Hello Chicago!

Our Tuesday morning started out as any other travel day.  We left Michigan City with relatively calm seas and sunshine, just my kind of travel day. Our destination was Hammond, IL.  We pulled into Hammond about 12:30, fueled up, pumped out, and moved to our slip.  

Misty Pearl had a package delivered there, took down their mast in preparation for the first part of the river system to squeeze under the numerous low bridges we'll have to traverse, had a quick lunch, and decided within about 5 minutes we were going on to Chicago since the sea conditions were very favorable instead of waiting until the morning. 

We then unhooked the power, untied the lines, went back to the fuel dock to get a refund on our slip rental and we were off!!  An hour and a half later we were in Chicago!

This is the view from our slip at DuSable Harbor in downtown Chicago.

That evening we took our first walk down the Riverwalk into downtown.

Glad  I don't need to park my car here....oh, wait, I don't have a car!!

Since we had no idea where things were we walked for a long time and decided on Italian this evening. It was a great pick, everything was delicious!

Brent had Osso Bucco and it fell off the bone.

I had Ricotta Ravioli.

Both dishes were incredible!!

We walked back to the marina after dinner and I saw the city at night for the first time. Looking back at the city from the marina.

Our night view from the top deck of Second Wave!

A must do when in Chicago is to take the Architectural Tour on one of the vessels of the First Lady Fleet along the Chicago River (the same river route Second Wave will travel when we go south from here). 

So on our first morning in the windy city, we did just that. All the pics below are from the tour.

The view of the city from the water level is quite impressive.

In order for Second Wave to get beneath all of the bridges in downtown Chicago she will have to be under 17 feet tall (above the waterline). Fortunately, when we lower her antennae and her anchor light we are just under 16 feet (if we measured correctly!).

That's a water taxi above.

The reflections on the glass fronts of the buildings makes for a great picture.

Yes, there are a couple of very small marinas along the river also.

That's the former Sears Tower in the photos above and below. Today its known as the Willis Tower and is 1,729 feet tall. For context, when we went to the top of the Freedom Tower in NYC (ground zero) it was 1,776 feet tall.

A map of the Chicago River and this building's location on it are part of this building's architecture in the photo below (can't remember the name of the building).

Trains, cars, bicycles and pedestrians share the bridge below.

The photo below is of a man blowing bubbles on the boats below. All he kept saying was that he was spreading joy! If you enlarge the picture you can see the bubbles.

More walking on the Riverwalk to see other areas of the city.

The old photo below illustrates a few of the bridges we'll need to clear as we cruise down the river. All of these same bridges are still here but they won't raise for us.

They do raise these bridges a few times each spring and fall to allow the sailboats to move back and forth from their winter storage berths to the marinas along Lake Michigan. We won't wait around for that.

The Navy Pier area in the photos below.

Sometimes you just see the strangest things along the way. This is a breastfeeding booth below. Quite a creative logo!

Pieces of art work are everywhere, this one below is a bit unusual but it is art to the creator.

Second Wave in her slip, then the clouds came and we haven't seen sunshine since.

More food pics from the Great Loop eating tour that continued tonight!

And then the rain came....

But we snuck in dessert nonetheless.

The rain and fog made for some great night views of the city.

When in Chicago you must have deep dish pizza....so we did!

Then we were off to the Theatre to see Hamilton.  Doug came across some "same day" tickets so we took advantage and went to see the show.

We had planned on leaving Friday morning and starting our journey down the river but you guessed it....another weather delay.  Rain and high winds for the weekend so here we sit until Monday.  The current forecast for next week looks very favorable so we will travel for several consecutive days and try to make up this lost time.

So the next day we went out on the town again!

Nobody buys newspapers anymore - 12 empty newspaper bins!!

With more days means more sights to see.  It was recommended to us to go to the Signature Lounge in the Hancock Building on Michigan Ave. for the best views of the city.  Our view was from the 96th floor and it was spectacular!!

We had cocktails and enjoyed the view.

We wanted to see the city at night from above so we had another cocktail...

UFO above Chicago in the photo above ;)

Looking back up at the Hancock Building after we left.

We keep trying these places. Su Casa has been here for 53 years. So let's try it....Su Casa is, so far, the best Mexican food we have come across since we left Texas. Its not real Tex-Mex but it was pretty good!

Cheese enchiladas with chili con carne, rice and beans.

Didn't see Michael working in the place below.

We were treated to July 4th on September 7th for some reason right outside our boat to end a very blustery, rainy Chicago day!  I guess someone knew we didn't have fireworks for Canada Day or July 4th so...