With the Foo Fighters performing at Soldier Field on Saturday night, August 8th, six of us were hunkered down in the South Loop, doing tourist-y things. After all, the nice African American lady at the DMV told me I should always celebrate my birthday all month long. And don’t I usually do what I’m told? (Don’t answer that.)

The son (Scott) and  wife (Jessica) and the two gorgeous 17-year-old granddaughters (Ava & Elise) arrived on Wednesday and the games began with the Cubs fans attending a game at Wrigley Field opposite the Toronto Blue Jays. The game was described to me as being kind of boring until the 9th inning, when the Cubs pulled a win out of the fire when Alex Bergman hit a home run in the 9th inning to tie the game. A player whose nickname sounds like a toxic  chemical (PCA) scored in the 11th inning to bring  home the win. I was thrilled to hear that the Cubbies won, but I did not want to sit on a hard plank in the sun with no back rest for what turned out to be something like 5 hours.

I headed out for the much-advertised duck drop, taking the subway with the 5 Cubs fans and exiting near the site, which happened to be right next door to the futuristic Apple store.

The duck drop featured 90,000 ducks dropped into the Chicago River. You could sponsor a duck for $10, which I did. I tried to get a picture of the actual drop, which was impossible with  40,000 to 60,000 people all shooting cell phone video at the same time. My duck did not win, but I enjoyed the festive atmosphere and will provide some photos to prove how crowded this Special Olympics fundraiser was.

I was given a free can of an energy drink called Zero, and, as the ducks were dropped into the river, I went down one level and learned that an architecture cruise was going to be embarking at 1:30 p.m. It was still possible to secure a ticket, so I did. Some of the architecture cruise shots will follow.

 I also contributed to the Ukrainian Defense Fund, purchasing an old-fashioned newspaper with my photo on it, which reminded me of all of the fake/phoney magazines and newspapers  that DJT has used over the years.

After the cruise ended an hour and a half later, I took the bus back to the South Loop, which cost $2.50 and waited for the baseball fans to return.

That night we decided to walk to Flo & Santo’s for dinner outside, with music provided by a guitarist who sang. The only snag was that my husband’s pizza never arrived. At all. Everyone else was served their food, but poor Craig ended up having to take his pizza home in a box. There was an adjustment to the bill for “food never arrived;” he took the omission with good humor.

Friday night was my deferred birthday dinner at a mystery site. I had asked the son and heir to “surprise me.” He certainly did, finding out that we could dine at the Metropolitan Club atop the Willis Tower (108 stories up), but only on Friday nights. It is a private club the rest of the time. (Pictures to follow). We had one entire room to ourselves and a very friendly waiter, who urged the celebrants in the room to sing Happy Birthday with gusto. Since we were the only ones in the room, it wasn’t hard to get everyone to sing.

I selected the lobster bisque soup, a 7 oz. filet, and mashed potatoes which my husband and I shared. The bill was at least $600, but I’m not supposed to inquire about that, as it was my birthday dinner and very impressive,—although Lake Point Tower and the Signature Room atop the Hancock Building, pictured in previous posts, were pretty spectacular sites, too—both of them now closed.

 

View from the 108th floor of the Willis (Sears) Tower.

The security to ascend to the Willis (or Sears) Tower that has the record as almost the tallest U.S. building is daunting. We each had to present our drivers’ licenses  and go through metal detectors. It took two elevators to get to the right floor. The other rooms on that floor were interesting. One had a gigantic video wall where people were driving golf balls at the screen. There was a photo booth that gave us free photos taken at the top.  A truly breathtaking view of the city spread out before us from our window and 2 rather large spiders on the exterior of the window. The headlights of cars wending their way on the ground below looked like diamonds, sparkling and moving at ground level, with never a break in the line of white lights.

During the day on Friday, before the dining experience, the girls went shopping for a while, Jessica met up with her cousin and family and we stopped at the Obama Library Building for forty minutes trying to find out how my two Obama books might be included in the display of over 32,000 items from Obama’s 2008 campaign. My reporting on his run that year for Associated Content meant that Yahoo declared me the Content Producer of the Year for Politics. I’d like the library to at least have a record of all of Obama’s rally stops in Iowa. It was Iowa that gave him his “ticket to ride” back in 2008.  I was able to find out from Jade Jewell, a better e-mail address to use. I apparently need to submit my two volumes to the Chicago Public Library, as well.

Ducky Derby and me.

After the Obama Library stop, we hit the Museum of Science and Industry, for the Anne Frank tour and Spiderman. After walking around at the Obama Center for 40 minutes, there was a lot more to see. (I counted 54 steps down for one level, which, fortunately, were steps going down, not up). Our parking was comped in the facility as we left by showing a QR code.

We  went off Lake Shore Drive and cruised by the 31st Street Beach, where a family photo taken of Grandpa Craig with the girls lying on his back when little is a favorite. Unfortunately, there was an “officer down” situation at that exit.

We left for  dinner (7 p.m.) at 6:30 p.m. Getting there by Uber went well, but getting home af did not go well when our driver knew nothing about driving in the city and we had to instruct him on how to get back to Michigan Avenue. Fortunately, the son and wife  had better instincts than our non-English speaking driver.

Apple store.

The final night (Saturday) the younger members of the group trekked over to Soldier Field to hear Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters. Grohl  said it was their biggest concert appearance ever in Chicago.

Today, it Is raining, so the Navy Pier trip has been scrubbed and, instead, we are coping with potential tornadoes and flooding across the Midwest.

(L to R) Scott, Craig, Elise, Connie, Ava & Jessica.

Same architect as Marina Towers.

Remember Spidergirl?