We had hoped for good weather all the way to Chicago as was forecast, but although the weather was good the Lake surface was not. I stayed in the cabin and Bob came down only when necessary. He finally came down and drove the boat from the cabin (where the visibility is not as good). We had overnight stays in Pentwater and St. Joseph. We anchored out in Pentwater but stayed on the boat. The morning was incredibly beautiful.
In St. Joseph we stayed on the free wall with free electricity! Nice! We did walk down to the beach to take a dip in the lake as it was 84 degrees. Bob said the water was perfect - I thought it a bit cold, but adjusted. It's amazing how many boats pull up to the beach! As you can see the place was packed. The town symphony gives free concerts every Sunday up the hill from our boat so we enjoyed the music in the evening.
Sleeping proved a challenge however. A large barge arrived shortly after midnight, waking us from a sound sleep. It anchored across the river from us and kept its generators running all night while it either loaded or unloaded its cargo. This is her the next morning as we both prepared to depart!
The trip into Chicago was still pretty bumpy until we got about an hour outside the city and it calmed down. We were pretty excited to see the city through the mist.
This lovely sailboat was just outside our marina!
When we arrived in the marina, we tied up to a mooring ball for the first time on our trawler (we had done it several times on a sailboat). We had a few hiccoughs, but successfully attached the line. The city was pretty from the water.
and even prettier at night
We spent the next three days shopping, site-seeing, and preparing the boat to enter "the rivers". We had to lower our wind generator, mast, and antennas to fit under some low bridges ahead. We had some packages mailed to the local "Harbor Host" (Looper volunteers who are available to help those coming through their area). Ken not only delivered our packages, he drove us back to the boat from West Marine AND helped lower our boom. He was such a blessing! The city provides a water taxi service from the boats to the dock so we didn't have to lower the dinghy. A little tricky getting on and off but very helpful.
We learned so much about Chicago history. To me the most amazing was the decision to change the direction of the flow of the Chicago River. Say what? HOW can you change the direction of a river?? In 1900 the river was dumping sewage into Lake Michigan polluting Chicago's drinking water, so they devised a series of locks to switch the flow of the water to go down the Mississippi! It was not a popular decision for the people south of Chicago! One hundred years later, the sediment in Chicago's rivers are not toxic any more but still highly polluted. They continue working on improving them but no swimming for me!
Chicago's population grew quickly and the waterfront grew too!
1831
1871 - Year of the Fire - after the fire the city became the fastest growing city in the world and by 1900 was one of the world's five larges cities.
1964 - note the drastic changes in the water front. The long pier on the right is Navy Pier - a popular tourist meca - shopping and a climate controlled Ferris wheel!
Chicago had the very FIRST Ferris Wheel during the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. They hoped it would rival the Eiffel Tower built for the the 1889 Exposition in Paris! While original wheel is no more, as Bob says, there are a lot more Ferris Wheels than Eiffel Towers :) The original Ferris Wheel had 36 gondolas capable of holding up to 60 people each - for a total of 2,160 people!!
One of the reasons for the rapid population growth after the fire was the huge rebuilding effort. People thought Chicago would not recover from the fire, but recover it did.
We got around the city via bus, subway, and EL.
We took a marvelous boat tour that taught all about the architecture of the city.
The lovely boat - Innisfree. Quick - what movie is this from?
Awesome view of Trump tower - 2nd tallest in the city.
The building below is called the Jeweler's Building and is said that the Mafia met with the the city leaders here. For the first 14 years the building had a car lift so that delivery trucks could enter the building and make deliveries of diamonds, gold, etc. directly to the companies -- preventing robberies during deliveries. The building has been used in several movies and shows.
A gorgeous Gothic style
This is a condominium nicknamed the corn cob building.
This building is the tallest ever designed by a woman. No two floors are alike as it is supposed to feel like the waves of the lake.
Looking straight up at the building.
The "Eyebrow" building, has its own marina that is open year round. They have a special devise that agitates the water so it doesn't freeze.
This building was originally symmetrical but they had to remove part of the left side of it to widen a road and bridge.
This bridge is no longer used but is a historic structure. All the newspapers had to go over this bridge to get out to the city.
Beautiful flowers everywhere
I love how many of the building reflect the sky.
The Boeing Building - it's a good thing this wasn't here when you were, Daddy! They might not have moved you to Seattle :) The building is built using a technique that has been used on several other buildings. The lower portion is actually suspended from the taller tower similar to suspension bridges. This is so they are able to build over the train tracks below the building.
Prior to the suspension style building, the buildings had to be set back to accommodate the trains below.
The curved portion of this building is suspended.
An extreme example of the suspension architecture - most of this building is suspended from the core in the center. I just don't think I would feel safe in this one!
These are old warehouses converted to apartments. People who used to work here said they put on their roller skates as soon as they got to work. Sears and Montgomery Ward started their mail order businesses in Chicago making it the nations "mail-order capital". The Post Office had to expand to handle all the mail, but there was a highway planned for that area, so they compromised and left a hole through the building for the highway!
Chicago is a city of firsts - one of which was the first skyscraper. It was 10 stories tall but has been demolished. Willis Tower -(formerly Sears Tower) is the tallest building in Chicago and second tallest in the US. I went up to the viewing floor - notice Bob did not go with me :) It's a total of 108 floors, the viewing floor is 103. It has the glass "shelves" that protrude out for visitors to stand on. Can you see them way up there?
I think it looked taller from the outside!
Although these skyscrapers do look a little short from up here.
Food in Chicago - We had some awesome Chinese food in China town and, of course, Chicago is known for its deep dish pizza, which we tried but weren't overly impressed with. Good amount of toppings, but the seasoning was lacking. Read below for a description. It's backwards!
We did not try a hot dog but they sound good "dragged through the garden"!
We topped off our Chicago adventure with a visit to the Science and Industry Museum. The highlight of the visit was a tour through a German submarine captured during WWII along with the Enigma machine it had on board. Very interesting tour!
I'll leave you with a bit of levity - have a good night!
Moored at Monroe Marina, Chicago, IL 8/21-8/24/17
Great photograph and write up! Thanks for posting!!
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