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| The Marinas |
Parking is at a premium just like every big city. In the foreground is Monroe Harbor with 1,000 mooring cans all taken. The Chicago Yacht Club, which would not accept me as a transient, is to the left and the big boat in the center is the Columbia Yacht Club, which did accept my reservation. I declined.... not to get even with the "club" crowd but to avoid getting bounced around in the east wind which was forecast. By the dockmaster's own admission, the surge is awful in an east wind and I was going to be on the wall and not in one of there 4-5 slips. Too bad, because the club house is actually a retired Canadian ferry. The bar and dining room are very nice all decked out in wood and brass; it has character. Even going to the washroom one has to step over a bulkhead. The only thing missing was the big steel door with the locking wheel. I have had a drink or two there and some food in the bar. The people were exceptionally friendly. I kinda wish the forecast had been different.
Unfortunately, our first real order of business was to find Macy's which, unfortunately is located along the Magnificent Mile. Linda was in shoppers heaven and I was having near seizures. Nordstrom's, Saks Fifth Avenue, Guess, etc., etc., etc. ad museum. Macy's alone covered the equivalent of 10 square blocks. Fortunately for me we ran into another Looper couple and Dave and I were able to escape to a nearby bar and watch the finals of the US Open.
Linda could still carry everything so we got off Michigan Avenue and visited Millennium Park. The Bean is not the real name but Chicagoans only calls it that. It is neat; one can see reflections from every place that you can stand including directly underneath it. Also in the park is a outdoor concert venue and gardens of mostly ???weeds, grasses, ???. I am not fair here because they were all identified and cultivated, it is just me....they looked like an overgrown garden and acted on my allergies like an overgrown weed bed.
The City of Chicago has done it right. All along the lakefront there are bike paths, parks, museums, marinas and beaches. The downtown has a great mix of office buildings, condos, apartment buildings and of course restaurants. The city is alive and we felt perfectly comfortable walking around at night. In fact six of us went to Giordanos, another famous Italian restaurant that offered "stuffed pizza". The stuffed pizza was deep dish style but had a bit of a crust on top. I actually preferred this pizza but everyone seemed to like the deep dish style of Uno's. Getting there was rather interesting because from the marina one has to find their way up to a second level. We ended up walking through a parking lot underneath an elevated road, Lakeshore Drive, then up an elevator to Lower Randolph which allowed us to take some stairs to Upper Randolph. The first time we did this I had my GPS unit from the car and it was useless. It did not provide any useful directions to manage the different levels. When we got to the restaurant the GPS track looked like the path of a drunken sailor, it zigzagged frequently often crossing its own path.
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Navy Pier |
We moved to Dusable Harbor which is behind the CYC boat/club house and is right downtown and near the tourist attractions on Navy Pier. This marina is much better; the restrooms are newer and there is much more to do nearby; there is everything to do in Chicago. Where else can on stay in Chicago for $120 a night, sleep in their own bed, look out over the lake and Navy Pier, and experience the city? We started out by going to the pier for lunch and happened upon a free stained glass museum.
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| Stained Glass at Navy Pier |
Unfortunately, our first real order of business was to find Macy's which, unfortunately is located along the Magnificent Mile. Linda was in shoppers heaven and I was having near seizures. Nordstrom's, Saks Fifth Avenue, Guess, etc., etc., etc. ad museum. Macy's alone covered the equivalent of 10 square blocks. Fortunately for me we ran into another Looper couple and Dave and I were able to escape to a nearby bar and watch the finals of the US Open.
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| The Bean |
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| Tom, Linda and Brenda under the "Bean" |
The City of Chicago has done it right. All along the lakefront there are bike paths, parks, museums, marinas and beaches. The downtown has a great mix of office buildings, condos, apartment buildings and of course restaurants. The city is alive and we felt perfectly comfortable walking around at night. In fact six of us went to Giordanos, another famous Italian restaurant that offered "stuffed pizza". The stuffed pizza was deep dish style but had a bit of a crust on top. I actually preferred this pizza but everyone seemed to like the deep dish style of Uno's. Getting there was rather interesting because from the marina one has to find their way up to a second level. We ended up walking through a parking lot underneath an elevated road, Lakeshore Drive, then up an elevator to Lower Randolph which allowed us to take some stairs to Upper Randolph. The first time we did this I had my GPS unit from the car and it was useless. It did not provide any useful directions to manage the different levels. When we got to the restaurant the GPS track looked like the path of a drunken sailor, it zigzagged frequently often crossing its own path.
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| Downtown Chicago |
We did the "Architectural Tour" the next day with another Looper couple. It was a 90 minute boat tour down both the South and North Branches of the Chicago River. This is the preferred route for Loopers but I was leery of taking this route because the lowest bridge clearance is reported to be 17 feet and the top of my radar unit is between 17' and 17'6", depending on who is measuring. Reportedly, at the basin level for the past few days the minimum vertical clearance was 18' but..... no guarantees. In the end it was an easy decision; the tour provided us with all of the best views along with real interesting history and facts. Linda and I went 12 miles south to the alternate route, the Calumet River, when it was time to start heading south.
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| Marina City |
I cannot remember all of the details but the tour guide was awesome; she kept us enthralled or at least very interested about the city and the buildings for each of the 90 minutes. This was especially good because Linda and I lucked into meeting the Director of the Chicago Tour Line, Manager of the Illinois Maritime Towing Company and ex Coast Guard who gave us complimentary tickets (worth $37 each).
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| Hourly Display |
On our supposed last day in Chicago, I was not well; a touch of the flu (not Wayne's kind) and I spent most of the day resting while Linda went shopping (you are right, I could not rest very well). Linda did find some good New Zealand Pinot Noir 2005 wine at a pretty good price. We tried some at the happy hour and needed more since we are all out of the going away gift bottles and the 2 cases that we brought. When Thursday turned up rainy and cold we decided not to head off but stay another day so we dug out our granny shopping cart and headed for the package store. 12 bottles of wine, 1 bottle of rye (no Wisers here unfortunately) and 12 bottles of mix made a full load. I dragged this d#!* thing about 10 blocks back to the boat. We are ready to travel again.
Only one last thing that needed to be done. Mitch, a fellow Looper, and I wanted to take a segway tour; they are all over the park areas along the waterfront....so we did. The girls and Jay went to Chinatown while Jay and I learned to ride a segway. It is so, so, SO neat. There were 16 people in our group; it was the largest group that the tour guide had ever had to deal with. And there were a couple of people that I was rather concerned about their coordination skills. Within about 40 minutes all of us were on our own sewgay and practicing in this hall. I was amazed. After some general guidelines and instructions, each person was individually given a segway and taught to ride. It is amazing. To go forward you lean on your toes. To stop you press on your heels. To turn, you push the handle bar either right or left. That is it. After two minutes it feels like the most natural thing in the world. After 10 minutes, I could hover with no hands, go backwards, go so fast that the governor would kick in, and turn to talk to the person behind me while still going forward. It is amazing (I think I have over used the word but 4 days later I am still amazed). I want one or two for the boat.
My only regret for the time that we had in Chicago was that we did not stop at the Cheesecake Factory when we had the opportunity. The desserts looked awesome and I hear that they taste even better. Our last dinner in the big city was at Carlson's which is a popular rib house that has been a favourite for many celebrities for many years. The ribs were not bad but I have had better.
We head south down the rivers on Friday and will be faced with our first locks.
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