Festival of Sights, Part Two

Continuing my recap of our yuletide drive up to Zion.

Saturday, December 19th

North Bound: Lake Shore Drive

We drove past another remnant of the 1893 Columbian Exposition, the Museum of Science & Industry, which was the Palace of Fine Arts during the expo, and was briefly the home of the Field Museum before it moved to its current location in 1921.  I love the look of this building, and it’s been far too long since I’ve been there.  Must visit MSI again soon!

The city was cold and gray, with a low cloud cover and icy drizzle hiding the skyline from us.  We saw several signs for the Lake Michigan Circle Tour, a winding route along lakefront roads in Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana.  Looked like I was following the Illinois portion by happenstance.  Part of the route crosses the lake from Wisconsin to Michigan on the car ferry S.S. Badger.  Duly noted for the future!

We passed the Museum Campus (one of my favorite spots), on by Navy Pier (Upon seeing the Ferris Wheel, my daughter said, “Daddy, can we go to the circus?”), on and north until LSD ended.

North Bound: Sheridan Road

We started following Sheridan Road at this point, a mostly north bound but sometimes westward route.  It seemed more like a route along a series of old winding trails than it did a singular road.  Sheridan Road was created by Congress in 1832 as a military road to connect Fort Dearborn in Chicago to Fort Howard in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and is named for Civil War General Philip Henry Sheridan.

There are many historic and beautiful buildings along the route, so many that we wished we’d brought a camera.  We immediately swore to follow this route again in the summertime.

Some highlights from Sheridan Road:

• Loyola University Lake Shore Campus,
• Emil Bach House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright,
• Northwestern University campus in Evanston,
• Grosse Point Lighthouse, barely spotted by Ashli through the trees.  Made a note to stop there on a future trip.
• Bahá'í House of Worship.  Even Aisy said “Wow” as we passed, pronounced “Whaowa!”

So many wonderful sights and great architecture that to list them all here would make this series of posts much longer than I want it to be.  I’ll mention some others as I recount the south bound trip.

Next post:  An evening in Zion, and the evil waves of an icy lake!