Oak Park, Illinois

The Harvey House Inn

The Jimmy Stewart Suite

The dining room... Delicious daily breakfasts... The kitchen ceiling...

I wanted to share some images of Oak Park, Illinois with you. I have many more, photos of the grand homes of the area, to show you later this week. These photos are of some of the businesses in this pretty town. We stayed in a bed and breakfast inn here. The Harvey House. The charming inn, which I told you all about it in an earlier post, was just as lovely as we hoped it would be.

The *odd* sculpture that many of you asked about sits in Millennium Park. It is the Cloud Gate, a three-story, 110-ton steel sculpture that has been dubbed by Chicago residents as "The Bean". The sculpture is the work of world-renowned artist Anish Kapoor and is the first of his public art in the United States. Cloud Gate is a highly-polished reflective steel sculpture that is meant to resemble a drop of mercury hovering at the point of landing on a plaza of the park. When Millennium Park opened in 2004, the grid of welds around each metal panel was still visible. In early 2005, workers polished out the seams. The curved, mirror-like surface of the sculpture provides striking reflections of visitors, the city skyline and the sky. Since its installation, Cloud Gate has probably become the most popular sculpture in the city. The Park is also home to other fun sculptures and fountains...just another reason that Chicago is such a sweet place to visit!

I hope you are all well...I will be offline most of this week and unable to visit everyone. I am watching my nephew for a few days so will be hopping!

I will try to catch up with you all this coming weekend but, until then, I will keep you all in my thoughts and heart. I have all those in the path of Hurricane Gustav, in my prayers.

Enjoy each moment, smile and be good to yourselves!

Until the 6th,

Love and Hugs to you all!

Susie Q

Just Some More Weekend Photos...From The Goofball

Just some more of my weekend photos. Some may be a little *goofball* so prepare yourselves! This is the Bed and Breakfast in Wyandot, Michigan that was our home away from home. We can not wait to go back in the Spring. Gerry and Vicki were phenomenal! They are two of the dearest people and made us feel so welcome. We had great fellow guests so the conversation was lively. Their home is just lovely...

Another of the 4 pretty guest rooms. Our room...we had a small sitting area, huge bathroom and a powder room. A little fireplace, A bottle of sherry and crystal glasses, nice window views, television and a DVD player. We also had a BIG walk in shower AND a claw foot tub! Now that was Heaven! While we were at dinner (at Portofino's On The Lake and oh wow! Was it delicious!) our bed was turned down, the fireplace turned on and dark chocolates were resting on our pillows. Here are a few more pictures from The Henry Ford Museum Any school child in the 50s and early 60s will remember class rooms like this as well as the chalkboard instructions! "Okay children..duck and cover!" Uh huh. This was going to save us from nuclear annihilation!

Abraham Lincoln's rocker from Ford's Theater. Anyone as old as I am remembers gas station rest rooms like this...and gas stations with full service too. "Wash your windows Ma'am? Check your oil?" I loved this letter from Clyde Barrow to Henry Ford. "...my business hasn't been strictly legal..." And if you have to ask who Clyde Barrow is...well...do NOT tell me. I am already feeling my age today! The limousine in which JFK was assassinated. The Montgomery, Alabama transit bus in which Rosa Parks made her courageous stand. Oh yes, the original weinermobile. "Oh I wish I was an Oscar Mayer...."Okay, so these neon signs take me back a few years. I KNOW I am old! Loved this actual diner...and yes you young whippersnappers! I have eaten in such places!! Quit reminding me how old I am! And no, I did not KNOW Thomas A. Edison in person...ha ha. You are SO funny! It was such a sweet weekend and Bill and I really enjoyed getting away together. Thank you for sharing our weekend with us through these pictures...goofball and otherwise!