Joliet, IL - 8/30/12

At 8 a.m. we moved to the free do it yourself pump out dock in a stiff wind and prepared to leave at 8:30 with Queen Kathleen for Joliet, IL.  Since QK has not been on rivers before and was a little worried about bridge clearances on the river, Quest assumed the lead as we left the marina.

Monroe Harbor

Leaving Marina

LAST Trip on Lake Michigan!

 We left the comfortable harbor break wall and stuck the pointy end of the boat into Lake Michigan for the FINAL time for the short trip to the lock that will let us enter the Chicago River.  The lake was its normal nasty self and we rocked and rolled for the 1/2 mile trip. The lock down is only a foot or two and is actually there to prevent the river from getting into the lake since that is where the city gets its drinking water.  The Chicago River is also the Shipping and Sanitary Canal so I think you can figure out why they don't want to drink their own crap.

Chicago Harbor Lock

 The river goes right through downtown and under many bridges, the lowest being 17 feet and does not open so we had to get our anchor light, dinghy davit and VHF Antennae all down so we could get to 16 ft 9 inches.

Chicago River

Chicago River

Chicago River

Chicago River

This railroad bridge is normally up unless a train is coming.  Today we saw 3 different trains cross it before it raised.

Chicago River

Quest

Queen Kathleen

This barrier is to keep the Asian Carp out of the lake.

Queen Kathleen in the Lock

 We had to go through another lock and have 3 bridges opened that were to low to clear before we got to our destination.
.

Joliet, IL Free Wall

Passing Barges on Illinois River

This picture ended up out of place but it gives a good idea of some of the tight spots we had to go through on the river.  The barges on the left are docked and the tow on the right was moving.  The tow captains are very accommodating if you give them a call first before getting too close.

Our spot tonight is the Joliet town wall, a free mooring with power. Tomorrow our goal is Ottawa, IL.

N 41  31.439   W 088  05.233

DuSable Marina, Chicago, IL - 8/29/12

The tour tickets we purchased yesterday were good for 3 days so off we went again today to see some more of the city.

Downtown Chicago

We walked a few blocks from the marina to Millennium Park to catch the tour bus.

Nice Ride

 We had decided to spend a big part of the day at the Field museum of Natural History.  We thought about buying this car but it got away before we could make an offer.

 Chicago has over 500 parks within the city and all the ones that we passed were very well maintained.

Field Museum

 The Field Museum was a gift to the city from Marshall Fields who had made a fortune in the department store business.  The building was built in the early 1900's for 8 million.

The building was over 800,00 square feet that included displays from several countries, environmental, prehistoric and movies.

We left the museum late in the afternoon and caught the tour bus headed for Navy Pier where we have plans to meet Rickshaw for dinner.

This fountain along the waterfront was a gift to the city from the Bloomingdale's.

Aeriel View - Navy Pier

Every Wednesday and Saturday night there is a big fireworks display over the harbor.  Belinda and Jim came back to our boat to watch them before returning to their marina.

Tomorrow we leave the city and start down the river system headed for West Virginia.

DuSable Marina, Chicago, IL - 8/28/12

Up early for our day of touring the town with Mike and Kathy.  We met at 9 a.m. and took a taxi to the Navy Pier where we caught our double decker tour bus for the 2 hour plus tour of the city.

Our Tour Guide

 Our guide was a mix of information and comedy.  As we went around town different food smells were noticed which seemed to drive her crazy and caused her to fantasize about food.

Following are just some of the 134 pictures we took.

Chicago River

Chicago River

This is one of the few buildings that survived the Great Chicago Fire.

John Hancock Building

 The Hancock Building has its steel skeleton on the outside as opposed to all the other buildings we saw.

Window Washer

 Several of these guys were seen hanging around the city.  One thing we did notice was that most of the buildings did have clean windows.

Chicago River- Low Bridge

 We will be going down the river Thursday and have to get the boat down to under 17 feet in order to clear the one bridge that does not raise.

Condos with Parking Garage

China Town

Nice Pockets

Historic Area

Where's Oprah

We changed buses after the city tour and went through the Little Italy, Greek, Chinatown and historic areas.

Millennium Park

Millennium Park

Ricki and Bob

Our friend Bob who lives in town joined us for dinner on the boat.  We have known Bob and his late wife for many years having done the Windjammer cruise with them as well as many other boat related trips and parties. We talked and relived experiences late into the night which was very enjoyable.

Tomorrow we intend to spend another day exploring the sights and museums of the town then later getting the boat ready to leave Thursday morning.