Chicago River

In the comments on this post I mentioned Chicago.
I knew one day I would have a use for this picture:



Union Station is out of the picture to the left - it's the main train terminal where you come into the city. I'm not sure which street this is, but it's one of the bridges that cross the Chicago River and into the main part of downtown (to the right in the picture) - walking toward Lake Michigan.

Writing that -'the main part of downtown'- almost makes me laugh now, but it didn't back when I actually went downtown. The parts of town -the blocks and various neighborhoods- are like a West Virginian's knowledge of the names of the ridges and back roads. The same, but very, very different.

And, too, I have to point out the significance of 'I'm not sure which street this is.' I don't know because they all look the same to me. I know how cliche that sounds and I'm sure if someone from Chicago read this it would make them as mad as someone saying that all our hills look the same, but, for me, it's true. I found my way around by keeping Lake Michigan to the East in my brain and figuring out which east/west street I had to be on in order to make it back to Union Station (yes, they have names, but I can't remember them right now). Even when driving, if I kept Lake Michigan in my brain, I could find my way around. Mostly.
The kids used to only-half-jokingly ask, "Do you know where we're going, Mom?" I'd answer with a direction: north, south, east, west and they'd groan and crack jokes about being lost and never finding our way back to the house. But, really, if I could keep the map in my head, I was usually fine. I eventually got to know the main north-south and east-west roads and I was fine. Or as fine as I ever got in Chicago.
What I missed were the hills. Here, nestled in the hills, the directions are still there, but more important as directionals are the ridge lines and contours of the land. I never got used to the flat, square grid layout of Chicago.
[PC took this picture sometime in the past year when he was in Chicago on business (I haven't been there since we moved back here).]

I took a land management class while we lived there and one of the things that we studied was the history of the Chicago River. That's what this post was originally supposed to be about, but I kind of wandered off course, huh? Well, I'm running out of time this morning, but I'll get back to the Chicago River and my reasons for taking the class sometime soon....

I went for a walk and remembered my camera.

I had some time last week when I was running errands in Marion County and I figured I'd try out a trail head I'd never been to before. I posted a few pictures here, but more are posted in this post -Daytripping on the Ralph Larue Trail, Marion County- over at the Taylor County Blog. You can find a rope swing, a trailhead/trail location information, sycamore, hemlock, Bumblebee flowers and other details over there.

The first trillium I've seen this year!

I didn't even know this railroad trestle had been converted to trail! Very cool.

Flooded Driveway

PC took this picture. That's me on the other side of the bridge. I walked down with Maisie to get a look at the waterfalls (I'll see what I can do for pics of those, too). PC and the kids were on the road side of the bridge in his truck taking a look at the flood. Yep, there's a little wooden bridge under the water. It's been there for at least 40 years, so other than a little erosion around the edges, it's still in good shape now that the water is back down.

It's still raining!

Screech called me from school to ask if I'd pick her up. At first I thought she was sick, but school is being dismissed early because of flooding.
So, sure, no problem. I'll pick them all up because the bus route goes through some tight spots right along Sandy Creek which can get really high pretty fast.
The only problem is our bridge is flooded! I can't get out! I drove down the driveway not really thinking anything about it, but when I rounded the turn it was obvious that I wasn't going anywhere. Unless I wanted to try it, and then I'd be going over the falls. But, nope, not trying it.

Fortunately, PC is making the rounds (3 kids at 3 schools). They'll end up at The 123 because they can't get home.

The bridge should still be there when the water goes down. I'm not sure I want to be the first one to try it out, but it has been there for a while - 40 years? I know it survived the big flood of 1985 because the neighbor was telling me about him and his wife using a rope tied off to a tree to drag him through the water. Yikes! Scary. And cold.

I feel totally ineffective. I can't get anywhere to do anything so I've been on the phone trying to get through to the schools, "Do not put him on the bus!" was essentially the message. What would happen if I wasn't calling? If I didn't know they were coming home early? If the kids got off the bus (assuming the bus driver would let them off with Swamp Run crossing our driveway) what would they do? Surely, with that much water they would know not to try to cross it. Surely. It's a little scary to think about. I think they'd know to go to H's and not try to cross....?


Before all this rain started, I'd decided I wanted a kayak. Hmmm....