July 5: Independence Day and Biking in Chicago

Josh made dinner Wednesday night, and we ate outside on the porch.

Delicious! Yesterday was Independence Day. To celebrate our independence, I mowed the lawn! Grandmom and John put me and Josh to a bit of yard work, but I had a good time. (I just got to listen to some Big K.R.I.T. Can't complain.) They're giving us free room and board, and I don't mind a bit of work for my grandmom.

Josh and I went to the park again, and we threw the Frisbee around. It was a beautiful day in Chicago. I took a nap before dinner, and then we all ate together. Grandmom made a nice pasta sauce, and for dessert, we had a homemade angel food cake. After dinner, Josh and I went to downtown Chicago to watch the Navy Pier fireworks. On our way, we saw a Lincoln:

At the CTA stop:

We walked around the city a bit, and since Navy Pier was full, we made our way to Millenium Park. We crossed over the Chicago River:

We ended up watching the fireworks near Millenium Park by Lake Shore Drive. It's tough to get good pictures of fireworks, especially without a monopod or a tripod. So I just had fun with the camera.

Woooooaaahhh!

One more:

The show was short, only fifteen minutes. It wasn't bad, but I guess I was expecting a bigger finish. There were tons of people, and we weren't even on the pier.

Today, the four of us took bicycles into downtown Chicago. We rode the Metra into town, and we biked all the way from Union Station to Northerly Island, which is on the shore of Lake Michigan. I got to take some pictures.

Another:

We biked to Lou Malnati's Pizzeria for authentic Chicago pizza. It was a bit of a wait, but well worth it.

It was very tasty. After dinner, we biked to Millenium Park for the Grant Park Orchestra concert. They played Bolcom's Ragomania (Michigan composition represent!), Barber's Piano Concerto, and Dvořák's Symphony No. 9. The symphony was fantastic. Awesome trumpets. The clouds matched the mood well:

Millenium Park was packed.

After the concert, when we got back to Union Station, I got another picture of the river:

Overall, it was a good day. We leave Chicago for Minneapolis tomorrow.

Trip odometer: 1282.7 miles
Currently listening to: Harmonium, by John Adams, performed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Robert Shaw