Grant Park

 Millenium Park.

Our Chicago experience started at Millennium Park, the northernmost portion of the larger Grant Park complex. This area is also the most elaborately designed, featuring a maze of walking trails, a skating loop, carefully curated gardens, modern pavilions, and eye-catching public art displays such as the Crown Fountain (above).

Harry was delighted to uncover a bouncy ball that his aunty had secretly stashed in the park for him a week or two earlier.

The park is home to the Millennium Monument.

The Jay Pritzker Pavilion (above) is a renouned outdoor concert venue.

Sadly, we couldn't fully enjoy the iconic Cloud Gate, as it is currently a construction site.

Grant Park is a vast green space set between Chicago's towering skyline and the shores of Lake Michigan.

Grant Park extends southward from Millennium Park and incorporates major landmarks such as the Shedd Aquarium, the Planetarium, and the Field Museum at the southern boundary.

The park offers a diverse mix of well-kept gardens and recreational spaces, with the spectacular 45-metre-high Clarence Buckingham Memorial Fountain at its center.

Good-bye Yellowstone

 

We were all a little sad to be leaving the wildlife and scenery behind, but it was time to move on.

Our exit from Yellowstone National Park proved memorable in its own right. It was dark and gloomy in West Yellowstone when we departed, though still relatively mild at around 18°C. As we headed north toward Bozeman, the weather quickly turned, with rain setting in and making for a tricky drive through the mountain passes.

By the time we arrived at the airport nearly two hours later, the temperature had dropped sharply to around 5°C. We were more than happy to get inside the Bozeman terminal and warm up.

We landed in Chicago just as evening set in, only to find it surprisingly warmer. Somehow, we’d managed to outrun winter once again.

After a bit of back-and-forth sorting out local transport cards, we hopped on the Chicago "L" bound for the city.

By the time we checked into the ACME Hotel Company and found something to eat, it was already quite late. Tomorrow, we begin exploring Chicago!