In between Nauvoo and Kirtland, we spent a couple of days in Chicago. We got in Saturday evening. Our hotel was about 20 minutes outside of the main city. We were all tired, so we decided to just stay in our hotel that evening and pack our sightseeing into the next two days.
The next day we woke up early and drove to church. We wanted to find a ward right in the downtown area so we could leave our car there while we walked around some. The church building was pretty neat - definitely not a style that we typically see around where we live. The ward that we attended had just started meeting again, so the numbers were kind of small in all of the classes. Ethan ended up attending Elders' Quorum with me since there were no young men in their ward. I guess there are officially 4, but two never come and two were spending time somewhere else while the pandemic is going on. For Elders' Quorum we started with introductions. Most of the Elders in that ward were either students/interns or had just started at an accounting or law firm in Chicago.
After church, we left our car in the parking garage and walked around the down town area. We just did one big loop that I think was about 4 miles long. First, we saw the historic water tower building. This picture was just part of it, but the whole thing looked like a really cool castle.
Then we made our way to the Navy Pier. On our way we walked through a really large old Catholic Church building. It was cool to see, but I don't think they were allowing pictures inside it. When we got to the pier, there was a long walkway out into Lake Michigan where I guess they used to have a naval academy and naval practices and drills. It was a hot day and we were all kind of sweaty by this point. Lake Michigan was pretty cool to see though. It seemed like we were on the edge of an ocean since there was no way to see all the way across.
Then we walked over to the Chicago Bean. There were tons of people here taking pictures. In walking there we went along a lakeside trail and by a ton of cool parks. Our kids really wanted to play at all of the parks, but with it being Sunday, we just kept walking.
The city itself seemed really big. I think Chicago is the 3rd largest city in the U.S. in terms of population, but not even in the top 20 in terms of size (square miles). It was fun to see all of the skyscrapers. This was the first big city that our children have been to besides Taipei and they had fun noticing some of the similarities and differences.
On Monday, we woke up early and went to the Lincoln Park Zoo. The zoo was amazing. They had so many cool animals and it was easy to navigate. And although there were many people there, because of COVID, it wasn't too crowded at all. And the best part about it was that it was free. A week before our trip we tried to go to the zoo that we have in Pocatello. It was supposed to be a free day, but they cancelled that last minute and were charging full price. We didn't do it because it would have been something like $8 per person, and all they really have there are farm animals like donkeys and cows and ducks. I guess they do also have a bear. But, when you compare it to the amazing animals at the free Chicago zoo, it is kind of sad. We made sure to really take our time in seeing all of the animals.
After the zoo we had a few other sites that we wanted to see in the downtown area. One was a Tiffany glass ceiling that is the largest of its kind in the world. Right after we parked it started pouring rain. We rain around a few block trying to find it and got soaked, but eventually we got there. I think this was the only place in our entire trip where we were required to wear a mask.
After, we still had an hour or so on our parking pass, so we decided to visit one of the downtown parks. It was a really fun one. It was only lightly sprinkling on and off by this point. The best part was the giant slides that the kids would fly down. When they went down the slides, they would shoot out the whole and some of them couldn't stop until falling and rolling on the ground a bit. I think it was partially due to the puddles from the rain and the type of pants some of them were wearing (sports shorts went way faster than jeans).
And then of course we had to try some of the foods that Chicago is famous for - hot dogs and pizza. The hot dogs were special, but it was still just a hot dog. I am not sure it would ever be worth the money again. But the pizza was great. It was fun to try the different style and really yummy. The crust reminded me some of a pizza that we would sometimes make at home growing up (it had some cornmeal in it). I would definitely do the pizza again the next time we are there.
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