Approaching Chicago from Lake Michigan
Looking out from the cockpit
Inside the harbor
Once we located our assigned slip, we spent the afternoon cleaning the boat which was long overdue but since we were expecting guests, we decided it was time. I took a break and noticed a Canadian goose outside so I went out and decided to try to call it over by tempting it with a cracker. I knew I could get the ducks to come but never a goose but he must have been hungry because he rushed over. That night we went out to dinner with Carl and Ricki at Bubba Gumps at Navy Pier.
Feeding a Canadian goose
On Tuesday morning we went with Carl and Ricki on a Chicago tour bus which drove all around the downtown area and then through the neighborhoods of Chinatown, Little Italy and Greek town. It was very interesting and after finishing with the tour, Mike and I headed back to the boat to wait for Kay and Steve to arrive. They had taken the train from San Antonio and arrived about 2:00 in the afternoon. Once they arrived, we visited on board for awhile before going to dinner at an Italian restaurant called Maggianos. The food was great and the incredible thing was that they gave you an equal amount to take home! We all walked out with bags of food and ended up having a feast the next night.
Kay had mentioned that she wanted to take the architectural tour so Wednesday morning we headed over to Navy Pier and boarded the boat which took us through the city by water. The buildings are spectacular and we were so glad we did the tour because when we knew when we took our boat through, we wouldn't be able to look around much.
One of two incredible twin
apartment buildings (The bottom floors
are reserved for parking)
The four of us at Navy Pier
Kay and Steve on board Queen Kathleen
I had been nervous about cruising our boat through downtown Chicago because of the height of the bridges. We measured no less than 4 times because the lowest bridge you have to clear is 17' and we were slightly under that. I worried about that constantly and was relieved when it was all over.
Check out the height of this bridge!
Low bridge with "L" train crossing above
We were cruising through downtown when we heard someone yelling at us. We turned around and it was Kay and Steve from one of the bridges we had just crossed under. They had left us earlier to drop off their bags at Union Station and do a little more sightseeing before their train left returning to San Antonio.
The first stop after leaving Chicago was Joliet, Illinois where we parked alongside the city park which was free. After a very uneventful night we left about 8:30 and arrived here at Ottawa - once again alongside a free city wall. As I mentioned before, we may be here another day or so because of the coming storm.
While cruising today I noticed an animal walking alongside the shore and thought it was a dog. After careful observation, I discovered it was a buck! Notice his rack!
A nice buck
One of the things we were told was that the Asian Carp are a threat to other species in the Great Lakes and they're trying to hold them in check by an electrified canal below Lake Michigan. This was the sign we saw while passing through one such area.
They're serious!
While we were in one of the locks today I dropped one of our boat hooks in the water and fortunately friends on another boat were able to retrieve it and pass it along to other friends Carl and Ricki.
Getting ready to pass the boat hook
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