Days 2-295-299 the Admiral's parents visit in Chicago

Day 2-295 Jim and Carita arrive:

     After about 24 hours of "rest", we set off via METRA train to Midway Airport to greet Jim and Carita G. about 5:00 pm. It was a long walk from the train station to the terminal, and of course the escalators and moving walkway were both out of service. The walk was all inside, but only about one-third of it seemed to be air conditioned. Fortunately, they were travelling very light in terms of luggage since we have a half mile walk to the boat at the end and there is not an over abundance of storage left on Lucky Us. When we got off the train downtown, we found a nice Italian restaurant where we all shared a large salad followed by pizza and other entrees. The food was great, but the walk back to Lucky Us seemed longer than usual, especially as it was already starting to get dark. There was lots of updating along the way of various parts of the journey from the airport to the boat. Once we were settled aboard Lucky Us, no one was awake very long, and we have a busy agenda for the next few days.


Day 2-296 Art Institute of Chicago and a boat trip on the Chicago River
     The ladies set off walking to the museum of the Art Institute at about 10:30 am. Jim and I stayed behind to do (unspecified) work around the boat. Later, Jim and I walked a short distance down the seawall to a hot dog stand at the foot of Randolph Street for lunch. In the process of sitting at a picnic table eating lunch, we discovered that there was an endless stream of taxis stopping here. It turns out that they use the restroom here on a regular basis. We were to walk the 100 yards back to here several times in the next few days, and there was always a cab ready for hire (sometimes after a short wait, ha ha).

     The ladies arrived back at Lucky Us about 2:00 pm after seeing some amazing art and having lunch at the museum. I guess that the art was really awesome since they were too busy to take any pictures... The weather predictions for the next two days is for some rain so at 3:00 pm we started up Lucky Us and headed for the Chicago River in beautiful weather.
    The picture at the left shows Lucky Us on the south wall of the Chicago Lock as we wait for the water to go down about 2 feet. The burgee (flag on the bow) is just hanging down in the still air, and you can see the beautiful blue sky.

     Terry's father has been through Chicago on the river before, but her mother was really excited about her first cruise through the city. For Terry and I this was our second in/out trip, and with each one we see more new building, views, etc. The picture at the right shows Carita and me enjoying some of the views.

      We passed some of the more classic Chicago buildings , such as the Merchandise Mart. When it opened in 1930, it was the largest building in the world with over 4 million square feet of space. It centralized the architecture, home furnishing, building trades, etc. A very massive but pleasing structure.

     Another classic Chicago landmark on the river is the Wrigley Building. Traveling on the river gives a completely different perspective of the building. In particular, the buildings all look much taller when you are looking up at them. Notice also the impressive stone work on the bridge control towers.

     The picture at the left is one of my favorites, as you can see five bridges in one picture. You will have to look close, but they are seen each one under the other in this picture.

     I get fewer really good views from the helm on the flybridge partly because of the bimini top above me. Also, there is a lot of traffic on the river. There are tour boats, water taxis and construction barges to worry about all the time. Also, the picture at the right shows one of the tour boats pausing in front of Lucky Us to let a "display" of water shooting over the river end before continuing its tour. Like I said the river is a busy place...

     We went under 19 bridges both down and up the river, and it was quite a beautiful trip in such great weather. As we headed back to the lock to end our trip, we had a wait while two US Corps of Engineers tugs and barges came out of the lock and turned around to dock just inside the Chicago River (picture at left). The Admiral and her father (Jim) watched as they sat on the foredeck cabin. As we entered the lock, it was their turn to go to work handling lines as we locked through and back into Lake Michigan.

Day 2-297 More museums and a Chicago musical

     After breakfast, we made our plans for the day. Carita chose to go back to the museum at the Art Institute, while the rest of us headed for the Museum of Science and Industry. We began by walking to the hot dog (cab) stand and got a cab for Carita to go to the Art Institute. She is quite an accomplished artist (my opinion) and really wanted to spend more time at the art museum. Then Jim, Terry and I took a cab to "our" museum (Science and Industry). As soon as we got inside, I managed to "steer" our group into the ship models, and as you can see in the picture at the right, I was still "dressed" for the weather outside. However, my slicker provided a great costume for the picture of me at the old ships wheel.

     Then we were off to the train exhibits for more fun. They had part of a real steam engine, and the picture at the left shows Jim looking quite at home at the controls.

     They also had an extensive model railroad lay out with trains running everywhere. I found the working port very intriguing. There even had a working loader that took a shipment from a train and loaded it onto a ship. Given the history of Chicago as an important shipping and transportation center, the historical development of trains was of significant importance to Chicago.

     After a nice lunch in the cafeteria, we headed off to the farming exhibits, talk about impressive. They even had a brand new full size combine that was cut away on one side to show the inner workings. The picture at the left shows the Admiral and her father (Jim) standing beside the (small?) front wheels of a modern tractor. They had a lot of fun exhibits related to farming and illustrating its importance to the Midwestern US.

     We got back to Lucky Us about 2:00 pm just in time for much needed naps. We had dinner on board, and we left for the cab (hot dog) stand a little after 6:00 pm for our evening adventure.  We took the cab to the Apollo Theater for a performance of the "Million Dollar Quartet" (picture from the lobby at right). It is a musical about a one night get together on December 4, 1956 of four performers (Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins). They were all in the process of coming or going to the Sun Record label, and the musical features a "chance" meeting of the four one evening at the studio in Memphis.

     The show has run at the Apollo for over 6 years as well as on Broadway and national touring companies. It was all in one act, and it was full of very classic (early) rock and roll music. The picture at the left shows Jim, Carita and Terry waiting in the lobby for the seating to begin. I tried to take a picture of the stage setting before the show began, but I received a rather stern rebuke (?). The theater was literally next door to the elevated commuter tracks, but the theater itself was well insulted for sound. It was a very fun event, but once again, it was a very tired group that arrived back at Lucky Us.

Day 2-298 a trip to Wrigley field for an afternoon Cubs baseball game!

     What better way to make a visit to Chicago complete than to go to an afternoon Chicago Cubs baseball game at historic Wrigley Field. The picture at the right shows the street just behind the left field wall (at left) and some of the apartments with bleacher seats on the roof. This is the "classic" view where they show pictures of kids scrambling for (long) home runs hit out of the stadium over left field.

     The outside had the usual vendors selling all sorts of Cubs "stuff". Note the banners on the wall. They are not championship banners, but rather different Cubs logos over the years. Let's face it. The Cubs may not be the winningest team ever, but they have the most loyal fans.

     The picture at the right shows us decked out in Cubs gear. Carita actually had her shirt before coming to Chicago. She is a long time Cubs fan but had only seen them play in Houston before this game. So, she finally got her chance to see the Cubs play a game at Wrigley Field.

      The weather forecast was for afternoon thunder showers, which did arrive in the 4th inning with the Pirates ahead 2-1. You can see how black the sky was off to the north. That delay was mainly for the lightning in the vicinity so play did resume after about an hour (?), and the Cubs did tie up the game.

     After very little rain during the first delay, the rain really started hard during the second delay. Since it was getting late (about 4:30 pm), we only waited a short while during the second rain delay before we left. By the time that we got back to Lucky Us, they had postponed the game, and it is to be continued before the start of tomorrow's game. Unfortunately, Carita is going back to Texas tomorrow. The good news is that she got to see the Cubs play at Wrigley Field and that they did not lose (the game was tied 2-2 when postponed). It was also Greg Maddux bobble head doll day so we all got them - oh joy. The picture at the right shows Carita very happy as she shows off her doll. A nice souvenir for a long time fan!




Day 2-299 Carita leaves for Texas

     Well, what do you do on your last morning in Chicago? I guess that Carita and Terry were up early enough to see the sunrise over Lake Michigan... The picture at left shows Carita standing on the bow of Lucky Us watching the sunrise over Lake Michigan (down the main dock to the right).

     Here is part of the view that they saw of the sunrise. It does look pretty, but as you can guess, I was still happily sleeping during all of this...

      After a very busy 4 days, Terry took Carita back to Midway Airport to see her off back to Texas. We were all sad to see her leave, but the good news is that Jim (Terry's father) is going to go down part of the river system with us!

     I took a train south to pick up a fuel pump that I had ordered for the generator. The marina where I ordered the part is on the Calumet River, which is the other entrance to the Illinois River from Lake Michigan. Loopers with boats taller than about 17 feet must use this channel rather than going through downtown Chicago on the river. The picture at the right shows the interior of the double deck commuter train that I rode. Part of what you see that looks like a grate is actually a luggage rack for the folks on the upper level. The head room on both levels feels more like an airplane. The only place that I could stand up straight was in the center aisle.

      Yes, you have already guess that these train pictures are for Grandson Will who had really enjoyed his rides on the trains during their visit.... It was an interesting ride since they had real conductors in uniforms with cool hats who walked down the aisle and punched your ticket.

Tomorrow, we are off south down the Chicago River to the Illinois River and points south...