The White Sox Scoreboard lights up and launches fireworks following Paul Konerko's home run. Konerko's homer tied the score in the fifth inning. Later, a single by Alex Rios drove in the winning run for the White Sox.
Behind 5-1 since the second inning, the Sox pull a 6-5 victory over the Seattle Mariners.
Lightning streaks across the sky following a strong storm that passed through northern Indiana.
Just after the storm passed, things calmed down, and we were able to enjoy an evening on the beach. Just to our left, there was a beautiful sunset, ahead was the back end of the storm.
Beautiful evening.
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
Last year, I walked through Chicago's Grant park and noticed that the old rose garden was looking a bit shabby. I brought up the fact that it was a shame a city garden looked so bad. I wondered what the Park District was doing; how could they let it get to this poor condition?
This week, we visited Buckingham Fountain, and on the walk back to the parking garage, we walked through Grant Park and into a brand new garden. It was partially funded by Tiffany and Company (according to the sign inlaid on the pavement).
No wonder the rose garden wasn't manicured last year - they must have not cared since this was in the works for this year.
I hope they maintain it well, so it appears like this for years to come.
Sunday at the beach concluded with a spectacular sunset. A small line of clouds sat just above the horizon, creating some excellent highlights in the clouds and interesting sun rays.
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
A beautiful summer day at the Marblehead Lighthouse State Park. Built in 1821 on a rocky point of Lake Erie, this is the oldest continually operating lighthouse on the Great Lakes. It's home to a small maritime museum that houses the original Fresnel lens from the tower.
Views of Lake Erie and Sandusky Bay can be seen from the park and tower - and it's only $2 to climb up.
An evening drive to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore yielded a great view from the top of a tall sand dune. The sky was threatening rain, yet the hour before sunset was spectacular, creating sunbeams of every shape, size and color imaginable.
Viewing the Chicago skyline from above the treetops was well worth the climb up the loose, sandy slope. The skyline can't be seen as clearly from the water's edge, as the curvature of the earth hides the bottom of the buildings. Climbing up about 70 feet, allows you to see a few more miles in distance, thus, a bit more of the skyline base.
The Indiana Dunes State Park celebrated the 4th of July a bit early with a fireworks display on the beach.
Holiday traffic was miserable - taking more than twice as long to drive out to the dunes from home. Once there, the beach had a big crowd, but due to the limited parking, it wasn't packed or uncomfortable - a few thousand people.
The drive out of the parking lot took well over an hour ... actually, to back out of the parking space took over an hour because the cars were not able to move more than three feet every 10 minutes or so. Finally, once the local police took care of traffic problems outside the park, 20 to 30 cars were able to move every five minutes or so, and the drive out was pretty quick.
Seeing the fireworks over the water made the display even better.
On our trip through Ohio, we passed through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Brandywine Falls lies within the park, at the end of a wooden boardwalk and observation deck just a short walk from a parking area. The fall cascades 60 feet to the sandstone canyon below. It's path is rugged and spreads the falling water across a 40 to 50 foot span of rock, creating a bridal veil effect to the water.
Darkness falls upon the Fairport Harbor, Ohio lighthouse and keeper's quarters. Built of stone in 1871, the structure now houses a maritime museum that's well worth the $3 admission.
