The Metra train drops all the suburb dwellers off at Union Station in downtown Chicago, IL.  Even for a city known worldwide for amazing architecture, Union Station is still breathtaking to see in person.  These pictures do no justice to it’s scale or beauty.

Gabriel (Flickr, Website) who I know from Flickr wanted to take photos at the old Titan Tire complex.  I wanted to do another visit anyway to get more shots of the “itsy bits.”

Gears and sprockets

This spiral staircase was awesome.  If it wasn’t outrageously hot and humid I would have spent more time perfecting it.

My excellent planning skills selected one of the most unbearably uncomfortable weekends.  I could barely see through my viewfinder anymore from all the sweat smeared on the glass.  Enough is enough, back to A/C.

We stopped in Elk Horn, IA to check out their authentic windmill.  Elk Horn is the largest rural Danish community outside of Denmark.  In two years the small town raised $100,000 and recruited 300 volunteers to locate, purchase, move and rebuild a windmill.  This is what they found, shipped from Denmark in 1975.  Shipping across the ocean alone costed $8,000 USD.

I’m always a sucker for these downtown Des Moines skyline shots.

This is the third and last post of this urban exploration series at Titan Distribution just outside of downtown Des Moines, IA.

Abandoned Warehouses

? This building was extra deteriorated.? There were warning signs stating that some of the machinery uses acid in the manufacturing process.? I have a feeling this is no coincidence.

? You can see the stairs on the ground to the right that were cut from the 2nd floor to keep people from going up there.