Before you look at this and decide I've jetted off again to parts unknown, let me tell you ... this is still Chicago. Not Honolulu, not Miami ... Chicago. You can't imagine how much of our conversation was taken up by these silly palm trees while I was there! They weren't just on the beach. They were scattered all over the city, and there were even a couple outside the venerable Water Tower. As it turns out, these palm trees were rented! I did some research when I got home and discovered that the palm trees are installed for the summer, and taken down when it starts to get cold. Here's an article from the Chicago Tribune dated October 25, 2009: Seasonal sign: Beach palm trees gone I can't tell you how glad I was to discover that the palm trees weren't just going to be left out on the beach all winter. Aside from the bizarre sight of palm trees on the beach in Chicago, I kept having to stop and remind myself that Lake Michigan is a freshwater lake, and has no tides! If somebody put those trees on the beach up here, they'd be standing in water half the time. I lived in a house right on the beach when I was very young (we moved in when I was about two years old and lived there for five or six years) and we were taught to be vigilant about keeping an eye out for the tide. Early lessons stick, and it was hard for me to remember that I could stand on that palm-lined Chicago shore all day and never get my feet wet!