Chicagoing: Lakefront Path

 One of the best features of Chicago is our lakefront; it stretches for 20 miles traversing several neighborhoods, the downtown area, and featuring several beaches and parks. There is even a famous scene in Jennifer Aniston's movie 'The Break-Up' showing her running along this part:

While I was training for the Chicago Marathon this summer, I would run on the path a couple times a week. I've been to the northernmost starting point and run as far as the ending on the southside. I was having a bit of lake withdrawl, and I thought it would be fun to take Miss M for a stroll along the lakefront; or at least hang out on a bench.

This portion of the lake is in the Lakeview neighborhood, and I actually used to live in an apartment here a couple of years ago. The area is very lively, encompassing Boystown and including several highrise apartments to really pack in the people and energy. It's about 3-4 miles from downtown:

We saw some nice foliage:

But for the most part, most of the leaves had already fallen. The area actually has a small dog beach which is packed during the summer, but completely abandoned now:

Plus, the harbors were empty as most of the boats are now in hibernation. I do miss living near the lake, we're about 2 miles away, though I do realize how extraordinarily pit bull friendly our current neighborhood is. Our pooches get bombarded by people, while in this neighborhood we were walking the pooches down the street in costume and people didn't even crack a smile. But, at least living a bit further from the lake we won't be getting the lake-effect snow this winter.