Senior Portrait Road Trip, Day 1: Iowa to Chicago, Page 1 of ??????

It's not too often that we get the opportunity to do a week-long photo session, but that's exactly what we did the first week of August, 2010.
It all began about December 2009 when one of our good clients, Delisa Cooper, asked me, "Would you go anywhere to do senior photos?" Her daughter, Kimberlie, was going to be a high school senior the coming year, and they wanted to do something really special. I asked, "What do you mean by anywhere?".
Her reply was, "Oh, I don't know....Chicago....New York City".
So I told her, "Just pay our expenses, and we'll go anywhere you want!"
I sort of left it at that, wasn't really sure how serious she was. About a month later, the route for the 2010 bicycle ride across Iowa was announced. So I sent Delisa an email, something like, "Hey, we are going to do the bicycle ride across Iowa the last week of July. If you are serious about doing a photo session in Chicago, I'll be 3 hours away, as this year's ride ends in Dubuque.
Almost immediately, she replied, "I have and idea. Call me".
Come to find out, Delisa had family in Iowa. She would drive up and visit them, and pick us up after the bike ride. It ended up being an incredible week! We did photos in Iowa, Chicago, Niagara Falls, Washington DC, and New York City (and several places along the way!).
I wasn't sure how good I'd feel the first day of the trip. The previous day, July 31, I'd completed a 7 day, 525 mile bicycle ride across Iowa, with about another 16,000 cyclists. Our daughter Karla, and her husband Jason had ridden with me also (Lajunta drove the vehicle and met us at night). The last day is generally a little shorter route, so they were able to drop us off at a motel at mid afternoon. Delisa and the gang picked us up on Sunday morning and we headed to Chicago. So I had plenty of time to rest.
Here's our journey...

If you are in Iowa, you've GOT to get your photo taken in a corn field!

 Lunch time at Wendy's!

We arrived late in the afternoon in Chicago. First stop was the Holy Name Cathedral. The cathedral was the site of a gang shooting in the 20's.

Charlie's Angels. One of Kimberlie's good friends, Chelsea Taff, also went on the trip. Was good to have an extra hand on occasion.

Just thought this was a nice setting for a portrait. Beautiful lighting.

Not sure exactly what this was, but some very colorful steps to photograph!

 Red door of a fire station that we walked by.

Kimberlie and Delisa can both be good "salesmen". They asked one of the firemen if she could put on a uniform, and he said ok!

 One of my favorite photos from Chicago, this is the famous Michigan Avenue.

Off to the Navy Pier for the evening.

Lajunta loves lighthouses, see the one in the background?

 We had dinner at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. It was Lajunta's birthday, so the wait staff sang to her!

Kimberlie and Chelsea had this thing about getting their photo taken with guys in uniforms!