Spooky

Twenty Minutes of Weather

Walking on Air

The North Avenue Bridge over Lake Shore Drive.

Outta My Photo

While a passenger in a car driving down Lake Shore Drive, I was attempting to get some photos of the boats anchored at the Ohio Street Beach. This guy popped into my frame. If he, too, clicked his shutter, then he got a photo of me taking a photo. I'll have to check the other City Daily Photo blogs from Chicago to see if he is "one of us" ;)

In a Fog

We don't usually see such heavy fog in the summer. Early Spring, yes. Autumn, yes. Summer, not so much.

However, on Tuesday, the cool Lake Michigan water temperature (around 65 degrees Fahrenheit) reacted with the extremely warm air temperature (92 with a heat index closing in on 100) to create a wall of fog around the city's lakefront. It only went in a few blocks from the lake. The fog was thick enough that all the beaches were closed to swimming. People could go to the beach but couldn't go in the water because the fog was so dense that the life guards couldn't see that far.

Snowlapalooza, Part 2

More Scenes from Snowmaggedon ... Snowlapalooza ... Snowpocalypse ... Blizzard of 2011

Snow News is All The News

Ski Mt. Chicago

Where should I send

those Snow fighters next?

Offering a sacrifice to the snow gods

I think they're trucking the snow to Indiana

Snowpocalypse, Part 1

Early on in the Blizzard of 2011, we had a Snow-nado ...

... and the traffic started getting heavy on Lake Snow Drive.

Later, a series of accidents on Lake Shore Drive between Belmont and North Avenue caused some looooonnnnng back-ups and ...

... Lake Shore Drive was eventually closed.

But I hear Puxatawney Phil the Groundhog did not see his shadow so Spring is just around the corner!

Fog Attack

Autumn in Chicago means the fog can attack at any moment. This attack came with at 15 degree drop in temperature!

There are usually more buildings

visible in the skyline.

What happened to Lake Shore Drive?

The fog was still rolling through

(rather quickly)

at sunset.

A Buoy's Life

Not sure if they are starting to take the buoys out of the marina or if they just didn't use all of them this summer. They do usually stack them more neatly than this, though.

Stand-Off

It was a stand-off. The traffic was stopped so the bridge could be raised so the Odyssey could sail up the Chicago River. But ...

The bridge wouldn't go up so the the Odyssey was stuck in place ... along with the traffic. I hope everyone involved at least noticed and enjoyed the pretty blue water (and the pretty blue sky) for a while why they were stuck.

Big Bang Theory

Chicago holds its main fireworks display on July 3 at the lakefront. It draws a lot of people (somehow the crowd count is always "1 million people") and it's a good-natured crowd. Here are a few photos from last night's show.


After the show, the crowd disperses and, as one may expect when 1 million people leave all at once, some of the streets get backed up. Several years ago, they started closing Lake Shore Drive to traffic, allowing people to walk on it to ease the pedestrian congestion. It doesn't seem like too many people take this route anymore (in prior years it was heavily traveled), but the tradition continues.
Have a safe and happy weekend.

Up Close

One of the Chicago River tour boats was passing under the Lake Shore Drive bridge just as I was walking over it. Couldn't resist taking a chance on a photo. I zoomed in a little too much - I thought the bridge was higher - and got quite the close-up.

Sound of Silence

Yesterday was the eighth Bike the Drive put together by the Active Transportation Alliance. (It used to be called the Chicagoland Bike Federation but they recently changed the name to incorporate walkers and public transportation riders.) The annual event involves closing down Lake Shore Drive (US 41) to motorized vehicle traffic for several hours, allowing bikes to ride north from Grant Park up to Bryn Mawr, back south to the Museum of Science and Industry then back north to the end at Grant Park (about 30 miles round trip).

I didn't participate yesterday but I have in the past and it is pretty great to bike on Lake Shore Drive - it is a different perspective than the Lakefront Trail even though that trail runs next to Lake Shore Drive. And, you find out that there are some pretty long steep hills on the Drive that you do not feel in a car but are quite evident on a bicycle.

But the neat part is the silence on Bike The Drive morning. It was so quiet yesterday morning that I could hear the el train rumbling through downtown, over a half-mile away, when I took this picture from the Cancer Survivors Park (which is built on the spot that used to be the infamous Lake Shore Drive "S" Curve.).

First Bridge Run of the Season

Another sign of Spring in Chicago is the twice-weekly bridge run. Along the Chicago River, the bridges are raised to allow sailboats to get to the harbors from the boat storage yards. Saturday was the first run for 2009. The number of boats will increase through the Spring, but there were only about ten boats in this "parade". These are the hardy sailors who brave the fluctuating temperatures (Saturday it was 73 degrees and sunny; today, Sunday, it is 50, foggy and rainy) to be the first ones in the harbors. (Yeah, it really is worth it.)

Although I think they tested the Lake Shore Drive bridge, shown here, earlier this month, they must not have been able to test the Michigan Avenue bridge. It was stuck for over an hour on Saturday afternoon.

Testing 1..2..3

I'm not 100% sure, but I think the Chicago Transportation guys were testing the gates in preparation for the upcoming sailboat "bridge runs". In the Spring, there are scheduled "bridge lifts" on Saturdays and Wednesdays so the sailboats can get to their summer homes (Chicago Harbors) from their winter homes (various boatyards). The first one is Saturday April 18.

Yes, I know --it ties up traffic.
But it is really beautiful to watch the sailboats come through.

Riverwalk Murals

Today we're back down to the Chicago Riverwalk. The passage under Lake Shore Drive has 28 large painted tile murals by artist Ellen Lanyon. They present the history and significant events of Chicago.

This one focuses on the Museum Campus and Buckingham Fountain. There are postcard-like illustrations of the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, and Adler Planetarium, which make up the Museum Campus. There is also a short description of the 1909 Burnham Plan, which preserved the lake front for parks, monuments, and museums. If you look very closely, it also has a subtle outline of the original lake front shoreline in the background.

100 and Counting

This is my 100th Daily Chicago Photo post! Thank you to everyone who looks at these posts and thanks for all the great comments that make me feel so artistic!

Enough of that! On to the photo ...

Along the Chicago Riverwalk, below Lake Shore Drive is a tunnel with 28 large painted tile murals by artist Ellen Lanyon that present the history and significant events of Chicago. Each mural is a composite of mini-scenes that are part of Chicago's history. There are so many different references in each that you're bound to notice something new each time you look at a mural.

This one, for example, has the Marshall Field Clock in silhouette, the Art Institute Lions, the River boat traffic, part of the base of the "it-will-always-be-called" Sears Tower, and some peregrine falcons. What I only recently noticed was the mini-blizzard scene in the middle left section.

A Different Sign of Spring

A couple of days ago I posted a photo of a city work crew filling potholes. The potholes they filled are holding up but they didn't seem to get to this obstacle course yet. This is on Wacker just after you exit from Lake Shore Drive. Cars have to swerve a little to straddle the caverns.

It's a different kind of sign of Spring.

Follow-up Note: I saw city crews fixing these holes on Saturday morning.

Dark and Stormy Night

Lots of rain and wind in Chicago last night.
And, of course, fog.
The fog was lighter in the evening than
during the day when the fog made all the other buildings disappear.

Under the Bridge

I just like the range of geometric patterns
created by the bridge supports, the sunlight and the shadows.