Last Christmas, we took a trip to Chicago.  Oh, how it’s expanded over the years.  They still have the beloved coal mine exhibit/ride that we went on as kids.  And, it’s still pretty interesting.

I believe this train was there when I was little too.  It’s still as shiny as ever:

A cool but clear day in Illinois was a great day to explore the marsh.  A slight breeze breathed through the tall grasses. The floating walkway creaked and shifted ever so slightly while walking on it.

This photo and more photographic prints are available at www.BriansArt.com

All the trees were dormant.  The sun was all but missing behind grey skies.  The cold had set in and the only thing left was to wait it out.  Snow was on it’s way.  Ready for a long winter in Illinois.

This image and other prints are available at www.BriansArt.com

We learned on this trip that the day after Thanksgiving is a great day for air travel.  Everyone is probably either shopping or sleeping off the gorging from the previous day.  Either way, the airport was all but empty.

Passing through Chicago’s O’Hare airport, I enjoyed the patterns of the sunlit hall mixed with the holiday decorations they’ve added.  This was taken on the busy day we traveled before Thanksgiving. Despite it being quite busy, everything moved along smoothly.

I went way out on a limb for this picture – literally.  I climbed a tree and layed on a limb that was hanging out over the pond to shoot down into the water.  The sun peeked through an otherwise cold, cloudy day in the Chicago suburbs.

I caught a bit of a cold and the car seems to be dying since I got back so it seemed appropriate to post a picture that felt like this.

Just flew back home from Chicago where we were spending Thanksgiving.  I love to look out the airplane window.  A photographer friend said he always pretended that he was on a flight personally chartered for his photography.  On this evening, the sun set over the clouds as we flew.  It gave a nice pink hue to the whole floor of clouds below us.