After leaving Petit Jean, I drove to Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge. There wasn’t a whole lot of action on this particular day, but I found ways to amuse myself.
The tow boat Bill Rodgers pushing several gravel barges up the Arkansas River.
I even made an Arkansas snowman.
We visit Macy’s every year, more to keep tradition alive than from anticipation of what we’ll see. I’m not sure what this year’s theme was — it seemed to be about Chicago Christmas traditions — but it was better than it has been in recent years.
As part of our annual tradition, we ride the escalators up through Macy’s to the Frango Mint store where we buy some for ourselves and some as presents. Whoops! Now everyone can see what we paid.
In 2005, when Macy’s bought out Marshall Field’s, there was a storm of protest from Chicago natives incensed that the local icon was no more. To appease these folks, Macy’s designated a portion of the store as a shrine to Marshall Field’s. Over the years, this area has become less and less a museum and more and more just another retail area, although there are still signs on the wall that tell the history of the building. There’s also this cool glass clock, a replica of the famous clock at the corner of State and Randolph Streets.
Next to the fountain there was a table where kids could write letters to Santa. There was also a mailbox and a Believe Meter (which I was happy to see was up as high as it could go). And there was a shelf of “Yes, Virginia” dolls. I took the opportunity for a photo and didn’t have to pay a cent.
We walked down into The Loop, to Daley Center Plaza where the Christkindlmarket is held every year. There were more booths than in the past, but the damp weather must have kept a lot of people away because the crowds weren’t bad at all.
We have certain things we do every year on our downtown visits, one of which is to buy strudel. My wife got almond apricot. I got cherry. They were stuck together in the same box and some of hers got on mine, which was just wrong.
The crowd was light enough that we actually found a table to stand at while eating our dessert.
This couple was dressed as angels. Most of the time they stood still, but when somebody gave them money, they interacted with them. I wasn’t about to do that, so I took my photo from a distance.
Male House Sparrow
Male House Finch
Female Northern Cardinal
Five deer spent most of two mid-December afternoons hanging out just beyond the fence. Tracks in the snow proved they spent part of the evening in our yard.
American Goldfinches
House Finches
Cooper’s Hawk — I could tell it was in the area by the way the other birds were behaving.
It was back again the next morning in almost the same place.
