Chicago

We had a wonderful four days in Chicago. We got to spend some more time with the Chicago grandkids, and I did some shopping and museum hopping. Ted Schwartz, who owns the same boat we do, was able to get us a slip in his marina in the Lincoln Park area of Chicago. We were one block from the lake shore jogging/bike trail, two blocks from the Lincoln Park zoo, and had a choice of three different bus routes to get downtown. To get to the buses, you had to walk across the park and this was the view of downtown you had from the park.

My other favorite view of the park was the recently renovated lily pond. I walked through here in the mornings to the sound of singing birds and bubbling waterfalls, a great way to start the day.

Chicago actually has one of the great skylines of America from the water. I admit to thinking that tourist "take a ride on the lake" boat tours are usually cheesy, but if you don't have your own boat or as friend with a boat in Chicago, I guess I'd recommend taking the lakefront water tour. The city view is just plain spectacular from the water.

Looking north

Looking south

We've had several folks ask how you get a boat from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River. The answer is you go down the Illinois River. To get to the Illinois River you can go through one of two canals, the Cal Sag channel which starts in Calumet, or the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal (CSSC) which runs right through the heart of the city. Look on the map and you'll see two green routes in the upper right hand corner. The northern most route is the CSSC.  The two canals join up in the middle of an area that recreational boaters call "twelve miles of hell." More about that in the next post.

We took the CSSC through Chicago. This is the view from the boat as we headed through downtown.

One of things we did while we were in Chicago this time was to take the architectural boat tour. With all the times we have been in Chicago, neither of us had taken this tour before. We learned lots on the tour, but two things really caught our attention. One is that the Chicago Tribune Building has stones from famous landmarks around the world embedded into its outside walls. The Great Wall of China, the Houses of Parliament, and Petra are just some of the stones. I can't tell you how many times I've walked past that building in the last 30 years without realizing those stones were there.

Stones embedded in the Trib building

The other thing the tour guide told us is that there is a zeppelin landing spot at the top of the Intercontinental Hotel. Many folks claim it is an urban myth, but the top of the hotel does have a very strange bright yellow onion dome.