Chicago is a very liveable city. I’ve known a good number of folks who lived there over the last 15 years or so. Although getting around any city of this size is a bigger challenge than where I live, my acquaintances seemed to have enough living space and reasonable access to work and recreation… even without a car (which is quite possible in Chicago and very challenging in Lansing).

I nearly bought a roomy 4th floor one-bedroom 1960’s (apartment) condo in 1992, a good bit north of downtown (Sheridan Avenue near where Lakeshore Drive ends). It had a view of Lake Michigan, with just a park between the building and the water. I ended up buying a 2-bedroom 1920’s bungalow with attic studio and a shared driveway in Lansing, for a few thousand less. That is one of my “what if” questions, those I will never have an answer for… what if I had bought that condo and moved to Chicago? I would not have met Brian, and that is a satisfying answer enough. However, I have a feeling if I had moved, I would not have looked back.

Much of the watefront is made into citizen-accessible parks and trails for walking, bicicyling, skateboarding, rollerblading and other such fun. There is much activity, both planned by the Parks department and private folks (alone or in groups).

We almost always choose to enter and exit the Chicago area via Lakeshore Drive, even when it might take longer to do so. The views are wonderful, whether you look at the peacefulness of the water/parks to the east or the excitement of the skyline to the west.

Most of the trips I’ve taken to Chicago, I drove myself. It’s a bit hard to take photos that way, so I took advantage of my passenger status this time and take a lot of photos. I put together a “Lakeshore Drive” photoset on Flicker if you want a few more photos.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 10th, 2008 at 2:51 pmand is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.