On Top of the World

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For a moment at least, we felt that we're on top of the world the moment my group reached the observatory deck of the Sears Tower in Chicago. It was at the 99th floor where we were delivered by a fast-moving elevator, to the place of the Sears Tower where we could view the entire downtown area several hundred feet high. The view from the top was just breathtaking. We could see the neighboring states of Wisconsin and Indiana, as the weather on that day was sunny, clear and just fantastic. But the crowning gift of our visit to the top of the Sears Tower was looking at the other towering buildings of Chicago. These high-rise structures are indeed engineering marvels. The Sears Tower, according to the documentary being repeatedly shown on a huge screen as you walked up the observatory deck, was consisted of five separate buildings connected to each other. It is said that the tower sways some inches whenever strong winds strike the city. We spent the whole of Saturday, after the graduation ceremony of my son at Great Lakes naval boot camp, to explore the sights and sounds of Chicago.
It is easy to reach Chicago from our hotel at Libertyville. My daughter's GPS navigation gadget helped us a lot. At the Sears Tower lobby, the entire floor is festooned with flags from all over the world with one underlying theme: Chicago 2016. It means that the city is lobbying the Olympic Committee that the next Olympic games be held in Chicago six years from now. It is an ambitious goal as the city is aiming for international recognition, although news on local TV channels would show protests from other sectors not agreeing with the plan. At any rate, what is not lost is the glow of this great city. We saw and heard the famous light rail system, and we also went and did some window shopping along North Michigan Avenue. We're running late as our sailor still has to report to his barracks so we were not able to go to Navy Pier, another tourist spot in Chicago. We failed to have a taste of its famous Chicago hotdogs, but before we went up the Sears Tower, we went to a local gourmet sandwich shop and we really enjoyed the array of sandwiches offered by the food shop. All in all, touring Chicago was a great experience even for just a day. The next day, we were up and early as we had to return the rental car and catch our plane for the flight back to California at the huge and modern O'Hare airport.

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