Lake Michigan

[days_unfolding]

It blows me away how big this conference is. McCormick Place has four wings--south, north, east, and west--and we have three of them. Most of my sessions today took place in the East wing, which is the old building that I have been in years ago. One session let out early, and I had an hour before the next session, and I was kicking myself for not bringing a book. (I dumped a lot of stuff at the hotel to lighten my load because I was running all over the place.) I saw an intriguing sign that labeled an elevator as "To Lake Michigan," so I took the elevator. However, it opened upon the conference center offices, so I went back up. I decided to walk to the back of the building because I figured that there would be at least a view of Lake Michigan. There certainly was, but there were also stairs down to the waterfront.

So I walked down and communed with the water. When I lived in Evanston, I used to walk down to the lake all the time, and I think that the lake was my first love affair. The water looked a lot cleaner than it used to be, which I'm glad to see. I walked down a path right near the water and took pictures of the Chicago skyline, being very careful not to step off of the path and fall into the water! I walked back with a goofy grin on my face and felt totally contented.

I also had the bright idea to get my lunch to go and eat it down near the water, and so I did. I'll probably do the same thing tomorrow.