The Chicago Art Institute.......a visit with a grandchild

I am very excited. I have visited this special place four times. Each time I see world famous paintings in a different light. It is especially exciting because the five year old wants to be an artist.......my wife's patient hand has guided her drawings since she was 2, and I hope I can take a picture of her and I with the Guardian lions who stand outside this great museum. I used to work for Borg Warner corporation who had their corporate headquarters across the street, and visited the museum in the 70s, but have not been to the museum in 20 years. A simple memory on my monthly visit to NW hospital, and I would like to take her up the Hancock Center which is only a couple blocks from NW hospital, so we will park the car in the Hospital parking lot and take cabs to the various landmarks.....as long as my energy holds up, we will tour this beautiful city, and hopefully the grandaughter will have a lifetime memory.

Her lifetime memory will be her grandfather holding her hand.

You got your priorities spot on Mr. Oats . . . in the years ahead as she grows into womanhood she will think back to her past and will remember . . . priceless!

Wonderful day with the granddaughter. I will post photos later, but I arrived with the granddaughter at 9:30 at the hospital and while I was getting my monthly treatments they had sweet rolls. At 10:45 I was done, and we walked five blocks on the mag mile on MIchigan Ave to the John Hancock center and rode the elevator up to the 95th floor. Our table faced lakeshore drive and Navy Pier. She sat down with her puppy dog purse and pretended she was a big girl on top of the world. She asked questions at a rapid rate, and then her attention shifted from the lake and the ferris wheel at Navy pier to window washers on scaffolding which was moving.....pretty cool experience for a five year old.

Great affordable meal of high quality with great views. Actually sitting for an hour and having three lunches cost 51 bucks and the observation deck in the Hancock would have cost 48 bucks for the three of us, so I advise anybody visiting to do lunch at the signature room on the 95th floor.

After lunch and across the street is the American Girl Doll retail store.....amazing place and some damn expensive dolls. She already had her doll since her 3rd birthday, so my granddaughter picked out some hair extensions, and just was in five year old heaven.

7 bucks for a cab to head south on Michigan to the World Famous Chicago Art Museum, and I literally had tears in my eyes because the beauty and creativity in this building is unmatched by any other Art Museum I have visited. The best part is the little artist loved the visit and was full of questions for her grandmother as her attention span lasted the entire visit. A photo with one of the lions and back in a cab heading north to the northwestern parking garage which allows a validated medical patient to park for 7 hours for 11 bucks, while any other parking is about fifty bucks for seven hours. I will post photos of the lion and the views from the 95th floor, later as the shots have me a bit sleepy, but what a great day with a very happy five year old who slept the whole way back to her parents home. However as we looked over lakes shore drive.......I thought of this song from so many years ago.

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Awesome Mr. Oats . . . enjoy!

My head was exploding with pride....I learned that Kate loved Georgia O'keefe's clouds, and when she was in the Art institute gift shop picking out post cards of Art institute paintings, she actually picked out two of O'keefe's flowers showing a spooky eye for a particular artist which she enjoyed. Clouds fills an entire staircase and although I have never acquired a taste for modern art, this painting captures your imagination, and that of a five year old.

Please do not get too bored with this guy's verbose love of O'keefe, but I do love her flowers.

I really enjoyed the Van Gogh room....

Interesting. I've never been to Chicago. I imagine it's a lot like NYC.

Nice story and photos. I love Chicago but only to visit. Your grand daughter has good taste in art. Okeefe   she's a little cutie btw must take after your wifes side of the family because you have big feet and a square head.

Interesting. I've never been to Chicago. I imagine it's a lot like NYC.

I am not a real fan of NYC. I love Battery Park and the unique bridges but I felt consistently overwhelmed by traffic and congestion. Chicago's open space along the lake is breathtakingly beautiful. It is called the second city, but it will always be the first city in my mind. I have been exploring it the last 24 months, and granted most of my time has been spent at or near the mag mile where the hospital is, but I look forward to hitting all the museums. I have not been to Navy Pier in over 30 years, and I saw yesterday they have placed this big Ferris Wheel on the same. I will check that out in warmer weather. The Lake with its ice formations and the water cribs are stunning. In the summer grant park and the lakefront is remarkable. There are so many unique and beautiful cities in America. My second choice has always been San Francisco which is so liveable and vibrant......too damn expensive, and now too far to visit because I no longer fly.

Are you unable to fly?

she's a little cutie btw must take after your wifes side of the family because you have big feet and a square head.

Actually for my size, my hands and feet are relatively small with only size 11 feet, but my square head and yellow eyes were not inherited by the granddaughter, but I do look like our old mailman who had a square head and yellow eyes. The granddaughter is a spitting image of my wife at five, and I am thankful most of the grandkids do not look like me......now that I am looking they all look like that mailman we had in the early eighties. Who said the postal service does not deliver.

Mr Ichi wrote:Next Stop..Sears Tower Observation deck

Maybe if that is Corning Gorilla glass.......but how many smart phones have broken screens, and my luck I would pick up a stone in the shoe which cracks the glass, and splats my asz.

2seaoat wrote:she's a little cutie btw must take after your wifes side of the family because you have big feet and a square head.

Actually for my size, my hands and feet are relatively small with only size 11 feet, but my square head and yellow eyes were not inherited by the granddaughter, but I do look like our old mailman who had a square head and yellow eyes.  The granddaughter is a spitting image of my wife at five, and I am thankful most of the grandkids do not look like me......now that I am looking they all look like that mailman we had in the early eighties  .   Who said the postal service does not deliver.

LOL now now oat, be nice. your wife has been very good to tolerate you all these years.

LOL now now oat, be nice. your wife has been very good to tolerate you all these years.


That is the most accurate post you have ever made.......no other women in her right mind would have remained married to me......but for the adventure.

2seaoat wrote:she's a little cutie btw must take after your wifes side of the family because you have big feet and a square head.

Actually for my size, my hands and feet are relatively small with only size 11 feet, but my square head and yellow eyes were not inherited by the granddaughter, but I do look like our old mailman who had a square head and yellow eyes.  The granddaughter is a spitting image of my wife at five, and I am thankful most of the grandkids do not look like me......now that I am looking they all look like that mailman we had in the early eighties.   Who said the postal service does not deliver.

You look shorter than 6'3.

Are you unable to fly?

Endocrine cancer is spread by high hormone levels produced by islet cells where the typical patient can have five times the level of normal hormones. These hormones effect the large intestine and cause what is called the carcinoid syndrome which is rapid and uncontrollable urge to purge the large intestine. I choose not to fly now because I do not want to be caught in a situation where I can not freely access a restroom when I have a carcinoid syndrome moment. I had to use the restroom 5 times during the superbowl and could you imagine on a three hour flight sitting next to someone who is being restricted from leaving their seat because of turbulent weather. In an emergency I can fly, but it will probably never happen again unless the miracle cure in Sweden is expedited, and my hormone levels are lowered.

You look shorter than 6'3.


I was six three and a half, but the aging process has me at 6'3".........I guess the big lion throws your proportions off. The granddaughter towers over her classmates and she will be over six feet tall. My grandmother born in 1899 was six feet tall and in those days she was teased about her height where today a young girl wants to be tall like Taylor Swift.