Daley Plaza's Chicagoween

Daley Plaza, originally uploaded by kendoman26.

Despite the chill in the air, the Plaza is filled with people watching a movie as part of Chicagoween. The new CBS studios are located in the building on the right

Brown Line at North Ave Curve

Brown Line at North Ave Curve, originally uploaded by kendoman26.

Saturday was a decent day to go for a walk. I found myself taking the redline and first getting off at Chicago to check out the water tower. No fall leaves there, so I get back on the redline and head to North Avenue.

My original plan was to take either a bus or walk to Lincoln Park, but I never made it that far. I had just missed the bus so I decided to walk. Here is a loop bound brownline train that just passed the curve over North Avenue. With Loop Elevated construction, this train will become an orange line train when it leaves the Merchandise Mart.

I found St Micheals at Cleveland and Eugine. St Michaels is a huge complex of buildings with a 200 ft high steeple. It was impossible to get a photo of the whole thing. From there I walked through parts of Old Town until I got to Sedwick and then proceeded to take the Brown/Orange Line train back to Bridgeport.

An Ode to an Earlier Time

What we have here must be the last gritty block in downtown Chicago. The westside of the 400 block of south Clark street. Directly to its east sits the Metropolitain Corrections Center or a fancy skyscraper jail. This block features a pawn shop and a men only rooming house. American submarine occupies its northend. When I worked at United Letter Service some 15 years ago I used to eat here with several of the other guys. The block hasn't changed much since then

A Great Day on the Trail

Cloud Reflections, originally uploaded by kendoman26.

Today the I & M Canal Meetup Group met in Channahon State Park.

I left at 6:30 this morning to make it to Archer and Harlem by 8:00. I actually arrived at 7:41. Tom and his son Chris picked me up just about 8:00 and on our way for about 45 minutes before we made it out to Channahon.

Channahon is southwest of Joilet and a little northeast of Morris. This was the largest group of the three that I've attended. We had about 12 people attending. We saw locks 6 and 7 which the above photo takes place between the two. It's so cool to see the clouds reflecting in the water.

New Park - When?

New Park - When?, originally uploaded by kendoman26.

Last Saturday - I decided to walk around Bridgeport a bit with one of my cameras. Here sits an un-named park located in the former quarry that was located just east of Halsted. Over the last 5 or so years they filled in most of the quarry, planted grass and trees and laid sidewalks, but when do they plan to open it?

A Great Day for a Run

We've had great weather for the last few days and this was good for the Chicago Marathon. It's even a bit too warm for the run but at least it's cooler than last year's affair. I walked down to 33rd and Wentworth around 9:00 this morning and took some shots of the leaders of the pack. The picture above was the first large group of runners after the wheelchair and elite runners had past.

I staid for about an hour it was kind of warm, walked back to my apartment so I could get my Jewel bags and head back out to Jewel. The marathon blocks most access to downtown so the 44 had to head west on 26th to Halsted. Once we got to Halsted I saw the multitude of runners heading east on Archer. What an awesome sight.

River Traffic

River Traffic, originally uploaded by kendoman26.

Watching the Chicago River on a Friday Evening allows you to see a lot of different river traffic at one time. The yellow boat is a Chicago Park district boat. In the distance one tour boat is leaving the south branch while another is entering

Last Rays of Sunshine

Last Rays of Sunshine, originally uploaded by kendoman26.

October brings an acceleration to the shortening days. Here we have some of the last rays of sunlight reflecting off the Loop Towers.

I was surprised by the amount of boat traffic this evening, the temps were in the mid 50's but they were several sight seeing boats on the river