Chi Town Baby! From the View from the Sears Tower

My travels have taken me to Chicago, IL, the "Second City" or "Windy City." It is the only city in the United States that comes close to the atmosphere and variety that I've found in New York City.

To start things off, I visited the Sears Tower, the dominant structure of the city's skyline.

It is now America's tallest building (thanks a lot Jihad), and is located on South Wacker Drive at Adams Street, just a couple of blocks away from Union Square. In the image above, you can see where the Twin Towers once stood (metaphorically).

It was built in 1973, occupies two city blocks and stretches 1,454 feet high. This view is looking South at the city.

They Skydeck views from the 103rd floor allow you to see as far as 50 miles out. On a good day. This wasn't so good, but it was nice enough to see some of the sights, like the Hancock Building.

At the top left hand corner of this photo, you can see legendary Soldier Field. It's the home of the Chicago Bears and former home of the XFL's Chicago Enforcers.

Here's a closer view of the Hancock Building.

And a view of the city below, looking slightly North.

West of the building is more residential and suburban. With suburbs come highways. Chicago is noted for many historical and cultural contributions. The first indoor NFL game took place in the city in 1932 (although according to NFL.com it happened in 1930 and was not the first indoor football game, unless of course they didn't mean the first preseason game, which also took place in Chicago...ah never mind).

The view afforded me an opportunity to get acquainted with the city and figure out what I wanted to do. The next few blog entries will give you a picture of what the city has to offer.