Today was the last real day for photo-taking and the roadside gods finally gave me a sunny day.  Of course, it was a day with lots of driving and far fewer stops than normal.  So I don’t have much to show for all those blue skies and clouds.  But it was still just a gorgeous day to wind down, reflect, and get the dogs great expanses of green and water a few more times.

I have two days to catch up on before I can post today’s photos.  And having just gone through the Thursday batch, I have already 20 photos for the blog for Thursday’s Iowa and Nebraska chunk.  Looks like I won’t be catching up tonight since it’s already midnight.  Big day tomorrow — all interstate to home.  I regret not having another two weeks for the Kansas, Missouri, and other stuff I had to skip — but it will be nice to get settled back home.  My normal work schedule is far less strenuous than these road trips.

So let’s get caught up on one day anyway.  The weather was the usual mix of grey and sprinkly rain.  The sun came out in Omaha for about an hour and that was that.  

I stumbled upon this sign in Lincoln, NE just as the day got started.  Who can resist a pouring bottle sign? 

These signs are from Wahoo, NE:

Normally, I don’t go out of my way to check out modern churches but this one sounded spectacular — and it was.  I wish I’d had better weather to shoot it in.  From Gretna, NE — the Holy Family Shrine:
http://www.holyfamilyshrineproject.com/index.php

The CrossRoads Mall in Omaha, NE still has at least one mid-century touch.  This curved wall at the Sears Auto must have had a funkier font when the mall opened in 1960:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossroads_Mall_(Omaha)

These tents were added during a 1980s renovation:

This sign is also from Omaha.  I believe it has always been there for Reniers Pianos.  But don’t you think there must have been something more substantial there before the vertical plastic lettered piece?  Any Omahaites, Omahans, remember what it used to look like?

I’m pretty sure this was/is a Bank of the West (also in Omaha).  Not quite sure how much “in use” this building is.  But it had a sweet old bulb clock display (which I think was working), these neat mushroom columns, and blue and white tile.  Sorry about the hexagonal crap in this photo — forced to shoot into the sun & other angles were worse.

Under the canopy, a rather depressing scene at the moment.  Some sort of drive-up window, peeling paint, and this “Employee of the Month” sign.  I’ve never worked for a corporation that gave you a better parking spot based on job performance — but I can’t imagine this sort of recognition makes it worth the extra effort.

More Omaha.  I have no idea how the food is, but the Bohemian Cafe sure provides a feast for the eyes:

Three other nearby businesses…  I couldn’t tell if the colorful window pieces were glass or plastic — more likely the latter but still neat looking.

At Midwest Tire. Gotta love any business that puts something giant-sized on its roof.  There must be some cities that forbid it but I seem to see this sort of thing everywhere.  This appeared to be a gigantic, real truck tire.  It would have been bonus points if the tire had been fiberglass or cement, negative points and not included here had it been inflatable.

And you gotta love a business that coordinates its product with its signage so well.  A sheet metal sign, sheet metal letters, sheet metal trim…

Still in Omaha.  I really tried to get a decent shot of the dogs in front of the King Kong gorilla display:
http://www.kingkongfastfood.com/

But they were all so exhausted by this point that at least one or two had their eyes shut.  If only I had the photoshop skills to cut and paste the best heads from multiple photos.  Grip for some reason did not want to a) sit or b) be near the other three.  Having Grem perform her “boyfriend” trick gives her something to do — but she still has that scary “I’m sooo outta here” look.

A giant trompe l’oeil mural — sorry, didn’t catch the name if there was one which might help explain what the heck is going on here.  Lower left is a door which gives you a sense of scale.

Despite the condition of these signs and the canopy, the business seemed to be doing just fine.  You could smell the BBQ for blocks and there was all kinds of smoke coming from the backside.  The cute little neon sign you can just barely see (litle green one under the yellow one) reads “Waiting Room”.

Finally into to Iowa photos now.  This from a Stanton gas station where I stocked up on coffee and snacks.  It has become my ritual on this trip to hold off on getting coffee until 4pm which is when I seem to need it most. Before that means I just have to pee more which cuts into shooting time.  This candy I had not seen before and assumed it was an Iowa thing but it looks like from the label it’s actually imported from St. Joseph, MO.
http://www.cherrymash.com/history/

Anyhow, “Cherry Mash” turns out to be a chocholate-covered cherry marshmallow-like stuff.  The sweetest thing I think I have every tasted.  It was definitely a waker-upper and I ate it strictly for that medicinal purpose.  Note to self and audience:  do not set chocolate candy on coffee cup for display purposes even for a few seconds.  Instant melt, hence no close-up.

A little sign in a little town:  Bedford, IA (population 1,476).

A neat building in Mount Ayr, IA (population 1,822):

The reason I stopped in Mount Ayr — a rather unassuming post office.  I had read that their WPA mural inside was incredible — and it was.  There were also other neat interior details — the dark wood paneling, tile floors, post office boxes, counter service — sure nothing like my post office back in Brooklyn with the bullet proof glass!

For regular followers of this blog or this trip anyway, here’s another Dairy Sweet discovery — another example of the chain with a handpainted boy (rather than the plastic version).  Also in Mount Ayr.

The Dinky Diner in Decatur was built by Valentine (best known for their diners) in 1967.  There is some resemblance:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/243542597/

And lastly, this small town, old school Hy-Vee — in Leon, IA.  I haven’t seen any other old signs like this on my trip.  I’ve gotten pretty fond of Hy-Vees as I’ve been to quite a number of them for “supplies”.

Next catch-up blog I guess will be from home.  Still much to cover:  stuff from Sign Museum day and the stuff from southern Ohio.  I’ll try to wrap things up Sunday night or Monday morning.

OK — I’ve really fallen behind in getting you updates and photos.   I will have to catch up tomorrow.  I got us into Cincinnati around 11:30 after two two-hour naps.  Headed straight for the Sign Museum “library” then spent the day with Tod (the man behind the museum) seeing new acquisitions at the old space & checking out the new space.  There was even an interfamily dog romp at a dog park in Cincinnati.  Then off to dinner.  More about all this soon.  So 11pm, as tired as I am, not good for working on pictures or blogging.  Just wanted to let you know that we are indeed alive after that horrible late-night, rainy schlepp.  Tomorrow, last day to shoot — will probably just do some southern Ohio stuff & then start back on the  interstate towards home.

All is well.  No time to play with photos, upload to Flickr or post to the blog tonight.  Lots of photos from Nebraska & Iowa to share with you but they’ll have to wait til tomorrow sometime.  Making a horrific interstate trek from central IA to Cincinnati tonight.  Stopping for a quick nap in Davenport, IA right now (11pm).  I think I have a six hour drive ahead of me yet.

By the way, more grey and rain today where I was but I hear it was sunny and beautiful back home in NYC.  I sure hope it rains all day while I’m indoors in Cincinnati tomorrow!

The big story again today was the rain — torrential at times.  It really slowed me down and made shooting a challenge.  I’m no fool and don’t speed on country roads and pull over when visibility drops.  I’ve never experienced flash flooding and don’t want to.  It was certainly the day for it.

Here and there the rain would stop.  I did manage to get the dogs some romps in.  A big church field, a small dog park in Bellevue, NE and then an incredible dog park in Lincoln, NE. Rickman’s Run is incredible:  HUGE, gorgeously natural, a little stream, separate areas if you need them.  I read on-line that it was four acres but it seemed way bigger than that. The fencing was pretty widely spaced mesh which Grem would’ve had no problem getting through.  But I kept her busy enough with retrieving games and kept tabs on her when she was in the brushy parts.

On with the show.  This fun sign with the football reference was in Atlantic, IA.

Lots of driving between stuff today gave the dogs a chance to catch up on sleep.  Here’s Grip running in her dreams:

This building was next door to a restored gas station (the “Brickstreet Station”) in Woodbine, IA.  It made me contemplate how far we are from home — and if I ought not just head the other direction instead.  Not looking forward to another NYC winter.

This photo also taken in Woodbine of what must be a modern sign — but a fun one — shows you what we were up against today.  Look at that rain pouring out the rooftop gutter and the vertical streaks.  Shot from inside the van — “Dee” barely made it outside today.

This ice cream stand confirmed my thinking that Dairy Sweet ice cream stands must be a chain.  This is from another Dairy Sweet in Adair, IA:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/2410919287/
and this one in Woodbine:

This Reddy Kilowatt-esque guy was also in Woodbine:

and then I saw another one in Onawa, IA:

These interesting rooftop vent thingies were on the roof of a used car lot office building in Onawa.  I assume the building was previously some sort of restaurant.  The two venty things were identical — one just chopped off from the angle I took this.

This is an awfully swank F.O.E. (Fraternal Order of Eagles) sign and building.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen an FOE restaurant before.  There was a sign on the front door saying “General public and members without cards enter at rear”.  In Plattsmouth, NE.

This faded beauty is from Auburn, NE:

And that brings us to Lincoln, NE where we spent the night.  QP Ace Hardware has at least two other locations in town.  I don’t know if the others have old signs like this one:

Grey skies most of the day turning to rain late afternoon and early darkness.  No photography awards today.  The crappy weather meant I had to stop shooting about an hour and a half early which sucks photo-wise but the upside is I’ll get some much needed extra sleep tonight.

Less than a week left now and I’ve come up with the plan.  The next two days (Weds & Thurs) will be more Iowa with possibly a few must-see stops in southern IL & IN en route to OH.  Friday will be a “day off” spent doing research at the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati.  Tod has agreed to let me poke around in the old Sign of the Times magazines and what-not.  Plus there will be a tour of the new not-open-yet building, recent acquisitions, etc. and lunch or  dinner.  So posting to Flickr & the blog will be light that night, if at all.  Saturday, I’m squeeze in some southern OH & northern KY.  Then Sunday will be the brutal drive home.  Back to work Monday night.

The dogs got lots of water time again today.  We went to check out the Lewis & Clark Dog Park in Sioux City in the morning.  A two dog limit but the only other two people there didn’t say anything about it.  It was a huge space, great fencing, separate areas if you need ’em, loads of fun.  An unfenced lake right across the road in the same park that I’m sure no one would mind you using if nobody else is around.  I’d definitely go back to this place if I’m in the area again:
http://www.sola-sc.org/index.html

I stopped first thing in the morning at a mall adjacent to undeveloped land so that Nik could have his mandatory 20 minute morning gallop.  Afterwards, Grem managed to slip through the van door and off she went.  She’s been so good lately but I obviously can’t let my guard down for one second.  There she went at full tilt, god knows where, sans collar.  Crap.  I called for about five minutes and checked nearby dumpster areas, then went hunting her down in the van, yelling her name out the window.  Luckily, it was about 8am and nothing was open yet.  Finally saw her and I just acted all happy-happy and she came running for some cheddar and praise — when really I wanted to strangle her.  How many lives can one dog have?

I really didn’t intend this trip to be the Louis Sullivan Tour — but the  man just keeps turning up!  Actually, according to this site, the details on this Woodbury County Courthouse in Sioux City were created by Sullivan’s protégé, George Elmslie.
http://www.grinnelliowa.gov/SullivanBank/HistoryRoad.html
http://www.organica.org/pejn276_1.htm

Far humbler architecture, this building at first glance looks like it might have been a Pure Oil or Phillips gas station but the gable is too steep.  According to this website, the Green Gables restaurant opened here in 1929:
http://www.offenburger.com/lspaper.asp?link=20031004

And even humbler, this little building bears a slight resemblance to Valentine diners:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/3822285053/
I assume it was a restaurant at some point pre-splitting-up with two doorways?  Sioux City-ers — what say you?

The little town of Moville (population 1467) has this sweet castlesque City Hall.  Probably much nicer before it went the retail route.  Deco in feel — 1930s?

I had assumed Correctionville was connected with some sort of correctional facility — but no, more interesting than that.  A man explained to me that it had to do with the curvature of the earth and that roads had to be realigned and this town was the lucky one to inherit the task.  This site explains it a little better than I can:
http://correctionville.govoffice2.com/

Scary beary in Correctionville:

I had long wanted to get to Ida Grove.  While most would consider it the ultimate kitsch destination, I take such things very seriously.  Numerous buildings throughout the town designed to look like castles.   Here’s the story:
http://www.idagroveia.com/Resources/pages/aboutig_castles.html

And I had to see the half-scale replica of the HMS Bounty on Lake LaJune.  Even though, as you can see, a huge STOP sign — private property. Huh, what sign?  Nobody saw me — in and out.  Except for those two freaking dogs that have to bark and scream every time they see water.

While Ida Grove respects its castles, I can’t say the same for the rest of its downtown.  “The Ugly Truth” is right.

At least this nice plastic sign hasn’t been touched:

I went to Boone to see a gas station that was a complete dud in my opinion.  But to compensate me for my effort, the gods of roadside gave me this lovely moderne vitrolite sign.  I cropped most of the storefront out because you really don’t want to see what they’ve done with it.  Oh, okay, and my reflection was really annoying and unflattering.

And to close, another dashboard food still life.  These two representatives from the sugar family have kept me going for the past couple days of monotonous, mostly rural driving.  Mr. Lemon Cookie on the left is from the Hy-Vee — a regional supermarket I think that I have seen only or mostly here in Iowa.  Honestly, I’ve gotten plenty of salads and bananas and non-junk food stuff from them as well!  Their signs say “employee owned” which I think is a good thing, right?  These lemon cookies are now more like cookie dough as the humidity has really zapped them (90 today I think).  Whereas, the chocolate guy on the right is holding up pretty well.  These are perhaps my favorite cookie made — not sure if it’s their taste or the fact that they are kind of hard to find.  “Pinwheels” — even the name is fun.  Chocolate cookie garnished with marshmallow and enrobed with a chocolate shell.  At least I think that’s how the folks on the Food Channel would describe them.

Cloudless skies and lots and lots of boring cornfield driving between stuff.  I really explored all sections of the Sirius satellite radio in desperation to stay awake today.  Even wound up spending way too much time over in the Offensive Comedy area.  Caffeine and gum just weren’t cutting it.  I have not ever tried those energy drinks but it may come to that!  One more week to go.  I got a bit lost and confused on some country bumpkin road with a little less than 1/4 tank of gas and no stations anywhere.  The stress and frustration of having to backtrack about 30 miles finally zapped me awake.  Lousy road signs. And imaginative names like CX98 and B14. 

When you think of Iowa, or at least when I do, you don’t think rivers and lakes.  But there are plenty of ’em.  So many in fact that nobody gives a crap if you pull over and let your dogs romp around for 20 minutes.  They think you’re crazy — to be doing such a thing — or to have four dogs period — I’m not sure which or both.  But they don’t say anything.  In New England, everybody’s gotta say something.  And find a reason why you shouldn’t.  Put up No Trespassing signs or No Dogs signs or No Swimming signs — just because.  I say water should be public property unless it’s sitting in the middle of your front lawn or someone’s gonna funk it up somehow with toxins.  So the dogs got loads of splashie time today.  The bank clocks said it was in the upper 80s but I don’t even notice it anymore.  Here’s a shot of Crystal Lake where we pulled ‘er over for awhile.  Iowa is also big on wind farms and if you look closely at the large view, you’ll see them on the horizon at the right.

In Waterloo, I stumbled upon these neat castle apartments.  Apartments to my NYC eyes anyway — maybe they are “two family houses” or whatever.

I believe this motel was in Cedar Falls.  I love the this shorthand advertising.

So here’s a new mid-century vocabulary word for you — new to me anyway. Doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue — and I still don’t think I really understand it even with the help of wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodecagon

I spotted “Dodecagon Plaza” in Spencer, IA from some distance.  However, the closer I got the more the interesting roof element disappeared.  So the best I could do was this.  Bing and Google maps don’t offer anything better.

It was not a very bloggy sort of day.  I was not in areas with much old or interesting stuff.  I’ve never been a nature photographer and am not about to become one now.  Although, if tomorrow is just as rural, I might have to resort to that to entertain you.

Here’s one more photo for you.  There’s not much to Hartley — one little main street and a few residential streets.  I was there looking for the Capitol Theatre which must be gone or sufficiently remodeled as to be unrecognizable.  But the Red’s Cafe sign made the stop worth it.  Still open although not on a Monday early evening when I was there.

Great sun and clouds all day.  I wished I had had a denser shooting schedule to take advantage of them.  Instead, I would drive about an hour between photos at times.  Lots of corn.  Lots of cops — but they didn’t catch me speeding today.  Only about a week more to go on this trip.  I’m thinking I will probably just scrap KS and MO entirely on this trip and do the Southern IL & IN stuff on the way home. 

In addition to the rivers and grassy lots that I found, I took the dogs to a dog park in Clinton, IA today even though it was still the weekend (see previous post).  “Prairie Pastures Dog Park” was a wonderful place with good fencing.  $3 per dog (an honor system pay station) and well worth it.  A small lake and lots of good landscaping for sniffing out bugs & where furry creatures might have been.  Separate areas for dogs that need it.  Nice people, nice dogs.  I’d definitely go slightly out of my way for this one again.  The park it was in was gorgeous as well.
http://www.soaringeagle.20m.com/about_1.html

Some food shots as promised.  Nothing that exciting — but I’ll work on it.  This might have been the perfect donut.  Duncan Hines tasting chocolate cake with maple frosting.  Nuts would have moved it from an A to an A+.  From a gas station — next to this defunct gas station on the Lincoln Highway in Stanwood.

Later that afternoon… I’m not a big M&Ms fan but always eager for something new.  And I needed lots of sugar and coffee to get through this big highway day.  Strawberry and peanut butter — an unusual combination but it worked for me.  I’m sure it’s a limited time only thing — and I bet not all that popular.  So if it sounds appealing, you’d better track some down quick.

I saw lots of fraternal organization signs today.  Masonic Temples, Moose Lodges, Fraternal Order of Eagles, etc.  Here’s an old I.O.O.F. (Independent Order of Odd Fellows) sign from Tipton:

and another from Decorah:

Also saw another nice neon V.F.W. sign in Galena:

On the way into Galena, was this log cabin that was originally the home of Ulysses S. Grant.  I thought for sure I could just grab an online link later to include here but I’m coming up dry.  There’s only talk of the much bigger house in town.  I do remember from the plaque that a few families lived in the house before it was moved here.  One family raised five children in it, another raised six children.  I’m not sure if  this would have enough room for me and the dogs.  I don’t see how they could even get that many beds in there.  Did they all sleep together?  I have lots of questions.

Earlier in the day, I was in some little farm towns.  They seemed more like movie sets especially since the shops and offices were closed and the streets were deserted on a Sunday.  Mini libraries, city halls, and post offices.  Quite a change from Chicago just yesterday.  This was Oxford Junction:

In downtown Clinton, this building really stood out and just had to be Louis Sullivan’s work.  Sure enough, googled and found this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Allen_Building

Another great building/store just down the street:

The bottom part of the neon sign obscured by the later-added metal canopy spells out the address:

I scooted across the Mississippi River today for a bit to get some stuff in Illinois that made more sense to do on this portion of the trip than last week.  This sign is from Savanna, IL:

And lastly, you may remember from previous posts about stones and rocks used for architectural detail?  Well, I think this storefront in Decorah takes it to the extreme:

Yes, finally in Iowa — but barely.  The remainder of Illinois took til early evening.  I’m going to slog away at northern and central Iowa for the next three days and then evaluate what’s accomplishable with the remaining days at that point.

In addition to the usual abandoned grassy lots that I found today, I got the dogs to one last dog park in Illinois.  This one was in Aurora.  Big enough for a run and fencing seemed good enough to contain Grem.  But I forgot about it was a Saturday and therefore it was pretty mobbed.  And with weekend type dog people as well with their weird attitude and obnoxious dogs.  When a Standard Poodle stole Nik’s ball and I walked aaaaalll the way across the park to get it back, I tried to conceal my impatience when I asked if she could get my dog’s ball back from her dog.  Her response “well, I can, but he’ll just get it back again.”  I said nothing but went off to the furthest point to play.  What I didn’t say.  Oh, I see.  If I want to bring toys to a dog park, it’s my tough luck if you can’t keep your dog away.  How silly of me.  Then just a few minutes later, although we were in the furthest corner, when Grem dropped her toy at my feet, the Obnoxious Owner’s dog swooped in again and stole the toy.  Of course, I had to be the one to walk clear across the field to the woman to get my toy back.  No apology.  So we left.  Basically, I know from back in my NYC park, “weekend people” take their dogs out just so they can sit around and talk to other people.  They don’t interact with their dogs or train them at all.  They don’t bring their own toys or treats.  And the dogs are bullying and oafish at best, aggressive at worst (and too often).

But enough bitching — let’s get to the pretty pictures already, right?  And I’ll try to come up with some food photos tomorrow. 

Oopsie — I didn’t write the name of this one down.  But I know it was in Chicago and on Harlem Ave.  The canopy extends to the left, supported by two stone-faced columns.  I chose to include this photo instead just because it shows off the sign and storefront better.

I have seen a LOT of people mowing grass on this trip.  All kinds of mowers, all ages of people.  I regret not taking photos of a granny-type woman in her sit-down mower.  Today, I was mesmerized by this guy in Naperville on a stand-up mower.  This ditch was next to a shopping center and it seemed more like an amusement park ride than work.  Both sides were pretty steep and it seemed borderline unsafe.  Sometimes he’d have to hop off and use footpower to get to the top of the sides.  He was a master.  Forget Segways — this looked like much more fun.

Some statuary for you.  This one of a fireman and doggie (Dalmatian I assume — spots don’t translate well to bronze) at the Aurora Regional Fire Museum (yes, in Aurora).

and these foxes on the bridge in St. Charles (I assume a reference to the Fox Valley):

This sign at the Hotel Lafayette in Rockford:

Supreme cuteness, also in Rockford:

An incredible mural — also from Rockford:

This was in or close to Rockford — just south of town on Route 2 (or Highway 2 or whatever kind of road they call it)  but already in deep farmland.  That’s why this one’s a mystery.  I don’t know if this was ever used as an ice cream stand or store — it seems unlikely given its remote location.  It seems a bit too big and fancy for a “you-pick” or “we-just-picked” produce stand.

I’m not positive what this sign advertised — but it seemed to be pointing at a mobile home park.  This could still be Rockford — even further down that already twisty part of “2”.  Wonderful woodsy font.

So my van is big enough — why do these normally non-lap dogs need to be in my lap when I’m driving?  Surely the view of the river was just as good from behind me.  I’m proud that I got this shot with my right arm extended at 70mph.  Even prouder that we didn’t crash.  Nik was content with the passenger seat view, thank god.

I found another of these gold aluminum (?) mid-century screeny things today in Sterling.  A match or near-match for this building in Richmond, IN that I posted to Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/3817561368/

Also in Sterling, this nice sign & reflective vitrolite.  I love the two-piece approach to this sign which must’ve had neon originally.

And to close, a hi & goodbye from this cute dude in Rock Island:

Still wrapping up the suburbs of Chicago.  Tomorrow, we  should finally, really, enter Iowa.  Time to start prioritizing and calculating soon I’m afraid.  I glanced at my Iowa stack today and it looks like I could spend two weeks there alone but I only have about 10 days left on this trip. Plus I do have to spend a day in Cincy and get back home to NYC.

It was a fun but fairly unproductive day.  The fun part was definitely not the traffic — road construction mostly.  Plus, of course, there was more rain.  I saw the aftermath of two car accidents today and was glad not to be part of them.  I also saw two arrests — cop cars everywhere and arrestees standing with their hands on walls and cars.  I was really in the outer suburbs — newly developed so not a hope of being surprised with running into any old stuff.

To break up the monotony, I scheduled in several dog parks.  In the morning, just to take the edge off, we stopped at a nice big human park in Morton Grove.  Big signs saying dogs must be on-leash. So we went to the furthest corner and kept an eye out for rangers or any park-users that might be annoyed by us.  One of the nice things about the Chicago area is that they have carefully protected lots of natural space called “preserves”.  North of Chicago, there are more than a dozen spaces specifically for dogs.  We  all wish there was time to check out all of them but I made a point to get to two today.  These photos were taken at the amazing Libertyville Dog Exercise Area which had foresty trails and an enormous lake.  It was well-fenced but not enough for naughty little Grem who squeezed through for about ten minutes of chipmunking.
http://www.lcfpd.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.details&intObjectId=23892

Superstar, Petunia, Boobanooski, & Edith (the names I call them frequently instead of Gripper, Gremlin, Sputnik & Fix)

Much later, we went to the Schweitzer Woods dog park in West Dundee.  No lake but plenty big and fenced.  Foresty trails towards the back and this time Grem went missing for about 15 minutes.  I put the three others in the van and figured we might be spending the night there with me screaming her name incessantly while hoping she wasn’t all the way off in another state.  But then she came charging down a hillside at top speed — maybe she heard the van doors slamming and thought she’d better catch up to us?

Here’s one to add to the previous barber shop sign photos & discussion on this trip.  I can’t say if these two barber shop signs in Chicago were operational — too early in the day for them to be open.  Note another of those classic rooftop steel sign things supporting the rooftop sign.  Maybe they did use these things for all kinds of signs.  But they sure seem funny now when they have cheap, lightweight plastic signs hanging from them.

This sign doubles as bird nursery.  At Scot Cleaners in Evanston:

I have never seen a wrap-around arrow sign like this before.  Unfortunately, the stores in this little strip mall were as updated and boring as could be.  Had to chop them out of the photo.  In Skokie:

So, ordinarily, I don’t put the pet cemetery photos here in the blog (and probably some of you wish I’d leave them out of Flickr as well!).  But, since this was a low volume photo-day… and since I got to talking to one of the groundskeepers at the Aarrowood Pet Cemetery and thought it might make a good topic.

As I was wandering about taking my photos, I noticed a car pull out and a hunched over woman who must’ve been at least 90 go to a gravesite.  She took some measurements with a fabric tape and then got back in the car.  I then noticed the driver couldn’t have been much younger.  Slowly off they went.  The groundskeeper guy said that she comes about once a month.  He said there are several people that come every single day at the same time.  “Tippy’s” owner comes every day for a visit at 2pm:

I don’t think I would have the inner strength to keep such a vigil over a gravesite.  I find it fascinating and moving that other people do.  I could not deal with death and loss on a daily basis.  I have no plans to bury my own dogs and I don’t believe in heaven or hell.  But as for communing with my doggies’ spirits once in awhile — yeah, maybe.  I don’t know where our loved ones’ souls goes when their bodies die.  I do like to think they hover about us and give us guidance and protect us now and then. 

Well then.  Hopefully, I’ll be writing to you from Iowa tomorrow and the sun will be out.

The big story today was the weather.  I think I know at least partly why they call it the Windy City.  I’ve never seen such fast-moving clouds.  It was raining and miserable until around 1pm.  So most of the photos I took were pretty lousy and won’t be appearing at Flickr or the blog tonight.  But I guess they’ll be good enough for documentation purposes at the website for now.

I have never seen so many cloud variations.  Pretty whiter than white ones and evil black bad ones.  It would get nice and then 20 minutes later change again, get dark, and then more rain.  But most of the afternoon was gorgeous and I really tried and failed to finish up Chicago proper.  Still have a few more stops and then lots of suburbs which should eat up probably the whole day.  Missouri is definitely not happening.  Kansas is now a maybe.  Here’s an afternoon shot downtown which doesn’t do the scene justice. The clouds look flat here but were magnificient and flying by.  You can see how wet it was as it had only stopped raining a few minutes prior:

In the morning, the dogs got a good illegal romp in at a huge grassy patch of land near the Brookfield Zoo.  Much later, I checked out the Belmont Harbor dog beach.  Much smaller than “Montrose” so that’s where we went instead.  Everybody had a great time.  Though the water seemed pretty cold as Nik could only take a few minutes of it.  It was awfully crowded since it was warm and about 6pm.  We are usually there in the mornings when it’s much nicer and less chaotic.  A nasty Rottweiler kept coming after Nik for his toy.  He would snarl and growl and pretty much deck Nik and take it right out of his mouth.  It was scary and escalating and then it would take ten minutes for the owner to get the toy back.  We kept going off to a different part of the beach but he would come find us.  The owner had no control and didn’t really comprehend what was happening. 

Sorry no beach photos — I didn’t want to take a chance with the camera and the sand & water.  I already had a close enough call earlier in the day. While stepping backwards to get more into a shot and with a couple of guys all scary “miss, miss, miss, you got thirty cent?!”, I stepped on a bump and felt myself going down.  Right on my ass with camera unscathed thank goodness.  Material instinct kept it far from the ground.   I’m a little sore and have a scrape on my left elbow but otherwise fine.  Will be more careful, you bet.  Yeah, no, my pals did not come to my aid or inquire if I was okay.

Chicago is just loaded with spectacular, architectural wonders.  I’ll just post some snippets here of three different buildings:

Another unique architectural phenomenon in Chicago, or maybe not unique but it’s gotta be more plentiful than anywhere else, is the integration of stone, or should I say rocks.  I could’ve shot variations of these rock buildings all day and never gotten any work done.  Maybe another time.  I’d like to come back to Chicago for a month or more someday.  Anyhow, this example is fairly typical of residential architecture — but sometimes the rocks would be where it probably would’ve been nicer to have a window.  Many of these small houses and apartments buildings also had these small round windows.  Sometimes the rock work was much more nicely done or plenty worse.  The rocks were just as frequently used for commercial buildings, churches, you name it.

Here are some rocks, more of a bricky type, used at a barber shop.  But what I mostly include this photo for are the metal barber pole signs (see an entry in an earlier post/photo on this trip for an example).  I have never seen them used back to back before in true simulated pole fashion.  I doubt this was the original use in this case — it probably had a much heavier store-name sign above in the heavy-duty frame.

Some more bricky rocks at the Naples Bakery in Evergreen Park.  Do these wedding cakes count as a food shot — or does it have to be my own food?

More faux food — birthday cake suggestions from Roeser’s Bakery.  Hannah Montana is everywhere!

A fun painted wall sign.  I saw at least two other painted Walker’s Monument signs during the day but this was the biggest and nicest:

One other thing that sure seems unique to Chicago — though other cities must have had them.  Maybe they were just more frequently used here or maybe they just have more left.  In any case, I’m not even sure what you call them — “sign supports” just doesn’t seem descriptive or catchy enough.  Giant metal hangy things with chains mounted on rooftops to support the gigantic and heavy steel signs below.  I’m gonna call them steel skeletons because in so many cases, the signs are long gone.  You can see blocks and blocks of these things.  Very sad but it challenges the imagination of what once was.

Here’s one still in use.  And an example of all the wonderful light bulb signs in Chicago:

And one more giant bulb sign to close with today: