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my event apart

I’m in Chicago today and tomorrow for An Event Apart, an intensive two-day conference about Web design, from CSS to design to information architecture to JavaScript. It’s certainly been interesting so far, and I’m looking forward to Day Two.

It has been, however, a whirlwind trip, starting with a 6 a.m. flight from National this morning, 9 hours of conference goodness each day and a flight home tomorrow evening. The itinerary gives me very little time to spend outside my hotel actually in Chicago, which is why I opted out of the Monday-night party sponsored by the conference and instead went exploring.

My hotel’s not far from Navy Pier, and, looking at a map, I noticed a really interesting-looking park right by the pier. A short hike brought me to Olive Park, a lovely public space with wide pathways, lots of green grass, several fountains and a fantastic view of the city (in particular, the John Hancock Tower). I stayed just long enough to watch the sun dip below the buildings, then headed south to Millennium Park in time to catch the rest of the sunset.

Millennium Park — in particular, Crown Fountain — is probably my favorite spot in Chicago, and I try to visit every time I’m in town. It’s so fun to watch people play in the water and interact with the fountain. And this time, there was the added soundtrack of a live jazz concert in neighboring Pritzker Pavilion.

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