January Weekend Visit to Chicago

To celebrate a friend’s January birthday, we like to spend the weekend in Chicago, about 2 hours drive from our home in Champaign. If you don’t mind the weather, and it is often quite cold in Chicago in January, it’s a good time to go: post-Christmas sales abound and the city tends to be less crowded. And, hotels give good deals, especially our favorite, The Drake off North Michigan Avenue (i.e., the Magnificent Mile). We got a room overlooking Lake Short Drive and a portion of the lake itself. What a wonderful view, especially at night with a long exposure.

This particular weekend, the weather was overcast and threatening to snow. It gave the buildings an eerie look and lent itself to some black & white captures as well.

The John Hancock Bldg ascends into the clouds.

Chicago’s Water Tower and the John Hancock loom through the trees.

Two crows ponder the traffic from above Lake Shore Drive.

Empty docks will have to wait a while for spring.

Crowds constantly gather around The Bean; in this case, to watch skaters on the ice below.

I got a kick out of these folks posing for a selfie reflection.

Something a little abstract.

Ornaments on Michigan Ave., and if you look close, multiple selfies.

More “abstractedness.”

Saturday morning calm on the lake and before the traffic builds on LSD.

By Sunday morning, the mood has changed with a dusting of snow and growing winds.

Waves crashing on the revetments make for a very cold spray that can sometimes reach the northbound lanes of LSD.

Reflection of waves off the revetments meeting incoming waves at right angles make for some spectacular wave collisions.

Until we return to North Michigan Avenue, this will have to do!