Illnois

Illinois is a large state, ranking fifth in population in the US.  62% of the state's population resides in its northeast corner, namely in Chicago or in the greater Chicago area. I've visited Chicago multiple times, but have barely been outside its city limits except to visit Evanston, immediately to the north, and Oak Park, immediately to the southwest.  (I think.)

The first time I visited Chicago, around 1985, I went on the Wendella Boat Cruise.  Not only was it interesting to go through the locks from the Chicago River out onto Lake Michigan, it was fascinating from an architectural standpoint.  A lot of modern architecture was born in Chicago, and it was a subject I knew absolutely nothing about. That same trip I went to stay at my friends' in Oak Park, and went on a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright's house there.  More architecture, more learning.  My head spun.  I've never thought about architecture the same since.

One of the other things I really like about Chicago is its airport.  There was one Christmas I was travelling so much, I ended up doing quite a bit of my Christmas shopping in O'Hare airport during a layover, or waiting for a delayed flight - I don't remember which.  Whenever I am traveling through there, I always like going through the trippy corridors (see postcard above right), with the ever-changing neon lights and the music and the people movers.  It's borderline psychedelic.

A recent post of Michael Jordan's statue in Chicago can be found here.  I don't think the statue was there the last time I visited.

Michael Jordan In Chicago

From regular sender, Rachel, who lives in Chicago. I love the way the card is dye cut to accommodate Michael Jordan's leaping legs.

Postcards Received on Monday

This is one of the most beautiful postcards I (now) have in my collection. I can see why the Mystery Sender almost didn't want to give it up. I thought I'd been to these sand dunes, but I confused them with the ones in Southern Colorado. These are near Alomagordo, New Mexico and are called "White Sands National Monument". In fact, if I think about it, I've visited at least three major dunes sites: Oregon Dunes, some big unnamed dunes near Indian Wells in Palm Springs (pretty trashed now but they used to be spectacular), and the Great Sand Dunes in Southern Colorado. The visitors in the picture look like they might be wearing Girl Scout uniforms from their time (1937). In any case, imagine how out in the middle of nowhere it was then.













In earlier postings, we had cards that were dye cut in the shape of their states (Idaho, Montana); here we've got our first postcard dye cut in the shape of a city! It's amazing how the Sears Tower dominates the skyline so much the perspective is skewed and the outlines of the other buildings are what make them even noticeable. I also particularly like my friend Rachel's comments both the random ones on each of the fingers and her directional "We live 20 minutes to the left". I think she might have forgotten that I did visit once, long ago.


















We used to have two cats, but one died at Christmas. Midnight (guess what color she was?) was a good cat and we miss her. However, I have to say that the one remaining cat might be a littler happier as the queen bee, not having to share her food.

This postcard is also sent by the Mystery Sender, who claims to be a dog person rather than a cat fancier. I am partial to both.