[photos + words + stories]: chicago in pictures.

here's the thing... you never come home thinking "i wish i hadn't taken so many photos."
no. no.
you always come home thinking "i wish i'd taken more photos."
this is still true even when you take a million photos.
ok. i didn't take a million. i took 276. but still.

walking to the train station under the protection of my new umbrella.

when i got up the stairs from my train stop, this is what i saw.

i made my way down the street to the park. so so so pretty.

there's just a nice old feeling to parts of city [especially some of the architecture] that you don't really find on the west coast too often.
i especially enjoyed looking at the different lights, like this one.
so old and so beautiful.

yay for the self timer on my camera. i love that thing.

there are little gardens and planters with amazing plants and flowers all throughout the city.
then i stumbled across this... a *real* garden in the middle of the park.
i thought it was pretty cool.

the fountain. it's way more impressive than i expected. when i first arrived, no one was there, but by the time i was able to cross the street to get to it, a bus full of children was unloading. i didn't mind waiting around to get a couple good photos though.

another self portrait.
people kept asking me if i wanted them to take a photo of me, but i kind of like doing it by myself. :]
on one side of the fountain, it's just the sky behind it [like the photo above] and from the other side, you can see all these pretty buildings behind it [like this one]. i thought the two different perspectives where interesting.

this is basically all i saw of the lake. so all i know is that it's gigantic.
it's something that i will hopefully explore more in another trip. i didn't make it to navy pier during this trip, and i'm sure that's a good spot to take in the lake. so next time. there will have to be a next time. :]

really. so green and pretty everywhere.
i was starting to get hot at this point too, so i was very thankful for the shade that all those trees provided. the only problem was that they kept dripping water on me. ha. at one point, i even got out my umbrella even though it wasn't technically raining anymore. ha.

i took lots of photos like this when i found a new texture on the ground. i don't know... i just think they are fun. i did my self-portrait rolls in photography like this, and it kind of became my thing. :]

the bean.

my reflection in the bean.
i forget what it's really called... i'm pretty sure that it has a different name, but everyone just kept calling it the bean.
it was also more impressive than i expected. it was very crowded with people though, so i didn't stay too long there.

i used my bag as a prop for my camera + the self timer. :]

i don't know exactly what kind of theater this was, but that sign definitely required a photo.

[even though i was on a busy street corner and people were looking at me like a tourist. ha.]

this is the ceiling of macy's.
the chicago macy's is fabulous.
so beautiful inside with all kinds of neat old architectural details.
plus they have a lush in there. you know i spent a decent amount of time smelling all the lush goodness.

there were lots of flags in the city. all of these flags are lining a bridge that crosses the chicago river.

the river is pretty big larger than most of the rivers we have around here. and you can take a little boat ride on it. not really my cup of tea though. haha.

i later walked across that bridge and seriously wanted to run.
it was shaking quite a bit, and i couldn't really handle it. ha.

another fun photo of my feet.

along the magnificent mile, which is basically a shopping district, there are all kinds of these dresses in the planters.

i didn't really stop to read about them, but i think most of them are made with "found objects" or trash.

they were a fun sight to happen upon and i tried to take a photo of each one that i saw.

i'm sure i missed some because i only walked up one side of the street, but i have photos of about 10 of them. each one is totally unique, but these two are probably my favorites.

you know i had to stop in there.

and in there.
on my way to this store, i pulled out my map to make sure that i was on the right street. a guy behind me asked me if i was ok or needed any directions. he walked me all the way to this store and talked with me the whole time. he was so friendly. as we left, he told me his name and to look him up. turns out, he is a ceo of some big company. haha. but seriously. everyone i interacted with was really friendly and i appreciated it, especially the girl at the train station. she was a big help and so funny about me not knowing what i was doing. ha.