Date: August 31, 2013
Day on the Cruise: 138
From: DuSable Marina, Downtown Chicago, IL
To: DuSable Marina, Downtown Chicago, IL
Statute Miles: 0.0 SM
Time: 0.0 Hrs
Cumulative Miles: 3,329.1 SM
On Board: Susan, Chuck, Maggie, Trooper, Peanut
We are in still in Chicago tonight.
The last day of August and we have been on the Great Lakes for a month! We had really "hit a wall" this week on Lake Michigan. We are both a little burned out of being on the big water. We are burned out on the little towns that, while still interesting and very scenic, were beginning to run together and be more of the same. The stress of trying to plan for the weather on the Lake and the desire to make progress South while dodging waves and wind, has gotten to us. Getting to Chicago was a huge motivator and has picked us up our spirits considerably. We now see why people break up the Loop trip into several years of cruising. It is very tough to get up day in and day out and get on the water and cruise. We have just gone 250 miles in all kinds of weather in the last 4 days, and we are tired!
Back to Chicago. What a City! More thunderstorms this morning. We watched the radar and conditions looked like they were improving for the afternoon, so we planned to get out on Michigan Avenue for some shopping this afternoon.
But not only is today August 31, it is also the first Saturday of FOOTBALL Season! We were able to pick up the SEC Game of the Week on our TV and we watched some of the Florida - Toledo game while waiting for the storms to pass. Tonight, Auburn plays Washington State at Jordan Hare in Auburn. More on that later.
About 1:30, we headed out to the City. This time, we avoided "underground Chicago" and walked North along the River Walk to the Chicago River and Michigan Ave. we climbed a stair tower up to the street, then headed North along the Miracle Mile of upscale shopping. The area was beautiful, with nicely landscaped planters and trees along Michigan Avenue. There were a lot of people on the streets.
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| Interesting Condos or Apartments Downtown |
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| City scene this afternoon |
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| Navy Pier where we ate dinner last night |
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| Lakeshore Drive over the Chicago River |
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| The Lock between the Chicago River and Lake Michigan |
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| We took the River Walk today |
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| Buildings along the Chicago River |
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| Buildings along the Chicago River |
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| More of the River Walk |
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| Chicago River |
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| Michigan Avenue over the Chicago River |
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| Chicago River from Columbus Ave |
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| City Scene |
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| City Scene |
We passed a few pocket parks and soon we were at The American Girl Doll Store. The store is unbelievable. It is a two level store that is huge, and all devoted to the American Girl dolls. Here, Susan made purchases for the Granddaughters. Three Bitty Babies or whatever they are called. We left with two big American Girl Doll Store red bags.
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| The American Girl Doll Store |
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| The American Girl Doll Store |
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| The American Girl Doll Store |
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| The American Girl Doll Store |
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| Susan consulting on exactly what to get |
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| The American Girl with Dolls in Hand |
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| The American Girl Store. A Must See in Chicago! |
Next was the Apple Store. A quick stop that yielded a new iPad for Susan that has cellular data 3G capability so that she can finish this trip and conduct business on something other than her phone. Wi-Fi service at these marinas has been sporadic and poor at best. She really needs to have a better capability, so we got it.
We finished Michigan Ave, then back to the boat. The Chicago Looper Harbor Hosts, Ellen and Woody Sutton, had invited all Loopers who were in Chicago for the Labor Day weekend to their Condo overlooking Soldier Field and Lake Michigan, for dinner. We walked about 45 minutes South of the marina and found their building. There were about 20 or 25 folks at the event in their gorgeous home on the 15th floor. The view was amazing. The food was great and we enjoyed meeting some Loopers whom we had not met. We also saw some Loopers who we had been with before in various cities on the way to Chicago. It was a great time.
Instead of walking back to the marina after dark, we shared a cab with another Looper couple from our marina and got back to the boat in time to listen to the end of the Auburn game. Very good win for the Tigers! Our son Ben had kept us posted on the game status with text messages during the party. He was at the game in our seat block. It must have been very exciting to see new head coach Gus Malzahn get his first Auburn win!
Earlier this morning, I got a call from good friend Patrick Tyndall who goes to the Auburn games with the rest of his family. He was asking about tail gating and where we were going to be, etc. I think he was taken aback when I told him we would be tailgating in Chicago. I almost felt as though we were tailgating as we stood in Woody and Ellen's condo literally looking down into Soldier Field in Chicago!
It was a good day. We are busy planning for the trip down the Rivers which we will start on Tuesday. Tomorrow we are still in Chicago!
Thanks for Reading!
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