On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Good Morning All,
On The Road and In Your Backyard is a weekday feature spotlighting reader submissions. From the exotic to the familiar, please share your part of the world, whether you’re traveling or just in your locality. Share some photos and a narrative, let us see through your pictures and words. We’re so lucky each and every day to see and appreciate the world around us!
Submissions from commenters are welcome at tools.balloon-juice.com
Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!
Today, pictures from valued commenter Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes.
This submission is from a fun little gimmick trip we took to Chicago ahead of an absurdly short stay in Beijing in 2016.
I don’t think I ever shared these with you guys before.
Anyway, if you ever get there, be sure to go on the archictural history boat tour – the scenery and architecture are fantastic, and the lecture is surprisingly engaging.
Chicago
Every time we turned around, there was something interesting.
More buildings
….but I forget.
…where river meets the lake.
Thank you so much Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes, do send us more when you can.
Travel safely everybody, and do share some stories in the comments, even if you’re joining the conversation late. Many folks confide that they go back and read old threads, one reason these are available on the Quick Links menu.
One again, to submit pictures: Use the Form or Send an Email
eclare
Oh yeah the boat tour is wonderful. Also wonderful, looks like the T has been removed or covered up on the tower, so it reads RUMP!
JPL
@eclare: It should say big ass.
Amir Khalid
Office towers look the same all over the planet, don’t they? The least characterful edifices anywhere. You can take very similiar photos of them in Beijing’s central business district, or KL’s, or Nairobi’s. The guide on the boat tour probably doesn’t have much to say about them.
@eclare:
The T is under a shadow. Rather like the man himself.
eclare
@Amir Khalid: Shoot, I see that now. But still nice effect.
Shalimar
I saw a Tulsi 2020 billboard off I-380 in Cedar Rapids. First candidate billboard I have noticed, so give her points for strategic placement, if nothing else.
mrmoshpotato
@JPL: No. We should tear down the entire POS. Maybe we’ll put a satellite branch of Obama’s library there in its place.
debbie
The triangular-topped building in the second photo reminds me of the AT&T Chippendale building in NYC. High rises suck, but I love when there are little flourishes like that.
delk
The third photo is the former corporate headquarters of Montgomery Ward and their catalog warehouse. Both are condo buildings now. We looked at units in both — couldn’t afford the HQ and didn’t like the layout of the warehouse. I dated a guy that worked in the HQ back in the ‘80’s.
arrieve
I’ve taken that boat tour — it’s a lot of fun, and Chicago has some spectacular architecture. I fantasized about living in Marina City, with all those balconies.
satby
@Amir Khalid: It’s a good tour with a lot of information on the history of development along the river as well as the buildings visible along it. The downtown walking tours are also great. The first skyscraper in the world was built in Chicago, it’s long gone but a lot of its architectural contemporaries still exist and are visted on the different tours. I’m a building geek and I’ve been on a few of them.
schrodingers_cat (HectoringBully)
I took that tour when I visited Chicago with my brother. It was fun. Would love to go back again in warmer weather. It was March but still too bloody cold on the water, even with full winter gear.
Raven
That boat tour is awesome. I grew up in the western burbs and learned so much!
J R in WV
I visited Chicago often while in ET school at Great Lakes, following my survival of Boot Camp. We would buy a round trip on the suburban RR and carefully stash the return trip, then spend every cent of payroll remaining, hey, we were still teenagers. Rock and roll downtown. Walking the city. Wish now I had hit up the museums more, but was a teen aged guy.
The city does have great architecture, both novel high rises, along with great sculpture out in public. In the ‘burbs there are famous high art homes by famous architects as well. Lake front mansions as well. Lake Forest for one, a beautiful town.
Madeleine
I was in the area last week. We arrived at Union Train Station and were staying with friends in Evanston. Our Uber drove us through downtown–the density of high rises, so diverse, was fascinating, and Lakeshore Dr. is just beautiful. Northwestern’s new music building is gorgeous. A huge window in the lobby looks out at the lake as if already from the water.
Origuy
In the first picture, a block to the south is the Carbide and Carbon Building, completed in 1929. It now houses the St. Jane Hotel, named after Chicago activist Jane Addams. It’s a very nice hotel; I stayed there in December between Christmas and New Years. A lot of Art Deco furnishings and a big picture of Addams in each room. Quite a contrast with the monstrosity on the other side of the river.
mad citizen
@Origuy: I was staying up high in the nearby Wyndam Hotel last October and couldn’t stop taking pictures of the Carbide and Carbon Building. Aside from the great name and design, age, etc., it’s a fantastic greenish-grey (depending on the light), highlighted by gold accents. I had to walk inside and take a few shots as well–need to find and post.
I disagree that all towers are the same when it comes to Chicago–it is known for it’s architecture and I took the same boat tour a couple years ago and had a great guide. Even I had to appreciate the Rump Tower as a building, as it uses a new support approach. The large poles near the river are helping to support the building (90+ stories if I recall correctly) like a skiers poles support a skier standing/going downhill. I actually like the Rump building in Chicago–it’s silverish, not gold, and not a box. Eventually when Rump’s name and business is gone from it, and those five letters are gone, there will be an immerasurable improvement to Chicago’s aesthetics.
Of course I took a few shots from a meeting room across the street with my hand and raised middle finger in the foreground, and the Rump letters in the background.