[ShowMeKC]

Well, I have been gone these last 5 days because we went to Chicago and other cities in Illinois and went to St. Louis too.
I went up in the Sears Tower and the John Hancock Tower, however we couldn't go up in the Arch in St. Louis because we didn't have enough time.

Overall I like Chicago alot more than I liked New York City. It's alot cleaner and not as dense or polluted.
Like i've suspected from photos, St. Louis is alot like Kansas City in many ways, something that confused me was their riverfront, its beautiful but it doesn't have much of a view into East St. Louis.
The Mississippi River isn't nearly as large as I imagined, neither in Hannibal nor St. Louis. It seems about the size of the Missouri in those two locations and it's almost as muddy in St. Louis as the MO is here in KC.
So I will post my 40 photos out of my 100+ overall photos from the trip.

(not in any particular order, sorry)

311 South Wacker from the Sears Tower:

Fourth Presberterian Church which is across from the John Hancock Tower.

Aon Center and the Chicago River from the John Hancock Tower

900 North Michigan from the John Hancock Tower

Aon Center and Lake Michigan from the Sears Tower

Aon Center and Sears Tower from the John Hancock Center Skydeck (an area screened in instead of glass)

AT&T Corporate Center from the Sears Tower (on the right)

Chicago Temple, 568ft tall with the spire, taken from the Sears Tower

Downtown St. Louis from the Arch

Edward Jones Dome, Home of the Rams (I can't imagine how loud Arrowhead would be if it had a dome)

The Field Museum in Chicago

Frank Lloyd Wright house in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago

John Hancock Tower

John Hancock Tower again

JHC Tower from the Sears Tower

Looking out to Lake Michigan from the John Hancock Tower

Lincoln Tomb in Springfield, all his family except Robert Todd are buried there.

Looking north to Evanston, IL from the Sears Tower

Northern Chicago and Evanston from the John Hancock Tower

Near South Side from the Sears Tower

Near West Side from the Sears Tower, the quadruplites are the Presidential Towers

Northern Downtown from the Sears Tower

The Palmolive Tower from the John Hancock Tower

Park Tower from the base of the John Hancock Tower

A local bridge in Peoria

Three photos of the Sears Tower
http://www.kcskyscrapers.com/albums/album04/Sears_Tower.jpg
http://www.kcskyscrapers.com/albums/album04/Sears_Tower1.jpg
http://www.kcskyscrapers.com/albums/album04/Sears_Tower2.jpg
The Downtown Chicago Skyline from Shedd Aquarium, after the heavy rain and it was sprinkling then.
http://www.kcskyscrapers.com/albums/album04/Skyline_from_Shedd_Aq.jpg
Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears
http://www.kcskyscrapers.com/albums/album04/Soldier_Field.jpg
Southern Downtown from the Sears Tower
http://www.kcskyscrapers.com/albums/album04/Southern_Downtown_Sears.jpg
The State Capital in Springfield
http://www.kcskyscrapers.com/albums/album04/Springfield_Capital_Building.jpg
The St. Louis Skyline from the I-10/55 highway bridge
http://www.kcskyscrapers.com/albums/album04/St_Louis_Skyline.jpg
Two photos of the Arch
http://www.kcskyscrapers.com/albums/album04/The_Arch.jpg
http://www.kcskyscrapers.com/albums/album04/The_Arch1.jpg
The loop from the John Hancock Center
http://www.kcskyscrapers.com/albums/album04/The_loop_JHC.jpg
UBS Tower from the Sears Tower
http://www.kcskyscrapers.com/albums/album04/UBS_Tower_Sears.jpg
Chicago's old Union Station, the newest additions take up 1 1/2 more blocks and this one takes up one block.
http://www.kcskyscrapers.com/albums/album04/Union_Station.jpg
Water Tower Place from the John Hancock Tower
http://www.kcskyscrapers.com/albums/album04/Water_Tower_Place.jpg
Western Chicago from the Sears Tower
http://www.kcskyscrapers.com/albums/album04/Western_Chicago_Sears.jpg
Overall it was a fun and exhausting trip, I never knew Illinois was so much like Kansas and Oklahoma, very very flat and lots and lots of farms (even Chicago and it's burbs are surrounded by it)

[Neo]

Man I miss Chicago!! Thanks for the great pictures! I know that you had a wonderful time!!

PS, which observatory did you like better? I personally think the Hancock is better than the Sears.

[wolfdawg54]

I love the John Hancock tower! The pictures of Chicago were great.

[ShowMeKC]

I didn't really like one over the other, the Sears Tower was higher, but the Hancock Tower had more things to do.

[Brickcity]

Nice pics.

[bobliocatt]

great pics.

[Brickell]

I did the Sears observation tower when I was in Chicago. It was a little surreal. There was a very low cloud bank. All you could see was the Hancock tower antennas sticking up through the clouds.


Nice shots.

[Allan]

Awesome pics! Your trip looks very similar to my vacation two years ago...you went the same places and saw the same things, only my trip lasted much longer.

Chicago is a great city, and I can't wait to go back there. I usually go every few months, and I haven't been there since November. I see you went to Oak Park...that is a great spot for architecture students like myself. I think I took probably 300 photos in the area around FLW's house.

[ShowMeKC]

I also took some photos from the Sears Tower showing the future site of the Trump International Hotel. (that blank spot at where the Chicago River and some other river come together and run into lake michigan (its the only river in the world that runs backwards)

[Neo]

KCDevin, on Jun 30 2004, 04:40 PM, said:

I also took some photos from the Sears Tower showing the future site of the Trump International Hotel. (that blank spot at where the Chicago River and some other river come together and run into lake michigan (its the only river in the world that runs backwards)

Unfortunately that river caused a lot of pissed people down stream in Joliet and around when they did that reverse. It also caused over the years the water level in Lake Michigan to sink sot hey had to put a locke system in place to keep it from happening.