September 18, Day 97 - Michigan City, IN to Chicago, IL

We got up fairly early and departed Michigan City at 9:00 a.m. There was no wind and the seas were pretty flat. After being on the water for an hour or so, Linda commented about not being able to see Chicago yet as we had been able to see New York City hours before arriving. Turns out it was just very hazy. Chicago was really out in front of us but we couldn’t see much until about an hour before arriving. We took pictures, but they are marginal as it was still pretty hazy when we arrived. With gaining an hour because of the change to CDT we arrived at 12:45. We got settled in our slip and then went to find Michel and Carole. We had a quick drink to toast our arrival in Chicago and then went and checked in.

We had been checking on tours and decided perhaps we’d like to try the Segway Tour … so we set out on a walk to see what we could find. Gerry is usually pretty good at finding where we want to go …. but today might have been the exception. We did finally find the Segway Company, but not before wandering through some very strange (and sort of scary places). After finding the tour company we made reservations for early tomorrow morning. We also wandered through Millennium Park and parts of downtown finally ending up on the trail along the river/canal system that we’ll be taking on Monday. While wandering the streets we ended up buying a new camera for Linda. Her old one just never recovered from its swim in the Benjamin Islands.

Gerry was really craving a Chicago-style deep dish pizza, but by the time we got back to the boat we were too tired to go back out again …. So we will save that for tomorrow. At 9:00 there was a fireworks display off the Navy Pier which is right next to the marina. Linda tried out her new camera to see what it would do. After that it was off to bed as it had been a long day.

Approaching Chicago .... still quite hazy but had to have a picture with the AGLCA flag.

Getting closer. You can see all the sailboat masts in the marinas

Navy Pier .... this is right next to DuSable Marina where we stayed

The entrance to the marina

A hot air balloon at the Navy Pier and our entrance to DuSable

Fountain of Millennium Park

The Jay Pritzker Pavilion, which is a huge amphitheater

Cloudgate or "the Bean" as it it referred to by the locals. It actually is the shape of a lima bean. It was created by British artist Anish Kapoor and is an elliptical sculpture of highly polished stainless steel. It reflects the Chicago skyline and all the people standing around it.

Our reflection (see middle of picture) and the skyline of Chicago

Crown Fountain - This fountain features two 50-ft glass towers at each end of a reflection pool. The images are of local people and change periodically.

The Chicago River (where we'll be headed on Monday). It flows right through downtown Chicago.

Marina at dusk (Linda trying out new camera)

Night shot of the City

Fireworks at Navy Pier

A short clip of the fireworks using Linda's new camera