Grant Park

Monday afternoon we walked to Grant Park after our visit to the Planetarium. Grant Park is in downtown Chicago and is a few blocks from the lake. It's so neat to have this large open area right in the middle of the city. For those that are interested in politics & history, Grant Park was the location of President Obama's acceptance speech after he won the 2008 Presidential election.


We picked up lunch at a sandwich stand near Buckingham Fountain (also in Grant Park) and also sprung for homemade ice cream. Yum, what a treat! Monday was another hot day - sun and 90 degrees. We ate lunch in the park and this was our view:

This is Buckingham Fountain. It is so beautiful and I love the skyline as a backdrop.


I found some great facts online about the fountain:

* The Fountain opened on May 26, 1927 and is constructed of Georgia pink marble.

* The Fountain was designed to represent Lake Michigan with four sea horses, to symbolize the four states that touch the lake: Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. The designer was influenced by the Latona Basin in Louis XIV's gardens at Versailles.

* While in operation, every hour on the hour for 20 minutes the Fountain produces a major water display and the center jet shoots 150 feet into the air.

* The water displays are powered by three pumps:
- Pump 3: 75 horsepower for 1,600 gallons of water a minute.
- Pump 2: 190 horsepower for 5,500 gallons of water a minute.
- Pump 1: 250 horsepower for 7,000 gallons of water a minute.

* The Fountain's water capacity is 1.5 million gallons. Depending on wind conditions, major displays use approximately 14,100 gallons of water per minute conveyed through 134 jets. Water is re-circulated from the base pool after the basins are filled and not drawn from the outside except to replace losses from wind and evaporation.

This was quite an impressive fountain!!

After our time at Grant Park, we walked to our next destination and walked by the Field Museum of Natural History. We didn't go to the museum, but we would have if there had been more time on our trip. The building is quite historic and I love the architecture.

In front of the museum there is a dinosaur skeleton - the museum is famous for their dinosaur exhibits. The Chicago Blackhawks hockey team just made it into the finals and the museum had put a Blackhawks jersey on the dinosaur out front. We thought it was pretty clever!