Windy City Nights Video

Every once in a while I'll find something fascinating enough to share, and I'm pretty picky about what I put on my blog. Although this blog is about Scottsdale real estate, I grew up and lived most of my life in the southwest Chicago suburbs. My first real job was downtown Chicago and I had to take the Rock Island train to get there.

Once I finally visited my parents many years after they retired to Mesa, Arizona, I fell in love with this beautiful state. I especially loved Scottsdale and my dream was to leave Illinois and move to Scottsdale full-time. And here I am!

I have friends that moved out of Illinois and one of them seems to really miss Illinois, especially the Chicago downtown area. I met her in 7th grade and we grew up in the same southwest suburb. She moved out of Illinois much earlier than I did, and most of her family moved too. They first moved to Burbank, California and she never liked it. They then moved to Henderson, Nevada and they love it. Her parents are now gone but she has no plans on moving.

I don't miss Chicago like my friend does, but this video blew my mind. There's something so surreal about timelapse videos. This was created by Max Wilson and took a very long time. Max shot over 200,000 exposures and he has a job and a family. Take a few minutes to read his explanation.

It's a little long clocking at 6:06, but I think it's worth it. My favorite part is the boats on Lake Michigan - they look like toys! I hope you enjoy this magnificent work of love as much as I do and please share it: 

Chicago Timelapse Project - Windy City Nights from Max Wilson on Vimeo.

Watching this video makes me want to go downtown the next time I'm in Illinois. The reality is, as a suburbanite I rarely traveled to "downtown Chicago" very often once I stopped working there.  Traffic is bad and parking is difficult and very expensive.  On the rare occasions we decided to make the trek we sometimes took the Metra train.  Depending on where we wanted to go we walked or took a taxi.

I remember standing in line for the elevator at Sears Tower (now Willis Tower) and a young woman with a southern accent excitedly told everyone within earshot that it was her 13th time going to the top.  She asked me where I was from and I said I was a local.  She said, "How many times have you gone to the top?"  I sheepishly replied, "This is my first time."  Her eyes were like saucers - she couldn't comprehend that people that lived so close wouldn't have done this more than her 13 times.