Sunsets Are Better in Chicago (Slideshow)

Chicago has had extraordinary sunsets over the past several days, better than usual. Better than, Los Angeles, even, as I discuss below this slideshow. I walked several miles of lakefront over the past weekend and photographed the sunsets on Saturday and Sunday evening. (Slide show below.) I did this for you, dear reader, because I am a thoughtful and generous man. Beautiful sunsets are not unusual in Chicago. During my nearly ten years in Los Angeles, I would tell the locals this, and they would stare at me, jaws slack, with looks of disbelief. Of course, that's a typical facial expression for a native of Los Angeles, but they would also tell me that they didn't believe me. "But, dude," they would say, "look at that sunset over the ocean! You don't have the ocean in Chicago, dude!" They usually said "the ocean," instead of "an ocean," as though the Pacific is the only ocean. I would try to explain to them why we have better sunsets in Chicago. "Dude," I would say, "the ocean reflects the setting sun nicely, that's fer sure, dude." I should note that I did not usually speak like a native of L.A., but I found they understand better if you say "dude" a lot and speak slowly and with very relaxed jaw muscles. Letting your tongue go completely slack helps, too. "You see, dude," I told them, "Los Angeles hardly ever, like, you know, gets clouds, you know? Like, clouds make all the difference. Dude, clouds reflect the light of the setting sun. And we have Lake Michigan, dude, so like, when there's clouds over Lake Michigan, which is most of the time, they reflect the light onto the water. It's stunning, dude, more stunning than your pitifully cloudless Pacific Ocean. Not only that, but since Lake Michigan is to our east, and the sun set's in the west, we get the effects of the sunset from two sides. Dude, it's like a sunset in stereo!" "Whooo," they would say, "whoa, dude, that's like gnarly. Hey, where is Chicago, anyway?" The next time you see a movie, and the characters are admiring a sunset on the beach in Los Angeles, laugh and console yourself that your non-Southern California sunset is probably better, dude. Leave a Comment on our Guestbook! CommieBama Hats and More Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Follow ChiNewsBench on Twitter