Chicago Visit

On Friday morning around 10 we drove to downtown Chicago to visit Sears Tower. We parked in the ramp of the Boeing Headquarters building - it cost us $20 to park there for about 3 hours.

The Chicago River flows through downtown Chicago and into Lake Michigan. The landscape features many bridges lined with tall buildings.

We're progressing East along Washington Street toward Wacker Drive where we will find the Sears Tower.

Here on Wacker Drive we feel dwarfed by the high buildings. Chicago is nicknamed "The Windy City" - check out the nearly horizontal flags to see why.

We approach and then stand under the Sears Tower. It's cold and windy and drizzling. We are warned that the view from the top will be less than one mile. Completed in 1974, the Sears Tower is the 4th tallest building in the world, and with the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York City it's the tallest building in the United States. It's 110 stories and 1450 feet tall, the 53 foot television antenna on the roof give the tower the highest "tip height" of any skyscraper in the world. The floor count is usually given as 110; however this figure includes the elevator box and its roof, features not normally counted as floors. The Sears Tower has an exterior of black aluminum and bronze-toned glass cut by black bands. The Sky deck occupies the 103rd floor, the highest non-mechanical floor in the building. It has its own entrance on Jackson Boulevard, and attracts approximately 1.5 million visitors per year. Before the tower was developed, its site was split in half by West Quincy Street. The tower's sway has been known to induce motion sickness in people working at the top.

This map is a larger view of downtown Chicago that helps show the various views from the top of the Sear Tower.

Here we are up in the observation deck. Look out the windows, you can see the fog has enveloped us.

Leftmost - looking down the West Congress Parkway. Rightmost - looking south down the river.

Looking north to the two arms of the river.

You can see raindrops on the top of the window. This view is northeast toward the bulk of downtown.

Looking east toward the Lake Michigan. Left-most - you can see Navy Pier at the top left of the picture. Right-most - you can make out the sailboats in their protected anchorage.

We head back across the bridge on Washington Street to return to the car.

This must be a massive office building. Note the massive scale of the building.

We are driving out of the city. Here we encounter the elevated train across our path.

Working our way back to the freeway, we get a last glimpse of the Sears Tower. I wonder if the view from the top now is totally obscured.

We are on the way home now, on I94. I just pulled over and took this picture of balanced rocks. Very artistic.

It's a beautiful day and the scenery is great. The drive across Wisconsin is lovely.

top	Home Page     Feedback? Enter your comments in the guest book
Previous	Back to Travelogue		2 of 2
Journey to Chicago     Sears Tower
Click on any picture to bring up the picture enlarged in a new window