Grant Park, Chicago, IL

Thursday 24 July

After a huge sleep in to catch up on last night's midnight bedtime, we set off to explore Grant Park and visit the Field Museum of Natural History at its south end.

First stop was the biggest water feature I'd ever seen, the immense Buckingham Fountain, from which we could see the amazing Chicago skyline to the north, west and south and the aquamarine waters of Lake Michigan to the east.

We walked around the fountain, testing my legs gently for my first day without any crutches. The kids all had some questions about the homeless man who was drying his clothes on one of the nearby hedges, and talking in a loud voice about life in the Marines. We explained that some people who go through wars as soldiers (or otherwise) can't cope with the mental strain and find it difficult to maintain relationships with their friends and family, and end up living on the streets. Seeing homeless people on the Chicago streets has been an eye opener to the kids. We prayed for the man before heading to a hot dog stand for brunch.

Chicago hot dogs are known for their toppings. We ordered two plain hot dogs, two chilli cheese hot dogs - like nachos but with a hot dog underneath - and two Chicago Specials, with tomato, onion, mild green pickled chillies (called "peppers" here) and pickles. They were certainly different from the Australian standard of sausages in bread with BBQd onion and tomato sauce. Tomato sauce is called "ketchup" in America, and the kids all grabbed little packets to squeeze onto their hot dogs as if the regular toppings weren't enough.

After lunch Jeff took Joshua back to the hotel (right on the edge of Grant Park, on the eastern edge of the city) for a much needed nap while the rest of us walked along the Lake Michigan shore to the Field Museum. Abigail saw our first wildlife other than birds, a small grey squirrel which had just run up into one of the ornamental trees by the side of the path and sat there, nibbling at something, while we took a few photos.

On the grassy lawn in front of the museum, we saw another interesting sight. Lying on a lightning white blanket on the verdant green grass was a man dressed all in white: white long sleeved shirt, white trousers, white shoes, white cap, white sunglasses - he even had a white beard! From a distance we couldn't even be sure there was a person on the blanket, all the white blended together so much! All we could see were his hands and face!