We stayed at the McCormick Place Convention Center.

When we visited it was a day or two after Steve Jobs passed away. Outside of the apple store were crowds of people leaving letters, apples, post-its, and lighting candles in his memory. 

After a morning full of walking our next stop was pretty SWEET…..you guessed it, HERSHEY’S!

Pace yourself….

 

My personal FAVE!

Navy Pier was Next during German/ Oktober Fest!

My husband Mingling

A message every language should agree on!

The famous Ferris Wheel

At the top of the Ferris Wheel…..This explains the windy city name…..Not where you want to be rocking

Sears Tower

I tried to tell him they don’t need cleaned

Making friends at Leggo Land

WE EARNED DINNER with all of that walking!

Everyone knows Chicago pizza as the Deep Dish and every person you ask who has been will recommend a different pizza place as their favorite, you have to start somewhere so we chose Giordano’s

WARNING you will be waiting…..most likely outside with crowds of others, I think the longer  the wait means the better the taste

waiting…..waiting….waiting

SO WORTH IT….

Another Chicago favorite….Garretts popcorn which I hear also typically has a LONG wait!

To Do’s for our next trip to Chi town:

• We plan to take the train just to experience something new!
• Eat a Chicago Dog at Superdawg! www.superdawg.com
• See a game at Wrigley Field!
• Go to Shedd Aquarium
• Get a Philly Cheesesteak at Monti’s www.ilovemontis.com

Then I took this fun photo of my little guy on the second floor. He’s so little!

We ended the day in Lead, South Dakota, a tiny island of civilisation in the Black Hills National Forest, which also contains Custer State Park and Mount Rushmore. The next morning we woke up to snowfall at the crack of dawn, this was a bit of a shock, having been in glorious 30 degree sunshine in California only four days prior. After a quick run around in the snow we drove out to Mount Rushmore, and although the snow very quickly melted, the thick fog clung on, reducing visibility of the monument to nearly zero! We waited in the attached museum until the clouds briefly lifted before dashing out to get one good photo in the freezing rain.

Custer Park, at the bottom of the Black Hills National Forest is home to herds of bison (viewable from the warmth of the car), so we swung through to have a quick peek. The bison were still going strong, but there was absolutely no sign of human life anywhere, we got the distinct feeling that most outdoor pursuits north of Oklahoma close as soon as the last warmth of summer fades.

After Custer Park we drove out on to the Badlands, but the weather was still awful, there was sleet, still snow on the ground, absolutely freezing, not ideal for outside activities! So we decided to drive through the Badlands National Park trying to get some good views, with not much luck…

I really wish we’d been able to see the Badlands in glorious sunshine as they’re supposed to be really amazing, almost otherworldly. Once we’d seen everything South Dakota had to offer, there was nothing else for it but to just drive straight to Chicago, we spent the next day driving from Sioux Falls down and across Iowa to DeKalb, Illinois, a small town on the far outskirts of Chicago.

Chicago was the city I was most excited to visit on our trip and it didn’t disappoint at all. I’d built up such high hopes for how great it was going to be, that I was sure that it could never live up to them, but it did, and more! We only had time enough to spend one day in the city, but we packed in as much as possible into that day. We started off at the Shedd Aquarium down on the lakefront, nestled between the home field of the Chicago Bears and the city’s planetarium. If you choose to pay for all the extended exhibitions then it can end up pretty pricey, so we stuck with the most basic ticket and were pretty pleased with our $8 worth! Be warned though that the queue to get in can get quite long and static.

After the aquarium we walked further into downtown along the lakefront, once we hit the start of Navy Pier, which juts out into Lake Michigan filled with fairground attractions, we turned inland and headed for The Willis Tower (previously known as the Sears Tower). The building was the world’s tallest for twenty-five years and still holds the title for the United States; the viewing deck on the 103rd floor of the tower opened at the same time as the building, and in 2009 three enclosed glass balconies were added allowing visitors to step four feet out over Chicago with sheer views straight down 1,353 feet to the street.

The Skydeck was amazing, albeit very crowded, we tried to get up before the sun set so we could see the city in daylight and then dark, which was apparently a popular idea. On a clear day you can supposedly see to four different states and the queues to get out onto the glass balconies are long, but again very worth it.

Next up we walked through the theatre district before strolling down to Magnificent Mile –  the largest shopping district of Chicago that is also home to some of the city’s most famous buildings such as the Tribune Tower and the The Wrigley Building. It’s a gorgeous area filled with high end restaurants, a great mix of shops and a fantastic juxtaposition of 1920s architecture and modern skyscrapers.

Finally we ended the night with a trip to Millennium Park and the affectionately termed ‘Bean’ sculpture. The work by artist Anish Kapoor is actually titled Cloud Gate, but was nicknamed ‘The Bean’ by Chicago residents. It draws huge numbers of visitors for its unique photo-taking opportunities: the reflective curved surfaces distort the city’s skyline and human reflections.

Chicago is a bit like a cleaner, less crowded New York City and I completely fell in love with it. I wish we’d had more time to see other parts and maybe take in a Bears, Bulls, Cubs or White Sox game as sports in Chicago are supposedly pretty awesome! A return trip is definitely on the cards.

Our final stage of the trip was now upon us and we had two days to get back to the Upper East Side of Manhattan and beat Hurricane Sandy there too…

Mom and I headed up for a quick weekend, December 4 – 7, and really enjoyed ourselves.  The weather was perfect, it certainly could have been snowing and so very cold… luckily, it wasn’t.

We arrived on Tuesday evening, and took a walk along Lake Michigan, the sunset was amazing.  We walked until we hit Soldier Field and then decided to return to the hotel.  They had huge toy soldiers at the front entrance, beautiful chandeliers, and a massive Christmas tree inside.  The elevator lobby hosted a full size gingerbread house, and a cute little snowman at the house’s front door!

The view from the hotel room was of Lake Michigan, and the Navy Pier, http://www.navypier.com, it was just gorgeous.  To see the Ferris Wheel, both up close and afar, in the dark, was just beautiful.

On Wednesday, we decided to take a bus tour of the city, and get our bearings.  We had a variety of bus drivers, each a little bit better than the best.  Very interesting to learn about the town from the locals, and to hear the history.  We found a local joint, Portillos, http://www.portillos.com, for lunch, and it had great burgers… fun little joint that was full of local, somewhat tacky, art.  We headed up to the Sears Tower, which is always a highlight in Chicago, and had some fun with the pictures.

On Thursday, we headed back out to finish the bus tour, Chicago Trolley, http://www.coachusa.com/chicagotrolley/chicagos-best-tour/tour-map.asp.  While waiting for the bus, we found a cool little shop that sells Russian matryoshka dolls, right in the hotel!  There were so many neat things to see..

Christmas dinner, 50% more meat.

I have eaten our school lunch for 12 years now, I weigh 130 pounds and have 6% body fat. This is the same school lunch as the people who weigh 600 pounds and have 90% body fat have eaten, it is clearly not the school lunch making the big difference here. Instead of cutting down on the amount of food in school lunches, we should be promoting healthy lifestyle practices.

Everyday from 9:00-9:40, students at CHS do nothing but sit in a useless class that they get nothing out of except 40 minutes of social time. Instead of having 40 wasted minutes in the morning, we could replace this 40 minutes of the school day with activity. Students could go to the gym everyday during this time and be required to take part in some kind of physical activity. If not everyday, this could at least happen two to three times a week.

I understand wanting have healthier lunches that include all food groups and a healthy option of foods but, being underfed is just as unhealthy as being over healthy. The small portions that they serve us in the cafeteria now aren’t big enough to fill me up, not nearly enough for someone at an average weight of 160 pounds. Lunches can still contain fruits and vegetables, even whole grains, as long as they are larger portions.

If none of these solutions will work, more drastic action can be taken. One plan to require activity is to move our school into a large tower. In this tower the cafeteria would be located on the top floor, well above the classes,with no elevator access. We could also require that all people who weigh over 200 pounds to have their desks replaced with treadmills. Although these solutions would be fun, I would prefer that we switch lunches back and require just a little more activity.

I’ll start with exercise. No, on second thought, I’ll start with what I was most hoping for: A white Christmas! There wasn’t a speck of snow on the ground when I landed in Michigan on the 23rd, but it started snowing in the late afternoon on Christmas Eve, and by Christmas morning, there was a nice white blanket covering everything in sight.

It snowed more the next couple days, and I loved being back in winter weather, if only for a little while!

Moving on to exercise! In total, I was away from Los Angeles for 9 days, and I worked out during 8 of them. The first thing I did the day after I landed in Michigan was go to the local gym, which I joined for one week. A one-week membership costs $25 (I’ve done it before, on previous visits), but since they were going to be closed on Christmas Day, they sold it to me for $20. My sister Laura, who was also in town for Christmas, did the same thing, and we had a good Christmas Eve Day workout. I ended up going back to that gym to do a mix of cardio and weights 3 more times (it was great having Laura as a gym buddy!), so I got my money’s worth.

On Christmas Day, the gym wasn’t an option, so I did a new workout DVD that I brought with me: Jillian Michael’s Killer Abs.

The DVD has three 30-minute workouts on it, and I did the easiest one, but it definitely wasn’t easy. There were lots of fun and not-so-fun moves that I’ve never done before, and I felt it in my core, my abs, and in my legs, too. I’m haven’t watched much of “The Biggest Loser,” so this was a big introduction for me to Jillian, and I thought she was a good teacher, imparted good information, and I liked that she had folks onstage that were modifying the moves in both beginner and advanced ways.

A few days after Christmas, Laura and I drove to her home in Chicago, where I stayed through New Years Day. The morning after we arrived, I went with Laura to her gym, where we took a spin class. I’ve taken this spin class before when I’ve visited Laura, and it’s a fun and brutal workout. James, the instructor, always has great music, and I love that he says what’s coming up, so we know what to expect (“We’re going to do a slow climb for 5 minutes, and then start a series of sprints”).

After those six days of workouts, I was due for a rest day. Then, the day after, Laura and I did one of Laura’s pilates DVDs:

This was my first-ever attempt at pilates. And while Lynne Robinson, the lady on the DVD, was full of useful information and adept at describing the positions, I don’t think pilates is for me. Hopefully this won’t break the heart of my dear friend Natalie, who is a pilates instructor! I know there are benefits and it’s fantastic that so many people love pilates and do it regularly, but I prefer something a little more energetic. After we finished a routine (roughly 50 minutes, it seemed), Laura turned to me and said, “I bet you feel like that wasn’t a workout at all.” I couldn’t disagree with her, but I did feel sore in my midsection later in the day, so it did more good than I initially thought.

On January 1st, the day I left Chicago, I started my morning with good ol’ “Sweatin’ to the Oldies 5.” I haven’t done this Richard Simmons DVD in months, but I know it like the back of my hand, and it’s a good workout for me, especially after I modify some of the moves to be a bit more difficult.

There you have it: 8 workouts in 9 days!

Let’s move on to food, shall we? Like a lot of families, we have our Christmas traditions, and we kept many of them alive this year. It was the smallest Christmas I’ve ever had – just my parents, Laura, and me – so we pared back on how many Christmas cookies we baked (2 or 3 batches instead of 6-8, at least). I probably ate 2 Christmas cookies a day, but I tried to wait until after dinner. I made super healthy choices for breakfast and lunch (salads, egg whites, lots of fruit, wraps made with lean meat, mustard, and veggies) so I could allow for a few indulgences later on.

For Christmas dinner, we stuck to our family’s tradition of having tenderloin, but we skipped another tradition, a casserole made of potatoes, cheese, sour cream, cream-based soup, butter, and more cheese. I took the lead on all the Christmas dinner sides, and whipped up roasted rosemary fingerling potatoes and a roasted veggie medley of broccoli, yellow squash, and brussel sprouts. I didn’t use a drop of oil in any of it – just sprayed them all with a little Pam so the various herbs and seasonings would stick. I also sauteed some mushrooms to go on the beef (to which I did add about 2 pats of butter). The end result:

The beef (about 4-5 ounces of it) is at 4 o’clock in the picture, under a little horseradish sauce (from a jar) and a few of the mushrooms. Everything was delicious! I got seconds of the veggies and potatoes.

My mom must be on some sort of pyromania kick, because both the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day desserts she planned involved lighting things on fire. She made creme brulee on Christmas Eve (although I got the pleasure of using her kitchen torch to caramelize the tops), and on Christmas Day, I helped her assemble a baked Alaska, which is a pound cake, ice cream, and meringue concoction that gets doused in brandy and set aflame just before serving. I enjoyed a serving of each dessert (although I didn’t photograph them), but didn’t go nuts.

When Laura and I got to Chicago, one of the first things we did was go grocery shopping. Laura took me to this awesome fruit and vegetable market called Stanley’s, which is a beautiful store: piles of produce everywhere, and really great prices, too!

We stocked up on fruits and veggies to last us the next few days, with more for Laura to eat into the coming week:

Top row: carrots, shallots, strawberries, spinach, plum tomatoes, a zucchini, a tomato and a grapefruit.  Bottom row: mini yellow bell peppers, 2 apples, cucumber, seckel pears, green grapes, clementines, and mixed greens.

I was so envious, because the clementines were cost 10 cents apiece, and you could pick out as many, or as few, as you want. I only ever see clementines in 5-pound bags, which is a lot of clementines for one person! I don’t understand why clementines aren’t sold loose here, like they are at Stanley’s.

The only time I did really go nutso with food was on New Year’s Eve. I decided, a long time ago, that I would drink on New Year’s Eve, which is an indulgence I rarely give myself. I can count on one hand the number of occasions in the past few years where I’ve consumed alcohol, mainly because I prefer to eat my calories, instead of drink them. But I drank on New Year’s Eve – about 4 drinks over the course of the evening – and by the time Laura and I (and a couple friends) got to the house party where we were actually going to ring in the new year, I was definitely buzzed and seemed to only have eyes for the cookies, nuts, candy, and other snacks that were laid out. I ate waaaaaay too much, and regretted it in the morning. It was a good reminder that alcohol lowers my self-control.

But one night of uncontrolled binging isn’t the end of the world, and I was back on track the very next day.

A few more pictures before I wrap this up. One of the highlights of the Chicago portion of my travels was definitely going, for the first time, to the top of the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower). A few years ago, they installed plexiglass boxes on the 103rd story observation deck that extend outside of the building, so you can stand and only have glass between you and the sidewalk about 1400 feet below. See?

I’ve written about the Willis Tower on this blog before. Last March, when I was in training for my Burj Khalifa stair climb, I was able to add the Willis Tower to my Skyscraper Collection after a record-smashing workout, so it was fun to be at the top of a building I’ve hypothetically climbed in the past. It’s a long way up to the top of the Willis Tower!

I know there’s a stair climb event every year in the Willis Tower, so who knows? Maybe at some point in the future I’ll be in that Skydeck again, after racing up the stairwell!

Final picture: Laura and in one of the plexiglass cubes:

And there you have it folks, the secrets to how I didn’t gain weight over my holiday travels. I hope you’re all starting off the new year by staying active and eating well. I’ve hit the gym the past three days in a row, with a couple more trips planned for this week.

Keep it up, David!

First, my sister surprised us all by coming to Cali as well for Christmas. I believe my exact words when I first saw her were, “Holy sh**!” It was good surprise and a pleasant week. She let me borrow her hat for this pic since I’m not really a hat person.

Me and Autumn

Then for Christmas day, we went to my Aunt’s house where we did a non-traditional Christmas feast – homemade pizza! The excellent idea was suggested by my Nana and turned out very well, in spite of the oddly shaped dough it was built on. We ended up making 3 pizzas.

We then went to Downtown Disney to see the Christmas lights and hear the carolers. I love Christmas so much! I also got a third pierce in my ear, played with my Aunt’s super cute puppies and took some photos to commemorate good times.

I flew to Chicago on the 30th and stayed till January 1st. It was a really quick trip but I had a blast.  My brother graciously informed me that Chicago was having a mild winter, so I planned accordingly. And by accordingly, I mean – I only brought a jacket and short boots. I will never listen to him again for feedback about the weather. It was FREEZING. He definitely does not have a future in meteorology.

All that aside, I managed to survive by walking very briskly when I absolutely had to be outside. During NYE day, we got to go to the top of the Sears Tower, now called Willis Tower.

From top left to right: East, South, North & West

I even got to stand a few feet out over the city in the Sky Box. I didn’t look down.

For lunch, we ate at a traditional Chicago deep dish pizza place, then drove past the Trump Tower. Our NYE party was a private dinner with some of my brother’s friends. There he is, looking all dapper in a bow tie…’cause, bow ties are cool.

And just for fun, here’s a gif my friend and I made using my iPhone. It was our first, so it’s a little weird but so are we, so it’s pretty accurate.

Out of scale? Taipei 101. 3rd tallest skyscraper in the world

With the rapid growth of countries like China and the unparalleled success of Dubai as the tax-free haven of the Middle East, a new type of building has emerged over the last decade: the supertall tower.

The term, implemented by many professional periodicals and the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, is little more than a fashionable one, separating skyscrapers in two categories: those that are between 100 to 300 meters (980 ft) from the less than 60 buildings that defy gravity and reach heights in excess of 300 meters.

Unlike The Home Insurance Building in Chicago (long since demolished), considered by many as the first skyscraper ever built, the advent of the supertall towers is the product of economic prosperity and not of technological breakthroughs. This is why The Burj Khalifa (originally Burj Dubai), the current world’s tallest, utilized the same structural concept employed at a much smaller scale in the Sears Tower (now Willis Tower) over 30 years ago.

The Home Insurance Building in Chicago

Though they reach for the skies, these supertall buildings are often bound to earthly structural configurations that lack the inventiveness of older tall predecessors. An illustrative example is precisely the Burj Khalifa, a colossus of concrete, steel and glass sitting in the desert of Dubai, defying the inclement weather, which includes the occasional sandstorm. The tower was designed to be the tallest and also the costliest, with luxurious interiors pitched to those with deep pockets. The structural strategy that allowed it to rise to the incredible height of 829 meters (2,722 ft) is referred to as “the bundled tube concept“. The idea is to group a series of steel-framed cages with columns at the perimeter in order to gain stiffness and sustain great lateral loads (wind). This is the case of a system where the whole performs better than the sum of its parts. It might be easier to think of the concept as a stack of cards you are trying to rip. The more cards you hold, the harder it is to rip them.

These supertall towers often limit their aesthetic impact to an uninterrupted glass skin that represents the continuation of the modernist idealist glass boxes that began to populate cities over 50 years ago. The problem here does not lie on the implementation of an old idea, but on the use of concepts that do not reflect the current global circumstances. It bears to remember that modernist boxes came about in a world that was not nearly as worried about energy consumption and environmental change. Experience has long since suggested that these modern pieces are heat sinks when temperatures rise and glassy icy boxes that shed heat when temperatures drop.

To justify construction at a performance level, what often happens is that designers resort to energy-saving strategies that put a higher price tag in return for greater efficiency. How does the Burj Khalifa, for instance, justify its continuous glass skin in a desert-like habitat? The answer is by adding layers of glazing, reflective glass tints and insulating coats that are usually sprayed or injected into the air chambers sandwiched in between thin glass panes. To me, these tactics are a way of cheating, allowing designers to insist on materials and design schemes that are not naturally suitable to the context they are in.

However, it would be naive to suggest that these glass facades are not what people want, both aesthetically and functionally. After all, how successful would a designer really be if he/she were to insist on alternative building skins that are simply not as visually appealing as glass? Performance still does not sell as well as beauty.

There are a few instances in which passive techniques and other site-specific measures have driven the design of skyscrapers. There is, for instance, the SOM-designed National Commercial Bank in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Due to average high temperatures that are enough to superheat a glass structure, the building turns its back to the city around it. The offices and glass skin are disposed towards the center, facing a huge atrium carved out in the middle of the triangular plan. This scheme is not only effective in providing shelter from high outdoor temperatures, but it is a unique aesthetic statement that separates the high-rise from the rest, looking like a monolithic piece of stone shaped by the desert, rather than the glassy boxes that bear no relation to their context.

The National Commercial Bank in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

It is ironic that in the exclusive club of the supertall, architects and clients have opted for such conservative and traditional designs. Instead of the exoskeleton of giant steel X-braces that elegantly describe the John Hancock Center in Chicago as it tapers upward (completed in 1968), supertalls have simply taken the concrete tower of 20 to 40 stories and multiplied its size.

This is where Sky City, the soon-to-be tallest building ever in China, is a breath of fresh air. What it does differently is that it proposes a lightweight steel structure that does away with the heavy, time-consuming, energy and labor-intensive reinforced concrete core. In conjunction, the tower is to rely on prefabricated parts that will be shipped and connected on-site to the rest of the structure. The goal is to save time, employ less labor and simplify the process of construction. The lightweight and unconventional character of the structure will also set it apart on a purely visual level, allowing the glassy facade to be a lot more airy and lighter than it can usually be.

A rendering of the proposed Sky City in Changsha, China

If it were to be approved and the structure passes rigorous feasibility analysis, Sky City is a step in the right direction in the development of supertall towers. This is a building that is informed by technological innovation and an original structural configuration that is driven to lower costs, simplify construction and reduce the impact of the massive project in the environment.

There is, of course, the question of whether supertall buildings are really necessary, especially when seen from an environmental perspective. The answer to this question is simply NO. Supertalls are terribly unnecessary and often respond to a client’s wish for exposure. The idea is that the taller the skyscraper is, the more interest the building will generate, and a higher premium can be charged for condominiums at great heights.

N

The tower gained prominence after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. While some incorrectly believe that the tower was the only building to survive the fire, a few other buildings in the burned district survived along with the tower. The tower was the only public building in the burned zone to survive, and is one of just a few of the surviving structures still standing.

Sears Tower (now known as Willis Tower) is a 108-story, 1,451-foot skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois. At the time of its completion in 1973, it was the tallest building in the world, surpassing the World Trade Center towers in New York, and it held this rank for nearly 25 years. The Sears Tower is the tallest building in the United States and the seventh-tallest freestanding structure in the world. The skyscraper is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Chicago, and over one million people visit its observation deck each year. In March 2009, London-based insurance broker Willis Group Holdings agreed to lease a portion of the building, and obtained the building’s naming rights. On July 16, 2009, the building was officially renamed the Willis Tower.

Have a great day!

Chicago Water Tower

Sears Tower (Willis Tower)

© Jayden Miller Photography. All rights reserved.

Jim and I have settled into our apartment and things are pretty routine. Although we constantly have dirty dishes, laundry that’s not folded, and empty glasses all over our tables it gives the apartment a very ”homey” feel that was missing when we first moved it. I’m off all weekend to get ready for the new job and plan on giving the place a nice good clean and finally catching up on laundry. We only have one box left that I want to unpack – mostly movies and picture frames. Maybe I’ll work on a Pinterest project I’ve had laying around too .

On Saturday I made “Sloppy Joe Pizza” which is something my Aunt Kathleen made us growing up. It is amazeballs. Whenever I would feel a little homesick at school, I made myself a sloppy joe pizza and it usually did the trick. It’s so easy and just something different to make. Enjoy!

Things you’ll need: 1lb hamburger meat, onion, bbq sauce, pizza crust, shredded cheese

I cooked the hamburger meat on the stove and threw it about 1/3 cup chopped onion.

When the meat was done, I covered it in BBQ sauce and let it simmer for a few minutes.

Our BBQ sauce of choice.

Spread the BBQ-meat-onion combo over the pizza crust. Sprinkle the shredded cheese to cover the meat and place into the oven. Cook according to the instructions on the pizza crust packaging.

Before…

…After

Voila! Yummy goodness

signalflo records 8052805907

Now lets begin our trip to the Sears Tower:

Bus: 60

Board on 26th and Pulaski, take the bus ride all the way to Canal & Van Buren, head north to Waker St and you have arrived at your destination. This trip will take you about 45 minutes.

Train:

Board the 53 Bus north to Pink Line stop board the Pink Line towards the loop and get off Quincy and head west towards Waker St. This trip will be about 45 minutes.

This is a shot of Chicago from the Willis Tower Skydeck.

Fa la la la la

Kind of puts my tree at home to shame.

I didn’t stick around for the actual lighting but I did listen to a few songs and it warmed my heart, which was nice because when I left the building it was roughly 20 degrees and all exposed body parts immediately began to freeze.  The tree is a lovely sight and yet I’m still able to appreciate the one in my living room so I’ll continue to bask in the holiday spirit wherever I go.  At least until I have to navigate icy sidewalks and mounds of gray, frozen snow each morning on my walk to the train.

The Sears Tower (now the Willis Tower) in Chicago is one of those buildings that always captivated my imagination. Touted for its height – it’s the tallest building in the United States and the western hemisphere – it upped the ante in 2009 when architects added four retractable glass boxes that allow visitors to stand on nothing more than a plate of glass 103 stories above the ground.

I was in Chicago with my family for Thanksgiving, and the Chicago Christmas market was one of the things my mom most wanted to see, but for me, the tower reigned supreme.

On Thanksgiving Day, the wait to get to the top was more than an hour, and as we wandered around after deciding to wait until another day, we realized it had worked out well after all, as it was already getting dark, and we wanted at least the chance to see four states from the tower (Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana).

On Black Friday, we started the day by heading to the black Sears Tower (I still think of it with the old name). We entered from Jackson Street and descended into the building’s subterranean level to wait in line and purchase tickets. When crowded, visitors can purchase fast passes, but we bought the general admission tickets and were at the top – via the freight elevators – in less than 30 minutes.

I’d marveled at the Chicago skyline for two days at that point, and seeing it from the top gave more perspective. I’d flown in and out of O’Hare International Airport numerous times, but I’d never been to Chicago before, and I was surprised at how many skyscrapers it has. But then, it is the birthplace of the skyscraper (the first skyscraper was a 10-story building in Chicago).

I took in the views over the massive Lake Michigan on what turned out to be a gorgeous if freezing Black Friday. Growing up in California, I’ve always disdained places that are far from the oceans, because I am fortunate enough to live within two hours’ drive from the Pacific. Even from the 103rd floor, Lake Michigan stretched to the horizon, and I realized that the Great Lakes really are more like small oceans (Lake Superior being the largest).

But I was dawdling.

Why? Because it’s fun to stand in a building that’s been standing for a decade longer than I’ve been alive. It’s new enough for me to know that it’s not built on antiquated technology, so it’s solid, and it’s old enough for me to know it’s withstood the test of time. I’m not afraid of heading into tall buildings or flying in rickety aircraft, but I have a healthy aversion to heights.

And that’s why I was nervous – I was working my way to the glass ledges.

A throng of people stood in what was supposed to be three lines behind each of the four ledges but which ended up being four globs of humanity.

They looked like lemmings running off a cliff (even though I hear lemmings don’t actually do that). So of course I had to join them.

I took the middle line on the right side of the building (I later realized I should have gone to the left side, because they have a photo station set up with a better camera angle than you can get by standing. I usually don’t buy souvenir photos, but this would have been the exception).

Finally it was my turn to go out on the ledge, and it seemed like the whole world opened up before me. My mind flashed back to when I first saw pictures of the Skydeck ledges and  thought, “Oh no way. Only idiots would do that.”

But it was there, so I had to.

The glass looks like it’s an inch or two thick, and it’s bolted on with some pretty heavy-duty hardware, and it’s been three years since they were installed, so why not?

And in reality, it was far more cool than nerve-wracking. They felt every bit as solid as the interior of the building (they might even be more solid).

I walked to the edge, my feet over nothing, and stared out at the city, 4 feet away from the walls of the building behind me. I felt like I was calmly levitating, even though a small part of my mind was shouting at me, reminding me that the building sways about 3 feet from side to side in windstorms.

I took several photos, and my sister joined me on the ledge. We admired the scenery and then stepped off to give my parents a go.

For me, that was one of the highlights of the trip, which also included an awesome Thanksgiving buffet, a bout tour of the architectural sights and, of course, a meal at Pizzeria Uno, where deep-dish pizza was invented.

The skyline of Chicago is fantastic and can be seen from 40 miles out. If you’re driving in from Central Illinois you can see the skyline from Matteson which is 35 miles from Downtown. The skyline can be seen from Michigan City, Indiana which is roughly 30 miles across Lake Michigan.

What has always been interesting to me is how once you get downtown the buildings that were so easily seen and dominant at 25 miles away are now very difficult to see when you’re on Michigan Ave. When I’m in Blue Island I can see the Sears Tower but I can’t see it on Jackson Street.

The problem is that, on Jackson street, there’s a McDonald’s, and Jimmy John’s and Giordano’s Pizza, and a Subway and Dunkin Donuts. Amazingly the Subway and McDonald’s prevent you from seeing the Sears Tower. They’re so much closer to you when you’re closer to it that they prevent you from seeing something that is infinitely bigger than Subway will ever be. There’s also El Trains and bus stops and other smaller buildings that block the view of the Sears Tower once you’re downtown.

In order to see the Sears Tower when you’re on Jackson or Adams Street you can’t look ahead of you, you have to look up.

Once you raise your eyes from what is directly in front of you and look up you see what was always there but simply hidden by the immediate. What seemed so apparent, secure and imposing 30 miles out can become obscured by smaller, less important things that happen to be nearer your field of vision.

A certain myopia often overtakes us in life when we face difficulties and discouragements. Often the immediate obscures the imminent. We’re prevented from seeing what is substantially larger and of more value by those things that are small but immediately present. When these moments confront us we must never forget to look higher.

In 2 Kings chapter 6 the King of Syria planned an attack on the city of Dothan. The prophet Elisha and his servant were in that city. When Elisha’s servant saw the army of Syria surrounding the city he began to panic and stress. Elisha however, calmly declared to him that “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (2Kings 6:16). Elisha then prayed that his servants eyes would be opened and when they were he looked and, in the hills, he saw the mountains full of horses, chariots of fire and the host of the Lord. His attitude changed when he looked a little bit higher!

I identify with the Psalmist when he prays, “when my heart is faint lead me to the rock that is higher than I” (Psa. 61:2, ESV).

Sometimes you just need to look higher and you’ll see that God is still on His throne and He is still watching out for you.