When last we "blogged", we were sitting in St. Josephs/Benton Harbor, MI waiting for the wind to die down and the waves to calm down. The date was Tuesday, September 6th. On Wednesday morning, the winds appeared to be calm, so we got underway at 6:30 AM. When we reached the breakwater a mile away, the first wave was about an 8 footer and they would have been on the stern all morning long, so we turned around and returned to the marina.
The weather finally settled down on Friday, Sept 9th. We were underway around 1 PM (to allow the waves to drop a little) and headed south to Michigan City, Indiana. The marina was fine for the overnight stay and we met some other loopers who had been stuck there for 8 days because of the weather.
Underway early the next day, we proceeded to Hammond, IN which was our operating base for visiting Chicago. Getting a rental car, we made a grocery run to the Great Lakes Naval Training Center north of Chicago to take advantage of the commissary. Saturday evening our friend Krist Severance arrived from Jacksonville to spend a few days sightseeing.
Sunday the 11th we headed into the city. The routine was to park the car in the suburbs, jump on the subway, and proceed downtown. Sunday we took in the view from the top of the John Hancock building, the second tallest in Chicago, visited Navy Pier and the Ferris Wheel, had a great brunch in a restaurant recommended by our daughter and son-in-law, and walked, walked, walked.
Monday visited Millenium Park to see the "bean" (see the pictures) and since GREAT ESCAPE is too tall to make it under the downtown bridges, we took the architectural tour via boat. And, did I mention we walked, and walked, and walked.
The pictures in this update are mostly from Chicago.
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| Arriving at the breakwater for Michigan City, IN |
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| Rusty and Betty Hughes, from Naples Florida, had been in Michigan City for 8 days waiting for the lake to settle. They invited us over to their boat "THE COOPER" for a beverage |
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| Departing Michigan City, you can see how the fishing boats love to sit in the middle of the channel, right where we would like to go. |
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| The south shore of Lake Michigan is very industrial in nature. This and the next couple of pictures show the fumes coming from the steel mills about 5 miles away. |
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| Approaching Hammond Marina |
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| Our friend Krist arriving from Jacksonville, FL |
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| Doing the tourist thing |
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| Heading toward Navy Pier along the Chicago waterfront |
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| Navy Pier |
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| The view from the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel |
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| The city has art throughout the parks. Teresa is chatting with Bob Newhart. |
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| This is not our rental car |
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| The Chicago Tribune building has pieces of rock, brick, and metal from various famous places or structures throughout the world and history. In most of the following photos you can read the source of the rock or brick. |
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| This is from the Great Pyramid in Egypt |
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| Fort Marion, St. Augustine, FL |
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| Art work on the entrance to the Tribune Building |
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| I should have included a real person in this photo so you could see perspective on the size of this sculpture of Monroe |
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| Looking out from the lounge on the 96th floor of the John Hancock building |
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| Looking north along the lake shoreline |
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| In the middle of this picture is a building with a swimming pool on the top |
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| There actually were people swimming. Good thing they were not skinny dipping |
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| Enjoying an adult beverage in the lounge after all of the walking, walking, walking |
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| Crown Fountain in Millenium Park. This was an unusally warm day (85 deg) in Chicago so the fountain was very popular. The giant faces smile for a few minutes, then pucker their lips and a pipe embedded in the screen sends out a large stream of water, giving the illusion that water is spouting out of the mouth |
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| One of many flower beds within the park |
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| Teresa and Krist in front of the sculpture Cloud Gate or known locally as "The Bean." Cloud Gate weighs in at over 110-tons, and is 66 feet long and 33 feet high. "The Bean" was created using a huge number of individual stainless steel plates -- Cloud Gate's seamless surface is the result of thousands of hours of polishing. |
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| The "bean" is polished so well, you can take your picture in its reflection. If you can read it, noticed how the writing on Don's cap is backwards |
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| Reflection of the skyline in the "bean" |
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| The Amphitheater in Millenium Park |
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| This large vessel is home to the Columbia Yacht Club in Chicago |
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| The following photos are from the architectural tour through downtown Chicago. |
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| This is "Trump Tower" - yes, the "Donald" - the third highest building in the city when the spar at the top is not counted |
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| The Wrigley (maker of the gum) building, |
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| Trump Tower up close |
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| One has to be careful backing into these parking spots |
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| The Marshall Field's building. It was the largest office building in the world until the Pentagon was built |
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| This was the docent on our tour. This gentleman spoke non-stop for an hour and provided an excellent tour. |
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| Boeing Aircraft headquarters |
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| Another view of Boeing |
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| This view provides a feel for the bridge height through downtown and why GREAT ESCAPE could not make it through |
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| These crazy people are in plexiglass boxes that allow them to walk out from the upper floors of the Sears building, the tallest building in this country and the 5th tallest in the world. |
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| The Sears building is on the left and those boxes are just below the antenna on the top |
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| A fountain along the riverfront walking park |
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| The city has made the riverfront accessible and a pleasant experience |
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| Artwork on one of the many bridges crossing the Chicago River |
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| The Chicago River originally emptied into Lake Michigan. A canal was built connecting the Chicago River and the Illinois River. Large pumps than actually reversed the flow of the Chicago River and a lock now regulates the amount of water coming from Lake Michigan |
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| No problem for these two getting under the bridges. The turbulance is from a passing boat |
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| The Vietnam Memorial in downtown Chicagp |
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