I finally made it to Millenium Park. It was a long time coming.

In early February of this year, I saw Cloud Gate (aka “The Bean”) for the first time, during the few extremely cold minutes before I caught a Metra train down to the University of Chicago.

Last month the whole Splotchy family traveled to the park, but we didn’t see any of it because we were down there to watch a cousin of MizSplotchy compete in a pro bicycling event.

So, it was yesterday when we finally devoted time to see some of the park.

We first headed over to the Jay Pritzker Pavilion. I had seen the top of it when occasionally walking around in the Loop, and I really didn’t like the look of the thing from the side.

After getting a closer look at the thing, I am still going to say that from the side it’s not that aesthetically pleasing, but I really did like it head-on:

I think a concert would be nice here, as I am guessing the place has a great sound system, having speakers strategically placed throughout the space. I found the intersecting lines above the field to be somehow kind of comforting.

There was a puppet show going on when we arrived, so we sat down and watched for a bit.

Oh shit, I’ve been spotted

The kids were getting a little restless, so we left the puppet show before it finished, and checked out Cloud Gate, aka The Bean. It was very impressive.

Under the bean was quite delightful, too.

After having a relatively inexpensive lunch (I had a “Maxwell Street” burger), we headed over to the Crown Fountain to frolic.

By this time the kids were getting kind of tired, so we wrapped it up and headed home. I know there is more to see at the park, but this was what we did that day, and I’m glad we were finally able to visit.