Chicago!!!

This past weekend, our missions professor, Dr. Glick, took a group of us students up to Chicago for the weekend. He almost canceled the trip because of blizzard predictions, but he figured if we skipped his fourth period class and we skipped chapel, we could leave early enough to outrun the blizzard. So that is what we did. We ran into quite a bit of snow but made it to Chicago before the roads got bad.

We had a great time. Chicago was freezing and there is a reason it is called the "windy city". It is also quite a crime ridden place. Our first evening there, we parked the van downtown in a parking area, and went out walking and sightseeing for a couple of hours. When we got back, someone had already stolen the spare tire out from under the van!


The next morning we were up early and headed to the Sears tower. We went all the way to the top. The view was really neat. They also had these glass boxes suspended out over nothingness that you can go in. It was kinda creepy when you stepped out and then looked down to see the street 103 stories below you.

The Sears Tower

It took three elevators to get to the top. This one was the biggest. I've probably never spent that much time in any one elevator before. It was old and clunky and slow. Pretty creepy- especially when you are going up 99 stories in it.

The Sears Tower is 283 Obama's tall! Whodathunkit. I did find out that Obama is no exception to people who make me feel really short.

The braver ones of our group.

I'm a brave one

I much prefer nature, but the view was pretty spectacular.

After that, we went to Navy Pier. It was so cold out on the pier so we didn't stay out there for very long. Inside, it was kind of like a mall with all sorts of little shops. We had a good time looking around. There was a very neat conservatory in there as well. It was nice to go into that tropical environment after being out in the frigid outdoors.



Later on in the afternoon, after eating at Chipotle, we went to the Pacific Garden Mission. We used to listen to their radio program, Unshackled, so I was familiar with the name. It is a very big place that cares for the homeless of Chicago. They have more then a thousand people who sleep and eat there every night. They also have a very excellent discipleing program and have transformed the lives of many people.



We went on a tour and then got to watch a taping of the Unshackled program. It was neat to see how it was done. Then we got to eat in their enormous dining hall.

Little Becky Glick being cute as always.

We left to head back to Cincinnati that night. We had a really good time. We made it back in the wee hours Sunday morning. I'm afraid I had a little too much exposure and now have a cold. However, its not too bad and it was definitely worth it.