The Windy City – Chicago!

Wednesday, September 12 – Sunday, September 16, 2018

Well, the Windy City wasn’t!  Almost a full week here and no wind at all.  Hot, muggy, summer has returned to the Great Lakes.  We are in port and the Lake is dead calm all week.  Figures! Our time here goes quickly as we try to squeeze in sightseeing, provisioning and preparing the boat to squeeze under low bridges that lie ahead.  

Despite being downtown, we are able to bike almost everywhere on the great lakefront bike trails and bike lanes on major downtown streets.  Navy Pier is just across the river and readily accessible.

Downtown Chicago

We cycle through nearby Millennium Park with its large open air amphitheater.

Millenium Park, Chicago

This impressive entrance to the Art Institute of Chicago leads to an overwhelming collection of art.  We barely make a dent seeing the collections.

Art Institute of Chicago

The downtown Riverwalk is bike friendly, too.

Chicago Riverwalk

We rent a car for a day to pick up boat parts Robert has ordered.  While away from downtown, we stop for a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s home and studio in nearby Oak Park IL.  

Frank Lloyd Wright home, Oak Park IL

Built in 1889, this early design is modest but still indicative of Wright’s trend-setting design vision.

Entry, Wright home

Great room, Wright home

His studio was added in 1898.  The imposing entry was designed to impress prospective clients.

Frank Lloyd Wright Studio entrance

Inside, an ingenious chain system suspends the second floor above the first with no traditional structural supports required.

Wright studio

Below the suspended floor were half a dozen work spaces for Wright’s staff of designers.  Attention to detail was amazing.

Wright studio

Chicago has always been a city known as a center of innovative architecture so an architectural boat tour seemed in order.  A tour boat took us along part of the river route we will follow when we head south in a few days while a docent described many of the buildings and their significance.  A wide variety of architectural styles are represented in bridge abutments, in addition to the buildings.

Chicago from Architectural Boat Tour

From Neo-Gothic …

Chicago from Architectural Boat Tour

… to Post Modern, Chicago has it all!

Chicago from Architectural Boat Tour

Chicago from Architectural Boat Tour

Chicago from Architectural Boat Tour

Chicago from Architectural Boat Tour

This massive building once housed Montgomery Ward.

Chicago from Architectural Boat Tour

With Chicago as headquarters for both Montgomery Ward and later, Sears, this enormous post office was needed to handle catalog distribution and subsequent orders.

Old Post Office, Chicago IL

We are meeting lots of loopers here at our marina, DuSable Harbor.  We quickly see Esther Girl, a familiar boat we last saw in Kingston, Ontario back in June.  We enjoy catching up with Pat & Edith, from North Carolina, and have dinner together at the Columbia Yacht Club, housed on an old ferry docked at our marina.  Unique!

Dinner with Edith & Pat

We will all leave Chicago on Monday to begin our trip down the rivers to the Gulf of Mexico.