Out of town

I missed everything that happened over the weekend in Rensselaer. I was out of town.

We drove up to Midway Airport early Friday morning. I could not believe how many trucks and how much traffic was on I-65 at 4:00 am. It did appear that the expansion to three lanes from Crown Point to Lowell is mostly done, but perhaps daylight would tell a different story.

A few hours later we touched down at our destination. The trip was for a family event.

 I was struck by how many of these little scooters littered the sidewalks. They were everywhere and there were quite a few people using them.

 I think they may have killed this business.

 We stayed in a modern hotel. It was not this one, which no longer serves as a hotel.

 Our destination was very touristy. It had a river walk.

 People could get the water experience. On the water with water in the air.

 This was a marquis for a business along the water.

 I was not impressed with some of the service we got in restaurants, but this one was the exception. It had perhaps the best waiter I have ever witnessed.

 Sightseeing we visited one of America's most famous sites.

 

Here is a better picture of the building.

Some of the vegetation was quite different from Indiana vegetation.

Tourism is a big business.

 We visited a park that had this cat.

 It also had a very simple splash pad.

 Another historic structure was this old church.

 As we were leaving, we visited these gardens.

 These grackles are different from ours. They are a lot noisier, especially in the evening.

It is good to be back in Rensselaer. I like being other places but do not like the process of getting there and back.

Addendum: I was surprised to see that gas prices in Chicago were about 30¢ lower than prices in Rensselaer.