You can barely make it out, however, we're looking at Champaign, Illinois early in the morning while coming home aboard Amtrak's City of New Orleans. Sometimes I like it when the train goes through rain and as of late it seems a train I'm on always goes through rain. Even going to Los Angeles two years ago did my train run into some rain on the way to California!

Last month I was in Detroit, Michigan for a family reunion. Another part of the family tree on this day had a cookout on Belle Isle right in the middle of the Detroit River. Only the second time I have visited this island park and this illustrious and hopefully rebounding city. I noticed Michigan State Police patrolling the grounds as the park itself has been leased to the State of Michigan. Probably a sign of the state of finances in Detroit as it had been administered as a city park. BTW, I just really had to use this snapchat filter!

An instagram story I shared during the past winter. I'm thinking it's to time to share an updated shot of the statue of Bob Newhart protraying his character from his self-title classic 1970s sitcom.

A classic car I shot near downtown Chicago during the course of the past week!

Well I should see if this work of street art remains in the South Loop. Meanwhile as we endured hot temps during the past couple of weekends at least we can see where we came from. A very cold and snowy past winter in 2018...

The bad news is that in using this snapchat filter I wasn't anywhere near Evanston which is where the purple line runs through even though it does do express on what's formerly called the north side main line of the Chicago L. I snapped this shot at Belmont waiting for a train sometime in May.

This shot was taken sometime in February after the heavy snowfall. A shot on Adams Street of the skyscraper canyon on LaSalle Street. I used an olloclip fisheye lens.

Back in June 2013, I posted this collage of shots from my quick stop to this intersection on Sixth Ward blog . This is basically the heart of Englewood which during much different and better times was a commercial area full of retail that could rival downtown Chicago. Thanks to the shopping mall and other economic effects such as "white flight" the commercial area declined to the point of what you see here. Those storefronts are mostly gone and has been replaced by a community college. Imagine what happened in this area just about 3 years later. Perhaps the commerce will begin to return to this area sooner than many of us will imagine. Think Whole Foods Market opened a store here , a Starbucks and a Chipotle. Unfortunately another building has gone down thanks to fire but that just means another place worth building upon in the future here. Can't wait to show you a similar scene from here back in September 2016. That image was also something posted - though after...

One of my instagram stories walking along Navy Pier sometime in February. Found this sculpture that represents Bob Newhart from his classic 1970s sitcom The Bob Newhart Show where he plays a therapist. Forgot to note there is a sign with a QR code where you can hear Bob's voice. The show itself is set in Chicago with the intro showing scenes of Newhart walking around downtown Chicago. Here's an example. [ VIDEO ]

Posted these collage of pics which I had shared last Wednesday and on a post over at Sixth Ward blog. Three pics - two of bank signs and one of a former grocery store now dollar store. This is to re-enact pics taken back on New Years Eve 2007 . I also shared this on ig which is the post embedded below. A post shared by The Sixth Ward (@thesixthward) on Mar 16, 2018 at 12:51pm PDT

I finally had an opportunity to somewhat reenact photos taken on New Year's Eve 2007 on 87th Street. Unlike back in 2007 when these shots were taken on a simple point and shoot digital camera, these photos were taken on my iPhone with an olloclip lens. Click on all pics for larger resolution. Across the street is a Family Dollar store. If you can see the grand opening sign near the front entrance don't let that fool you, this particular store has been open since sometime in 2007. A local community organization wrote in their newsletters that year that they wanted a grocery store at this location. Even 10 years later no grocer has stepped forward to turn this back into a grocery store. Before 2007, this space was home to a locally owned Food Basket store.  Moving along on 87th Street, here is a branch of Illinois Service Federal . Earlier in 2007 it was the site of a fatal bank robbery which made the local news. A teller was killed by gunfire during that ...

My old elementary school namesake of another blog of mine back on Christmas Day 2017. Man I miss those days where I had two weeks off for the holidays. As an adult no such luck it's not given one has to request it off and use up vacation days.

An instagram story I posted last week the temperature helped to thaw most of the snow that fell the weekend before. As since it rained on Sunday night, the snow from that weekend is going to wash away. Spring is almost here!

Abbott Park in Chicago on Friday during the heavy snowstorm that took place.

Guess what today is..."Throwback Thursday" In July 2016 took a little trip to the Grand Canyon. My first visit since 1989. I told a little bit about my 2016 trip to the Grand Canyon on my other blog earlier this week.

Snapped this shot in the lobby of the Studio Movie Grill theater at 210 W. 87th Street on Chicago's south side. The theater itself has been around since 1997 and was recently acquired by Studio Movie Grill in 2014. Before 2017 at least the theater never had a kitchen nor an actual bar thanks to the fact that it's a dine-in movie theater. No longer do south side residents have to go far for the amenities that you can get here. Click here for more background .

Or at least I think this was Colorado. Somewhere in the prairie or desert regions of the Southwest, I doubt this was New Mexico. Snapped this shot on Amtrak on my way to Los Angeles.

Open since 1997 owned & managed by Studio Movie Grill since 2014. More pics to come soon!