Sept 1-6, Chicago, IL

We left Waukegan, Illinois and entered Lake Michigan, where we found almost no wind or waves and clear skies for our final 30 mile cruise to Chicago. Air temperature 62. Water temperature 60. Beautiful day on the water.

Baha'i Temple near Wilmette.
Baha'i is a religion, claiming 5 million members, founded 150 years ago by Baha'u llah, a Persian.

Few other boats out on a Tuesday until we get very close to the Chicago Harbor breakwater. We did see the Coast Guard patrolling, the Chicago Police Boat and the Conservation Police Boat, all as we entered the Harbor.

Chicago Lighthouse marks the entrance into Chicago Harbor.

We are tied up in DuSable Harbor, south of the Navy Pier and to the east of Millennium Park. The tall buildings in downtown Chicago dominate the skyline to our west. Pretty neat place to be!

Chicago skyline from a few miles offshore

The Navy Pier.

Entrance to the Chicago River

Linda getting us ready to dock at DuSable Harbor.
We are following a Police Boat.
Very slowly.

We begin to explore Michigan Avenue and Millennium Park. Lots to see.

Chess players on the street play tourists
for fun or for money.

Crown Fountain in Millennium Park is a water feature and wading pool
and can project an image on one side.

Crown Fountain. Large image projected.

Jay Pritzker Pavillion in Millenium Park for outdoor concerts.
Designed by architect Frank Gehry. ('Fred and Ginger' office building)
Lots of chair back seating in front and large lawn behind.
Unusual stage surround.

'Cloud Gate' is a 2004 sculpture by Anish Kapoor, an artist from India.
This is his first in the USA and made of polished stainless steel.
It is affectionately known as 'The Bean'.
Cost more than $20 million.

We look out in the morning and find a new 'hot air baloon' on the sky over the Navy Pier just to the north of our marina. This is the first day of their new ride to go along with the existing large Ferris Wheel attraction.

Baloon over Navy Pier.

Ken Horner, Linda's brother, and friend Chris join us for breakfast. Ken is working as Captain on a Casino boat in Indiana about 30 miles from Chicago. Great to see him and get caught up on family news.

Captain Ken Horner.

Grand daughter Kristen Alexander joins us from California for a week of sightseeing in Chicago. We have planned a full day out and about. Palmer Hotel, Marshall Fields (now Macy's), Chicago pizza, Architectural bookstore and model of Chicago, Jersey Boys (really great), Sears Tower (now Willis, a British Insurance company), Sushi and a walk through Millenium Park.

Linda and Kristen at the Palmer Hotel.

Kristen taking in the sights at Marshall Field's.

Kristen and Owen ready for Giordano's Chicago Style Pizza.

Willis Tower.

Lobby featuring Chicago's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Competing cities: Chicago, Madrid, Rio, Tokyo.

View from the top looking northeast.

Owen's feet on a new plexiglas floor that lets the touists
look straight down 110 floors to the ground below.

Finally back to the boat. Nice day.

KOKOMO II at DuSable Marina with some world class racing sailboats.
Red hulled NITEMARE is a beauty.

Thursday we walk about a mile, north along the bike path over the river and then west to Michigan Ave.

Very large Seward Johnson sculpture.

We take the Wendella 'Chicago River Architectural Tour'. It is a beautiful day for a cruise. Owen talks to the pilot of the Wendella boat and is thrilled to hear that the cruise boat is 17'3" tall and will safely go under all the bridges. Owen wants to take the KOKOMO II through downtown Chicago on our way south and was concerned about our ability to get under all the bridges. KOKOMO II is 16'6" tall with the mast and antennae's down, so now we know we can safely clear all the bridges.

As we cruise the Chicago River through downtown Chicago, our guide gives us a running commentary about the buildings, the architects and the developers. There is really a lot to see.

Marina City (1965).

Boat garages under Marina City.

Centennial Fountain commemorates the Chicago River project that
changed the direction of the flow of the Chicago river away from
Lake Michigan to flow out the Mississippi.
The same way we will go.

Centennial Fountain has a water gun that gets used every hour in the evening.
Boats can go under but get wet.

Aqua Tower(2009) is designed by Jeanne Gang, a female architect.
Looks wet and changes with the light.
One of our favorites.

Aqua Tower balconies create the effect.

Trump Tower Chicago (2005) is the tallest built in the US since 9/11.
Wrigley Building (1925) on the right.

The building boom is over for now as there are over 20,000 residential condominiums vacant downtown. We see one highrise building with construction stopped. There are several more buildings on hold awaiting financing and better times.

Fordham Spire is proposed by developer Chris Carley to be a spectacular 2000 foot spiral shape designed by Santiago Calatrava (Milwaukee wings) and Garrett Kelleher. This is to be on the waterfront, all residential and would be the new tallest building in the USA. The penthouse reportedly is under contract for $40 million. Developer says he will not start the building until 40% of the units have been sold. American architect, Louis Sullivan stated the famous 'form follows function'. American developers know 'form follows finance'. Boom times and easy finaning allowed Chicago's skyine to grow as it did in the last several decades.

Walked down through the Miracle Mile to the John Hankock Building. Very nice upscale shopping area. No thrift stores here.

Kristen and Linda check out 'American Girl'.

Fourth Presbyterian Church.
A landmark on Michigan Ave.

We got up on Friday in a fog bank.

Patchy dense fog is forecast for the areas next to Lake Michigan this morning.
And that is what we see.

Today we visit the Museum of Science and Industry. This is a large museum south of downtown and is housed in the only remaining building from the 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair. Exhibits on planes, trains and automobiles, model ships, a coal mine and a captured German submarine. And lots of other stuff, too.

Turn of the century fire equipment.

This engine set the world speed record of 112 mph.

Ship models of Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria.

Spanish Galleon.

German submarine U-505 captured in 1944.

We finish our day with a trip to Navy Pier.

Kristen and Linda with Tiffany window 'Guardian Angel'.
Linda has enjoyed being Kristen's guardian angel this week in Chicago.

Owen and Kristen with tall ship WINDY.
Chicago's nickname of 'the Windy City' comes from the 'hot air' of the politicians speaches and not the wind that blows through the city streets.

We go to Michigan Ave to the Apple Store to have our computer tuned up and find the streets are packed with tourists. This is the beginning of Labor Day Weekend and Chicago is buzzing. Everything seems much busier than earlier in the week. Navy Pier has fireworks shows on Wednesdays and Saturdays in the summer located just east of our marina. Nice event for Kristen's last night with us. Kristen leaves us and flies home to California. We had a wonderful 5 days together.

Field Museum great hall.
Featuring elephants and dinosaurs.

Field Museum is a museum of natural history and is our next stop. The primary theme at the Field is 'Evolution of the Planet' featured 100 million years of evolution, including planet changes to the earth and the effect on all living things. Featured are five periods of extinctions, when they occurred, why they occurred and what species were affected. One display shows three species of humans, with two going extinct within the last 50,000 years and only homo sapiens surviving. There are several large exhibits showing artifacts from early human habitation in ancient Egypt, ancient South America, North American Indians and Africa. Great museum. Big museum. Almost overwhelming to see in just a few hours.

Soldier Field is across from the
Field Museum.