Random Shoes

I always wonder about the stories behind the random shoes (and hats) you often spot on the sides of the road or on a sidewalk, was it intentional and do the owners miss them? Clothing items seen on the sides of highways are particularly baffling - did they blow out of cars or did the owners lose them in the course of an emergency stop?

This shoe was probably found on the sidewalk and placed on top of the draw bridge support on a bridge downtown. It's a child's pink plastic sandal - I'll bet the mom wasn't happy when she discovered the loss!

Five things that may surprise you about Chicago

1. The Chicago River still has freight traffic. In fact everyday you can see tugboats pushing barges that just barely fit - and on occasion you will see them hit a bridge pylon.



2. Some of the ultra modern skyscrapers in the city have their windows cleaned by guys in bosun's chairs.

3. When you dig into the city's streets, you are quite likely to find old railroad tracks (they're digging here to bury a new water main). Although there are still a lot of trains going in and out of Chicago, in the past there were more. Chicago used to have it's own Grand Central Station, which is now only a memory (I think the tracks pictured actually used to lead into Grand Central).

4. The Chicago River is popular for kayakers and canoers(spellcheck doesn't like either of these words) as well as the occasional crew team practice.

5. There is (or was) a flower box facing the river. There are actually flowers growing in it and they're being regularly watered - but why?