Other than trying to get over the strange, alternate-universey feeling of being a tourist in a place you used to live, our vacation in Chicago is turning out to be everything I’d hoped it would be.

As long as I’m accepting my fate, playing my new role of small-town gawker to the hilt, I thought I’d post a couple of pretty pictures now, before our weather takes a turn for the worse, as it’s supposed to do tomorrow (though nothing like the 5-8 inches of snow they’re supposed to get back home).

Speaking of the forecast here, the outlook for the next few days is so bleak that I fear our chances of seeing the White Sox play the Indians on Wednesday are in serious jeopardy. Fortunately, we’re also going to catch the Cubs playing in Milwaukee on the way home Saturday. You’ve got to love a retractable roof on a ballpark at this time of year!

I’ll try to get some more shots posted later this week. In the meantime, you can click on any of these images for a larger view.

The view from Navy Pier looking west and a little bit north toward the John Hancock Building and the Gold Coast.

Probably my favorite building in Chicago, the magnificent Tribune Tower, beautiful outside and in, with its lobby full of engraved quotes about freedom of the press. The Tribune was the focus of much attention when I took this, as the sale of the newspaper company (and the Chicago Cubs) had just been announced a few hours earlier.

To me, the Chicago River winding through the heart of downtown and the resulting “City of Bridges” is one of the things that always sets this place apart from other cities.