Chicago - August 27 - September 5

Traveling to Chicago on Lake Michigan was surprisingly comfortable.  The air was comfortably cool and lazy rollers gently pushed us to our destination.  One of the best  advantages of arriving to a city from the water is the incredible view of the city’s skyscape.  Chicago did not disappoint on this note.  Anyone who has ever been to this city is well-aware of the varied architectural styles of the downtown buildings. 

Our docking experience at Burnham Harbor Marina was initially stressful.  The marina is very large, exceptionally busy on the week-ends, and the staff seemed unorganized.  We were assigned  slip #1, meaning we had to enter the channel between two long docks and go to the very first slip closest to the public walkway.  When we motored to our assigned dock, we found another boat was already there.  Because the channel was too narrow for us to turn around, we had to back out to the main channel.  An hour later we were directed to the end of a finger dock that was too short for our 42 ft. boat.  Saturday morning we moved again to another, larger face dock where we comfortably settled in for the next 10 days.

Our first day in Chicago, we hopped on our bikes at rode the bike path almost to Navy Pier.  However, the path was very crowded with bicyclists and pedestrians and I, unfortunately, lost control of my bike and ran into a man and then fell against a railing.  He was more shocked than hurt and I totally humiliated myself!

We enjoyed viewing the Tall Ships while they were docked at Navy Pier.  More people attended the Tall Ships Festival than any other event at Navy Pier.  The Tall Ships will return to Navy Pier in 2013.

Richard worked during the week, either in Lake Zurich or in Pittsburgh.  I took advantage of my free time and “discovered” Chicago.  First, I purchased a 3-day pass ($32) for the Chicago Trolley Company’s Hop-on-Hop-Off bus.  By doing this, I was treated to many sites throughout the city, along with interesting and often humorous commentary.  I also gained a perspective of where I could go on my own later in the week.

   Old and new architecture soars above the city.  The London Guarantee Build-

   ing was opened in 1923.  The Trump International Hotel and Tower was

   completed in 2009.  It is Chicagos second tallest building.

Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) is the tallest building in Chicago.

The Chicago Tribune Tower - built in 1925

The Water Tower, built with limestone rather than wood,
is the only building that was destroyed in the Great Chicago
 fire in 1871.

Wrigley Field was built in 1914 and is now in its 97th baseball season,
home to the Chicago Cubs.

Harry Caray was a famous radio and television sportscaster long before he wound
up his career as the announcer for the Chicago Cubs.  He is well-known and loved for his rendition of Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the 7th inning stretch.

The next best purchase I made was for a City Pass ($69) that gained me entrance into four museums  and the elevator to the top of the Willis Building (formerly the Sears Building).  This was a real bargain, saving me about $65!!

On the waterfront, less than a mile from Burnham Harbor is Chicago’s Museum Campus where I visited the Adler Planetarium, Field Museum of History, and Shedd Aquarium.

The Field Museum

The Field Museum “explores the Earth and its people”.   The most popular exhibit is the reconstruction of the skeleton of a T. Rex excavated in Oklahoma.  Sue is the most complete and best preserved T. Rex in the world. Another exhibit I found interesting was the Underground Adventure where I could see life through the eyes of a bug the thousands of microscopic critters in one square inch of soil!

Shedd Aquarium, built in 1929, houses the world's largest marine mammal habitat, home to Beluga whales, sea otters and lions, and  dolphins.

The Adler Planetarium is where I spent an afternoon  becoming reacquainted with our universe and its mysteries.  Numerous hand-on exhibits expose learners to our space programs, the planets, our sun and other stars.  I especially enjoyed the computer-generated simulated presentation of our sky, Journey to the Stars, narrated by Whoopi Goldberg.  She explains the life and death of the stars in our night sky,  the constellations  seen during our four seasons, and the future of our universe and ones to still be born.  Science is so amazing and I really enjoyed this presentation.

The Museum of Science and Industry houses amazing exhibits.  The coal mine exhibit takes visitors down to the mine shaft and then a ride on the coal car rails where they learn the technology of coat mining.  We also experienced the forces of nature - floods, tornadoes, and lightening.  The Apollo 8 recovery capsule is on loan from the Smithsonian.  Actual WW II fighter planes loomed over our heads as we walked through the cavernous building.

One exhibit that particularly interested Richard and me is the German U-505 submarine that was captured by the US Navy in 1944.  We learned the story of the brave soldiers who so bravely risked their lives to board this war vessel, the first captured by the United States since the War of 1812! 

We had the opportunity to actually go inside the sub to see first-hand how the German crew lived in the days leading to her capture.

Billy Elliot, the Musical was playing at the Oriental Theater so I checked on line for a matinee ticket and I scored a half-price seat in the orchestra!  I knew nothing about this musical but Chicago was raving about it so I took a chance.  I loved it from the first scene.  To see 8 - 12 year olds dance and sing with such incredible talent  brought the whole audience alive!  Elton John’s musical score tells the story of Billy, living in London ‘s coal mining community, who discovers that he prefers ballet lessons to boxing lessons.  His family at first tried to discourage him, but Billy knew what he wanted in life and his surprising talent changed him and his community.  I highly recommend that everyone see this play!  I plan on seeing it again.

Millenium Park opened in 2004 near the waterfront.  Mayor Daly is a proponent of having abundant green space and parks in his city

The Joe Pritzher Pavilion in Millenium Park is an outdoor venue with a state-of-the-art sound system

Another view of the bandshell

Cloud View is one of several sculptures in Millenium Park.  Inspired by liquid mercury, artist Anish Kapoor's creation reflects the Chicago skyline.

The Bean,as it is fondly called by Chicagonians,  is a huge misshaped  reflecting ball.  If you look carefully you will see three images of the photographer!

Matthew and Joshua visited us with their parents near the end of our stay.  They brought a delicious lunch to share with us. The boys seemed to enjoy exploring Rambler.

At the end of Richard's work week we went food and supply shopping for our long haul on the inland rivers and stocked up on beer, wine, vodka, rum, etc.  since our destination was to a dry county in Kentucky.  Thank heavens we weren't crossing the Canadian border!!   After we finished our shopping we looked for a near-by restaurant.  We saw one a few minutes later and Richard decided to park the car and.  I mentioned that the restaurant was probably okay but I had hoped to go to Buddy Guy's Legends. When we exited the parking garage this is what we ironically saw!!  For a $10 cover charge, we sat down and listened to some really great jazz played live on the restaurant's small stage.  We ordered drinks, St. Louis ribs, collard greens(me), baked potato (Richard) and cornbread - mmm good!

Our Chicago visit was nearly over and we decided to celebrate our stay with fireworks.  The schooner Red Witch shared our dock so we reserved passage to Chicago's inner harbor to view the Saturday evening fireworks off Navy Pier.  Although the cold evening required gloves and a blanket, the sail to Navy Pier on the cloudless night was refreshing and fun.  The fireworks display lasted 15 minutes making all passengers feel the kid-like joy of seeing and hearing the sound of the spectacular burst of color over the Chicago sky.

Red Witch is a registered Tall ship built in 1986.

GOOD-BYE CHICAGO!  WHAT A GREAT CITY TO VISIT!!  WE WILL BE BACK...