short time it took us to walk up as far as the river, it was brightening up and a few patches of blue sky were appearing.

Did I say what a magnificent city this is?

 

In the sunshine, we were beginning to feel a little warm and I was pleased I hadn’t overdone the layers earlier on.

The river tours were loading up by the pier and we remembered the fun we’d had when we took one of those and found ourselves honorary members of a family reunion when we were here two years ago.

Seeing the huge new Trump Tower, I had to agree with the Mayor of Chicago though.  Those huge letters really do spoil the sleek glassy finish.

After all, none of the other buildings shout out the name of their owners.

A little further along, to the right, we heard – and saw – the “El” and thought that maybe later, we’d explore a little of the Loop.

But first, we wanted to see inside the Public Library – which we discovered isn’t a library at all any more, but a “cultural center”.  Nevertheless, those ceilings were still beautiful.

The stained glass dome was still as stunning, even though the rest of the building was a little heartless.

We could still look and wonder, though.

But we could hear music.  The orchestra was rehearsing for this evening’s concert in Grant Park and we fancied getting hold of some drinks and going over there.

What a city, where there’s an open park with first class sound technology allowing everyone to enjoy great music for free right through the Summer.

Today, it was the Grammy award-winning Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano playing with the Grant Park Orchestra and boy, could they play!  The singer had an amazing voice and we sat and enjoyed their rehearsal for a while; until they all took a break, in fact.

Of course, we had to go and play by the bean – the Cloud Gate.  We feature in all of these photographs of course, but its not exactly easy to spot us!

Everyone loves the bean and there’s always a crowd around it.

Taken from right underneath and looking up, the distortions are quite weird.  We tried in vain to find the point where we looked tall and thin in the mirror!

Just along from the Cloud Gate was a new installation for us, but really, we couldn’t wait to go along and watch the children having fun in the Crown Fountain itself.

As we sat in the sunshine, we spotted a small girl, closely watched by her Mummy as she took a few hesitant steps in the shallow water.

Soon, she was stepping out confidently, the water had soaked up her pink trousers and reached knee level, but she wasn’t worried about that.

Following the lead of other children, she was soon running around in the water.

As we left, she was pretty well soaked, having fallen over a couple of times.  What did it matter though?  she’d had a great time!

Our next plan was to find the series of figures we’d spotted on our way into the city yesterday afternoon.  We thought they looked like Antony Gormley figures but when we finally found them, they were nothing of the sort.

Actually, looking closely, it was clear they didn’t have the detail and consistency of Gormley’s work.

Still, they were quite fun and we enjoyed mooching around the garden, taking a closer look.

The cloud was still coming and going and the sunny intervals were becoming fewer and further between.

We decided to take a look at the new Public Library, the replacement for the older, rather elegant building we’d visited earlier.

We could just about see it raising its head above the “el”.

Once inside, we found our way right to the top, to the Winter Garden and the special exhibition space where there was an exhibition of Vivien Maier’s photographs.  No pictures allowed there, but though it was a small collection of her vast work, it was nevertheless worth the effort to see it and it piqued my interest to learn more about her and maybe try to see the documentary film too.

By the time we left the library, we were feeling a little weary.  Just as we thought “mmm…popcorn”, what should we see but a Garrett’s shop right there across the street!  A few samples were in order, because, you know, it’s really hard to decide which flavours to choose

Back down State Street then, past the car park which gives us the shudders every time we see those cars backed into their spaces.

I mean, would you feel comfortable doing that?

And there we were, back in our 27th floor eyrie, looking over the clouds which had come down again.  Now, where shall we have dinner this evening!?

Chicago.  What a city!

To Chicago via the washing machine

Hard to imagine, but we are nearing the end of our road trip.  This last leg was also one of the shortest and on our journey from Fort Wayne to Chicago, there was time to visit the Amish Country of Northern Indiana.

We headed for Shipshewana, where I’d marked Menno Hof as a good starting point.  Thing is, we arrived there at a quiet time and no sooner had we stepped inside, we were sucked into the system and found ourselves in the “visitor experience”.  An hour later, we could have passed any exam with questions about the Mennonites, the Amish and the Huttites (though we’d have probably failed the same exam two hours later).

There were a couple of beautiful quilts there, however.  The first, above, was made by the women of the community whilst the men raised the barn for this centre.

Whilst it didn’t seem to me to be a traditional Amish design, it was beautifully made and the handprints of the men were quilted into the border, making it a marvellous commemoration of the event.

The other quilt, hanging nearby depicted a traditional mennonite design.  Dreadful photographs really, but they were hanging so high on the wall, it was difficult to get more than a simple impression – and yes, they were hanging above the doors to the loos!

Actually, though we were interested in the background information, what we’d really come in here for was further information on another quilt trail.  There wasn’t going to be enough time to do the whole thing, but perhaps we could see something of the Indiana version of the Ohio Clothesline?

The first part was a little further along the road.  This was a series of quilted flowerbeds.

Altogether more organised, more commercial and losing some of the spirit and sense of authenticity along the way, viewing these quilt gardens was also pretty difficult.  A good idea, for sure, but perhaps a step ladder would have helped?!

Thankfully, there were also a few lovely barn quilts too.

Not that we were searching for them, you know.

Some were simply hard to miss!

By this time, we’d reached the conclusion that this particular Amish country was way too commercial for our liking.  Of course, we were interested in the community and their lifestyle and beliefs; I was actually keen to see some “real” Amish quilts too.  But it wasn’t to be here, because everywhere we stopped in the area seemed to be “amish style” and far from authentic and the whole area was buzzing with tourists.  Perhaps I didn’t research well enough to identify the right places to visit, to shop and to look at quilts.  Anyway, for whatever reason, it was time to move on.

We hit our favourite road, the US20, again and made our way across the border into Michigan.

We stopped for some lunch in a great deli in Three Oaks having stopped for a “kerching” photograph in Edwardsburg.  State #38 for me.

 

As we sat munching on enormous wraps and sandwiches, the heavens opened and we had to run to the car to avoid getting soaked.

Thankfully, by the time we reached the Interstate 94, it seemed to have stopped and we headed to Chicago, expecting to be there late afternoon.  Travelling into Illinois, we’d gain an hour!

First, there was a section of Indiana to be crossed.  This was a busy road with many trucks and a few stretches of road works too.  We watched those clouds gathering overhead and soon afterwards, watched the first large drops of rain on the windscreen.

In no time at all, it became scary.  Very scary.  My Hero tucked in behind the tanker in front because it had clear lights and was travelling at a reasonable speed.  Other large trucks were zooming past us and some of the cars were passing through such huge puddles of water, there were large fountains being thrown up over the outer carriageways.  We were well out of it behind our tanker, believe me.

Except suddenly, we seemed to be in a washing machine.  The rain was so heavy, the traffic so dense and the visibility virtually nil.  Huge trucks were on either side of us, most of them painted white and almost invisible in the spray.  To say I was frightened would be unfair because I trusted my Hero’s driving skills and ability to get us through – but yes, I was thrilled to get out of that situation.

Ok, it was still raining heavily but thankfully, not quite in the same league.

Phew.

Passing signs for Indianapolis, I realised we weren’t going to see a great deal of the city!

In fact, we “surfaced” in Gary, into rather a different landscape than we’d been travelling through previously.

We might have surfaced, but sad to say, much of Gary was submerged.

Just when we were getting used to Mittal steelworks and BP refineries, there was a little blue sky on the horizon.

Hmmm.  Might that be a lake?  Lake Michigan, perhaps?

No!  Those people aren’t really sitting on the beach are they?  Sure enough, here we were on Lakeshore Drive South, Chicago and life was looking pretty sunny.

Our route took us in past some familiar places: Grant Park, the “bean”, the fountains and over the bridge.

A short drive along Madison Avenue and we were there at our hotel and very pleased to be there, too.

The welcome news of upgraded rooms and the sweet views from the 27th floor were a perfect end to what had been quite a day.

And though the weather appeared to be coming in rather quickly, we managed to scoot out for some supper at our favourite Giordanos before the rain began to fall.

For once, we managed to get our order just about right, too.  One medium deep dish between the three of us!

We still couldn’t finish and one slice remained when all three of us were “comfortably stuffed”, but that was fine.  The rain had stopped and we returned to our hotel in the dry.

Chicago is grand!

A big chair and a loaf of bread

Before leaving Cincinnati this morning, we visited the same place as yesterday for breakfast, finding ourselves served by Robyn once again.  She remembered our orders from yesterday and snatching a moment to chat in between orders said “How fresh and prurdy you girls look today”.  We wholeheartedly recommend the Waffle House in Covington Kentucky!

The old Cincinnati Union Railroad Terminal had been on our list to visit, but the time ran away with us and we didn’t make it.  Still, we caught sight of it as we joined the highway north, towards our next stop in Fort Wayne.  We didn’t have anything in particular on our list to see, but someone had been looking at one of our favourite websites for such occasions and promised us a couple of surprises en route.

Another really dodgy photo as we entered Indiana – I’d miscounted previously and claim Indiana as my 37th state, though not until I’d set foot on the ground, of course.  Rules are Rules!

From rural Ohio, suddenly we were in the midst of strip mall territory and fast food restaurants by the dozen.

We stopped in Richmond, where the wall art was plentiful and rather interesting.  Perhaps this was our surprise?  Apparently not – we walked across the road and spotted…

A giant chair.  Yes, that was our first “sight” of the day.

Oh, and some more wall art!

We returned to the car to find someone had snaffled the last of the M&Ms, too.

But out in the countryside, on our way towards Fort Wayne, look what we spotted!

Now we’d got our eye in, we even spotted this one, way across on the other side of the field.

Sadly, this drive-in movie theatre had closed long ago.  I’d really love to go to a drive in movie and have seen few of them around, though we passed one in Springfield, OH which was still going – maybe one of these days I’ll make it to a showing!

We’d wondered if that was the other landmark, but actually, it turned out to be this sign above a bakery in Fort Wayne itself.  The slices of bread are continuously appearing from the package and yet, mysteriously, the pile of slices gets no bigger.  My Hero tells me that it’s all a trick and the slices are just a rotating wheel behind the board…

Hey, look what we spotted on the road just outside Fort Wayne!

We were on our way to Auburn, where the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum came highly recommended.

I knew nothing about these cars but soon learned that they were the equivalent of Rolls Royce and Bentley and oh my, no sooner had we stepped inside this Art Deco masterpiece than we were enthralled.  Each car had been presented beautifully and there they were, shining examples from an altogether more elegant age.

I mean, engraved window glass?  On a car?!

These cars were enormous, though, and I couldn’t help but imagine how on earth I’d manouevre such a beast.  But they were magnificent.  The style, the elegance was of a different age, for sure, but still, who couldn’t love them?

It was difficult photographing such shiny things though and trying hard not to get my reflection in the picture proved a challenge.  Can you tell I was wearing a bright green top?

The Art Deco showroom itself was pretty stylish, too.

The moustache insignia on this Auburn was cute, I thought.

But this alternative Auburn insignia is altogether more elegant, don’t you think?

How interesting, then, to discover that even then, in the 1930s and 40s, the Auburns and Duesenbergs were being marketed to women.  But actually, all three of us would have happily driven away a car from the museum: Mary rather fancied the style of the Auburn B52 Phaeton, Mark would have chosen the 1932 Duesenberg Convertible (which I’ve since discovered was previously owned by John Paul Getty…my Hero has taste!) and I’d have taken the 1935 4 seater Duesy away without hesitation.

In our dreams. 

We climbed back into our Dodge Grand Caravan and returned to reality and the Fort Wayne Hampton Inn under darkening skies.  We just made it to dinner in the dry, though heard one or two claps of thunder and torrential rain whilst in the restaurant.  By the time we came out, it was dry again but the humidity of the day was gone.

Another fun packed day, then.  They just keep coming…

Following the clothes line

A beautiful morning suggested to us that, rather than venture further into Kentucky, we might explore some of southern Ohio, in particular Adams County.  Our reasons will become clear, but in the meantime, our attention was drawn to a sign on the highway, directing us to Chilo on the Ohio river and with a split second decision made, we were there.

What we found was an old lock house from the days when the river wasn’t navigable and that scale attached to the wall provoked my interest.  Has the Ohio river flooded, then?

One of the information panels revealed the extent to which it did, in 1937, to an astonishing level of 73ft – that’s half way up that lock house, currently marked with a small brass plaque.  Oh my.  Hard to imagine that broad river flooding to that degree, though sure enough, there was the photographic proof right there in front of me.

We hadn’t really come to gaze at the river though, but passing through Ripley, where the Underground Railroad “conductors” operated to assist escaping slaves cross the river to relative freedom, we reflected on the incredible efforts which were made to get them to safety.

Anyway, what about the clothes line?  A clue is on the top of this hotel, situated just inside Adams County.  I snapped the picture whilst travelling at speed, accompanied by a yell “there’s one!”

We decided to spend the day following the Ohio Quilt Barn Trail, referred to as a “clothesline of quilts” and equipped with saved internet information to access offline using our Note tablets and a rather small scale map.

Testing my Hero’s patience, we spotted another and screeched to a halt having missed a couple along the way.  Our map wasn’t the most accurate and, I suspect, way out of date.  We were trying to navigate our way, watch out for quilts on barns, keep an eye on the map and have cameras at the ready.  Oh, and thankfully, my Hero was concentrating on driving and keeping us all safe.

But it was getting challenging.  I was beginning to realise that we couldn’t spent the whole day doing this without having one almighty row.  Much as I loved spotting the quilts and snapping a picture, it wasn’t fair to have to keep making sudden stops!

Some were bright enough to see from a distance, or situated right there on a roadside, so there wasn’t a problem.

Others were high on a hill and shone out from a distance, but still, it wasn’t proving to be as easy as we thought.

As we spotted this one, off to the left and screeched to a halt to take the photo, we spotted someone waving – we hopped out of the car to speak and explain what we were doing and met Ann Taylor of The Quilt Barn who not only welcomed us into her studio/workshop, but introduced us to her amazing machine too

But best of all, she offered us printed maps, up to date information about the Quilt Barn Trail and provided us with everything we needed to continue on our journey happily.  We learned a little about the history of the barn quilt movement which began right here (the very first one was just up the road) and we really appreciated the encouragement she offered us.

Armed with a list of addresses and a map, suddenly finding these quilts became much easier.

Even so, some were easier to spot than others.

Some weren’t even on the map, but now we’d got our eyes in, they didn’t elude us!

Most were on old barns – in fact, Ann had told us that some had collapsed since the original quilt barn trail had been organised.

But some were in more urban settings (though here, urban referred to a town small enough to be a village in our terms)

This one wasn’t painted, but pieced together with different colours of wood to create the design.

Occasionally, we’d spot a real stunner!

We saw way too many quilts to share here and were thwarted in our efforts to see some by road closures and poor map reading (mine!).  But coming to the end of the list, we were determined to see these last few.

Last one was this sunflower and we really felt we’d ended on a high.  What a great way to get off the beaten track and see some of the beautiful hidden corners of Adams County, Ohio

Following the clothes line was fun – thanks to Ann, we survived the journey, too!

Beyond the Presidential Suite

Imagine how it must feel, after living a life of luxury and having everything the heart desires for a while, to return to normal life.

Welcome to the Holiday Inn, Covington, Kentucky (that’s the establishment tucked behind the BP station) 

We hot footed it out of Columbus this morning, before the Pride parade got going and jammed the city solid.  Out onto the open road through the empty Ohio countryside, we passed by the barn with the “chew tobacco” advertisement and headed for Cincinnati.

We stopped in Springfield, to visit a particular house.  Can you guess why?

It was another of Frank Lloyd Wright’s works, set in a fairly built up area and didn’t open till 11.  It being just 10.15 am right now, we had a while to wait, so we mooched around and took a few photos before deciding that, really, we weren’t that bothered about going inside!  After the spectacular Darwin Martin House in Buffalo, this seemed like small fry…so we jumped back in the car and went on our merry way.

In the meantime, I’d been working on my knitting and completed the cowl I began following our stop at Webs, sometime ago.

Back on the road once more, we planned a stop in Lebanon (the town, not the country)

It had been noted in our guidebook as a small, historic town with an interesting walk around the central area.  Sounded like our kind of thing.

Sure enough, car parked and out on the street, the sun was shining and we were happy to spend a while wandering about the small town.  Though the AAA guide suggested acquiring a map from the local tourist office, none was available, prompting Mary to utter the phrase of the day: “Well, we’ll just have to Lewis and Clark it”.

There were indeed plenty of historic places to see and to visit.

Though we drew the line at historic hardware stores.

There were much more interesting locations across the street, after all.

We didn’t think the notice in the public loos said a great deal for the regular users of this facility, though.

But then, the notice on the vending machine didn’t say much for the City of Lebanon, for that matter, did it?

Still, we liked the Farmers Market poster!

and we rather liked the Green Country Market, too.

They sold many useful things!

Onward then, to Cincy. 

It was early afternoon and perhaps there was time for a quick visit to JoAnns and/or a Michaels?  Sure enough, there they were next door to one another so in I went.  Thankfully, my Hero came into Michaels to join me – actually, to rescue me, for there in the store, a bird was flying about.   Those who know me will know that is enough to send me into a tailspin; in fact, had he not come in when he did, I’d have had to ask someone to help me leave.  No purchases made, then, even though I did have 50% off coupons in my bag.

Cincinatti was soon on the horizon like the Emerald City and we were hopeful that we’d find our way to the Underground Railroad Museum without too much difficulty.

Our satnav was working overtime but seemed to be on track.

We hadn’t reckoned on a ball game taking place right next to the museum however.  Nor on the hundreds and thousands of Reds supporters going to the match.

It wasn’t easy but we made it.  An underground car park was the answer and we got there just in time – ten minutes later and it would have been full.

Almost the first thing we saw was a pair of huge quilts by Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson made from sections of textile art which incorporated mudcloth and three dimensional components.  I appreciated the smaller “handling cloth” for closer inspection.

After such an exuberant opening, the remainder of the exhibits told a rather more sobering story.  Many of the historical details made for uncomfortable reading – I hadn’t realised, for instance, that all black people were regarded as slaves at one point. 

Here was Frederick Douglass, whom we’d “met” earlier in our travels and close by was his friend and associate, Susan B Anthony.

The film narrated by Oprah Winfrey told a desperate tale of the steps a slave had to make on their way to freedom and the bravery and risks taken by those who supported them.

Actually, I found it pretty hard going and was somewhat relieved to come across a temporary exhibit of quilts depicting significant events, characters and issues from black history.

Knowing rather less about the subject than I did about the medium, I chose my favourites based on the design and overall impact rather than the stories they told, and this one by Carolyn Crump was the first exhibit and got us off to a great start.  Three dimensional and exquisitely made, I felt it told the story of the journey very well indeed,

I preferred the less representational designs; those where the message had been considered and worked into the design rather than depicted literally, and this work by Arlene Kweli Jones was one which caught my eye for the strong graphic image and clever use of fabric.  It’s entitled “Repatriation”.

This clever quilt by April Shipp depicts Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Toms Cabin.  Another three dimensional beauty, the design cleverly told the story and was a favourite with us all.

Sadly, I didn’t get a good enough photograph of the information relating to maker of this quilt, telling the story of the organisation of the railroad porters union.  I felt the most successful quilts didn’t need a whole lot of narrative to explain them and that this one in particular worked really well.  My favourite?!

I took so many photographs and felt that there were too many stunning exhibits to share here, but other visitors to the show have shared their reactions here and here, so I’ll leave it there.

No, I’ll finish on a positive note, shall I?

The Ascension by Linda Gray needs no explanation and was a beautifully stitched and pieced hanging depicting one of the most recent events in black history.

As we left the quilt exhibit, we could sense the museum closing around us.  We went into the shop to make a couple of small purchases before working out how to cross the river and make our way to our hotel on the other side – in Kentucky.  Yessss!   (State #36 for me)

Looking for somewhere to eat this evening, we rejected the Big Boy Diner.

We passed right by the wedding party having their photos taken.

I sympathised with the bridesmaid whose shoes were pinching.

We settled instead on Wertheim’s German restaurant and ordered Hefeweissen and Schnitzel.  It was a far from successful choice but writing the Trip Advisor review proved quite cathartic