Visiting the Mid-West-Chicago

Grandma decided to stay in Minnesota, so Mom and I rented a car and drove to Chicago to visit Uncle Colin, Aunt Lori, and my cousins Jack (15), Sophie (13), & Gavin (12).  It was for only a day and a half, but I had a really good time.

 Our full day was Saturday, July 1.  We took the green line down town and we started off doing the River Walk.

 There are some crazy buildings here!

 We used a hotel bathroom that was entirely covered in little mirror tiles!

 Our main destination was Maggie Daley Park just north of the the Chicago Art Institute.  It was so much fun!  There were lots of structures to climb on.

 All with skyscrapers in the back ground.

 I hit the slides!

 The park also had water features.  This one cooled us down.

 We also went up the lighthouse.

 Uncle Colin, Jack, and Aunt Lori waited in the shade.

 We crossed the highway on the Serpentine Bridge by Frank Gehry.

 There was another park called "The Prairie"  

 We got to soak our feet in the cool water.

 After walking 5 miles, we took the Green Line back to Oak Park.  I had a lot of fun and I slept really well that night.

Highlights from Jack & Gavin's Visit

Uncle Colin takes great photographs.  Here are pictures from his camera from the last week.....

The cave

 Mom in the cave.....

 Gavin, Jack, and I in the cave.

 Exiting the cave with Tha tha.

Mt. St. Helen's-what's Gavin doing?

 The Seattle Library-downtown

 Seattle Center

 The International fountain

Mom at the Sound

Grandma Judy and her sisters, Sandra & Jackie

Mt. St. Helen's- Johnston's Ridge

 The next morning we drove up to Johnston's Ridge.  It a foot hill that sits right in front of the volcano.  We had to drive to the end of Washington State Road 504.

We finally parked at Johnston's Ridge.

After these pictures we went to the interpretative center and learned more about the volcano.

On the way back, Jack got a picture with Big Foot.

Ape Cave-Mt. St. Helen's

My cousins Jack and Gavin are visiting from Chicago.  We (Mom, Dad, Tha tha, Uncle Colin, Jack, Gavin and myself) decided to go to Mt. St. Helen's.

 The forest on the south side of the mountain was dense, but ash and cool lava could be seen through the green.  Here is the entrance to Ape Cave.  Do you see the stairs going down?

The cave was not lit, so we had to bring our own lights.  We had head lamps and flashlights.

 As a group, we decided to do the easy leg of the cave.  It was 3/4 mi until we reached the end.

 

 The cave got bigger and smaller, the path got smoother and rougher.  Sometimes it was difficult to walk.

The cave also got cooler the farther we went.

This is Uncle Colin taking a picture of a natural lava formation.  It is named "The Meat Ball".

We were glad to finally find the entrance and go back up to the hot forest.

 When we resurfaced, there was a park ranger to answer our questions.  We all drank some water.

After a rest, we headed to the north side of Mt. St. Helen's.