Category Archives: Millennium Park

Jumping At The Bean- Chicago

a man jumping in the air in front of a reflective bean with Millennium Park in the background

On my trip to Chicago back in October the main purpose of visiting was to run in the 
O’Hare 5K Runway Run. Since I was heading to Chicago for the run, I decided to visit a few other sites. One of them I had been to on my first trip to Chicago with Kim a few years back. I had to check it out again.

Revisiting The Bean (Cloud Gate) in Millennium Park ranked very high on my list. There were a couple of reasons why I had to go back.

  1. I loved the sculpture the first time around. It’s a really fun and interactive sculpture due to the reflective surface it is made from.
  2. I had to go back to The Bean to get some jumping photos.

There once was a time when I didn’t take photos jumping all over the world. (I know, hard to believe, right?) My first visit to Chicago was during that time.

Here are some photos from my recent visit:

a group of people standing around a large reflective object with Millennium Park in the background
This reflection shows the park side of The Bean. You can see that it is inside the park due to the red trees (a bit hard to see) and lack of big buildings.

In the jumping photo at the top, you see the reflection of the street side and all of the huge buildings. 
a man taking a selfie
Almost as clear as a mirror
a group of men climbing a large reflective surface
Trying not to let go!
The next couple of photos are what I call Skydiving at The Bean.
a group of people in a city
Free falling
The best part of visiting The Bean is having fun with the varied photos you could take. With a little effort and help from the reflective surface you can have a great time. 
While doing some jumps, we started trying some different things. Instead of facing the camera, I faced The Bean and jumped. With a little timing, these were the results. 
It looks like I was free falling or sky diving in the photos!
a man jumping in the air
Coming in for a landing

A couple of more interesting photos:

a close-up of a metal object
The bottom of The  Bean
a group of people standing around a large reflective object with Millennium Park in the background
Side View

Find out more about The Bean and Millennium Park on the City of Chicago website HERE