Chicago in 4 hours?

How much fun can the Traveling Hillbilly have in Chicago in just a few short hours?

We arrived in Chicago before 10am and had a few hours to kill before our 2:15 departure.   After getting ourselves "freshened up" and storing our luggage in the lounge, we headed out to explore the city.   First we took some time to admire the station.   Union Station in Chicago truly is beautiful.  It is just what you would imagine a train station would like like in the glory and romantic days of train travel.

I texted my niece and we agreed to meet at Pete's coffee, right near the station.  Over coffee it was decided to head over to the Willis building to check out the sky ledge.   Some of you know the Traveling Hillbilly is afraid of heights, so this is so not my thing.   But I figured I'd get beautiful views without having to walk a glass plank so was on board with the plan.   However, when we arrived, the line was outside the building and around the block and we were told it would be at least a 90 minute wait.  With only a few hours to explore, we opted out.  

We took a water taxi to the Navy Pier, walked around for a bit and then grabbed some lunch.     Boat trip along the water, a visit to the Navy Pier and a slice of pizza for lunch...a few hours well spent, but the best part was getting to spend some unexpected time with my niece.