Day 20 – Chicago

We’re up early again. We’ve got two more stops on our itinerary before we return home. Today is Chicago. Every city we visit on this trip is so unique unto itself: Denver, LA, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. What a country.

A short sidebar on Chicago, which is very special to me: We used to visit here when I was a kid. Weeklong trips at Christmastime, staying in the most incredible house … a mansion, really … on Michigan Avenue. Chicago is a city of incredible heights. Magnificent skyscrapers like the John Hancock Center and the Sears Tower (or whatever they’re calling it these days). My father visited Chicago a lot, visiting his sister (my Aunt Jane and her husband Roger).

Dad also came to Chicago a lot for work. He was the Director and Founder of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, an international organization of Engineers, Architects, Developers and Urban Planners. It was headquartered in Bethlehem at Lehigh University, but after my dad passed away the headquarters moved to Chicago. As we were planning the trip and Chicago came up we decided we’d try and visit the Council’s new headquarters in the beautiful Monroe Building on Michigan Avenue. Max was particularly adamant that this was something we had to do. The folks at the Council, including their Executive Director Antony Wood, were very gracious when we asked to visit, so it was settled. We’d stop by on our road trip.

The traffic into Chicago at morning rush hour is a bear, but we don’t care. It’s also the first highway toll we’ve had to pay since day one of our trip. We still don’t care. We get into the city and walk a mile up Michigan Avenue to the Hancock Center. At 100 stories, the Hancock is a beautiful behemoth that shouts strength and power. It demands respect. The mansion we stayed at when I was a kid? It’s across the street from the Hancock Building. My Uncle Elam was the pastor of the church there and his home is right next to the church, attached by an open-arched gothic gateway. (That’s Laura and I standing in front of it in the photos.)

The clouds break and the weather becomes glorious. We wander down the Magnificent Mile, have some deep dish pizza, wander through parks and art exhibits and into shops — even the Chicago Blackhawks Store. The attendant won’t even crack a smile when I mention that there doesn’t seem to be much Philadelphia Flyers apparel.

In the afternoon we go to the sixth floor of the Monroe Building for our quick little visit at the new Council on Tall Buildings headquarters. Only it turns out not to be a quick little visit at all. Antony Wood, the Director, is amazing and welcoming as are Patti and Marshall and their entire staff. In fact I feel like we’re almost celebrities or something we’re treated so nice. Antony congratulates Max on his graduation from Pitt, and when he finds that Max’s degree is in Civil Engineering … well, they have a lot to talk about. Antony has done and incredible job with the Council. It has grown tremendously since he became Director, and my father would be amazed to see the Council today — almost fifty years since he founded it in 1969.

But what strikes me most of all is the admiration Antony and his staff have for my father’s life’s work. Their goals and principals are the same as my dad’s. They speak of him with incredible respect, they ask questions about the kind of man he was, and about what the Council was like when Dad guided the ship. Our little visit has shifted into something much deeper, much more emotional. How wonderful it is to talk about Dad with these wonderful people, and keep the memories of him fresh in my heart. As we walk out of the Monroe Building two hours later, I look up at the tall buildings of the incredible skyline of Chicago and smile. And I feel my father smiling back.

Who would have guessed this day would end up like this?

Song of the day: “In My Place” by Coldplay.