Chicago

We arrived at the downtown DuSable Marina on 8/31/14 on Sunday of Labor Day weekend.  It was an awesome sight of the Chicago skyline and there were many boats enjoying the long weekend.  We pulled in and decided to go to the Navy Pier and have lunch. Navy Pier is a big tourist trap to visit with many shops and restaurants.  Turns out this was a bad decision as the dense crowds made walking difficult so you can imagine how many people were waiting for tables in restaurants!

The next day we reconnected with Dane and Angela whom we haven't seen since we met five years ago in Washington State.  We originally met them at a hotel we were staying at the night before we took our Alaska cruise with Debbie & Mike, Bruce & Marcia, and Dreama & LeRoy.  We have kept in touch with them through Facebook.  They looked wonderful and are expecting their first child next month.   They took us to the grocery store, Best Buy, and let us come to their home to meet their dogs, Wrigley and Max, do our laundry, AND treated us to dinner.  Again, thanks so much Dane & Angela.

Tuesday morning, 9/2, we were able to reconnect with our looper friends Barb & Ross on Attitude Changer.  We hadn't seen them for 2-1/2 months as we went the route of Lake Champlain and they took the Erie Canal route when we all went into Canada. It was so good to see them.  Later that day our friends David & Susan flew in from California to visit for four days.  We had a wonderful time visiting and touring Chicago with them.  Wednesday we all went on a double decker bus to tour downtown Chicago and ate at Ed Debevic's, a restaurant atmosphere much like Dicks Last Resort in San Diego.  Next day David, Susan, Jan and I went on a entertaining "gangster" tour.  It was fun to hear all about the early mobsters, including Al Capone.  We topped off the afternoon with visiting the 96th floor of the Hancock  Building, had adult beverages, and enjoyed the view. 

Sunday, 9/7, Dane and Angela joined us again to say goodbye to Lake Michigan and Chicago as we begin heading south, cruising the river system.  

Looking from our marina

Our friends Angela and Dane

It's not the windy city because of wind.  Do you know how it got that name?

Soldier Field, home of the Bears

Do you know what TV show always opened with this fountain?

I think this called the water tower building

David and Susan spent their last night here

Ed Debevic’s, since 1984, has been Chicago’s only retro themed diner.

The gangster tour of Chicago

See the bullet hole in the church pillar where Earl "Hymie" Weiss was gunned down?

On top of the Hancock Building

Some of Chicago

Resturant on the top

Jan and Susan on top of the Hancock

Sears Tower 

Chicago River

More shots of Chicago 

This is called "Flamingo"