Chicago put the sunset on the 94th floor.
Our flight from New York landed Friday night. By Saturday afternoon, we were at the Adler Planetarium on the edge of Lake Michigan.
The museum gave us a photograph with the Chicago street grid projected under our feet. Another photo outside has the Adler dome behind us and the skyline across the water. It is the kind of view that makes everybody stop in the same place and take the same picture. We did too.
Then we moved north to 360 CHICAGO in the former John Hancock Center. The observation deck sits on the 94th floor, more than a thousand feet above Michigan Avenue.
The lake took up half the window. Lake Shore Drive ran straight through the city below us. The shoreline kept going north until the buildings became small blocks and then disappeared into the distance.
The light changed while we were there. Blue sky turned orange along the horizon. Drinks showed up beside the windows. Everybody moved closer to the glass.
Later came what I described the next day as an “ultra swanky dinner.” That was the full review. No restaurant essay required.
That seemed sufficient.
The return flight left Sunday afternoon. A few days later, Adler emailed a three-question survey about the visit, which is how a weekend becomes homework.
The trip was barely two days.
It still managed a planetarium, a city under our feet, drinks above the lake, and one ultra-swanky dinner.
Chicago did not waste the weekend.