Sightseeting Chicago

A giant crawfish at the field museum

Our first full day in Chicago, we decided to take in some of the more famous attractions. We chose to stay at Burnham Harbor, Chicago's largest marina, partly because of its proximity to the city's more famous attractions, and also because Capt. Larry was more familiar with the area and transportation system on the south side. While Burnham Harbor is a good choice for these reasons, it is also rather short on the amenities. The marina has over 1100 slips, but only one men's and ladies' restrooms and with a couple of showers and toilets each, and these facilities are sorely in need of upgrading. For the marina fee that is charged, one would expect better accommodations.



The major attractions that we wanted to see while we were here were the famous Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium, the Adler Planetarium, and possibly a ride to the top of the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower). We also wanted to take in a major league baseball game at one of the city's two teams. Admittance to these attractions are not cheap, but Chicago has a package deal called City Pass that allows you admission to 5 of the city's top attractions for $76. We purchased two of these packages and started with the Field Museum on day one. The museum was about a one-half mile walk from the boat.

Jane and the pachyderms

A T. Rex named SUE

Capt. Larry and Bushman

We arrived at the museum but had no idea where to start. The number of exhibits was overwhelming and we only had a day to do this. We sat down with a pamphlet and planned the day's activities. First up would be the "Underground Adventure." This exhibit dramatically enlarges the tiny to microscopic features of soil and gives the viewer the impression that you are passing through living soil that relates to your "shrunken" size. The exhibit covered all aspects of soil ecology and the important role it plays in things we take for granted. While Jane was not too fond of the bugs and worms that were "living" in the soil, she did enjoy the educational aspects of the exhibit. She gave it a thumbs up and thought the grandkids would love it.


The next exhibit was "Inside Ancient Egypt." This is a permanent exhibit at the museum and one that is supported by Egyptian artifacts that were brought to the museum years ago. There were collections that dealt with all aspects of everyday Egyptian life which were represented over a several periods of Egyptian history.

Who's your mummy?

When we got to the Egyptian funeral and burial customs, and saw exhibits of mummies and mummification, we got an unsettling feeling that years ago representatives of the museum were robbing Egyptian graves of their treasures and bringing them to this country. Of course, this was probably no different than that done by a number of other respected institutions, but still there was a nagging question of propriety as we viewed the exhibit. The mummies made us hungry, so we broke for lunch!


Next up was "Traveling the Pacific." This exhibit detailed how the Pacific islands were inhabited and settled and the conditions that were faced by the initial inhabitants. Since many of these islands were the last places on Earth to be inhabited, it was interesting to learn of their navigational skills and obstacles these explorer/settlers had to encounter. After a segment on Papua New Guinea and a description of their foods and how they prepared them, we started to get hungry again! So many delicacies.....so little time......


We finished up our day by touring the exhibits on "The Ancient Americas," the "Northwest Coast and Arctic Peoples," and the "North American Indians." "The Ancient Americas" exhibit chronicled Indian cultures that inhabited North and South America, their rise and fall, and contributions.

Northwest totems

Titles of the other two exhibits are self-explanatory and all three were excellent, although the "North American Indian" exhibit could have been improved if the collection were attributed to specific tribes rather than generalized regions they represented. While these were the major exhibits we visited, we also briefly wandered through other museum offerings. Overall, we thought the Field Museum was excellent and would recommend it to anyone visiting Chicago. Just be sure to give yourself as much time as possible.

The dolphins perform at the Shedd

Jellies!

Beluga whales

Penguins on display

Coral reef fish

With the Klassers for dinner and jazz

Happy birthday, Jane!

The next day, Jane's birthday, we headed to the Shedd Aquarium. Like the Field Museum, the aquarium has a number of varying exhibits that covers oceans, local and major foreign rivers, coral reefs. One of the exhibits focused on the Amazon and all of the weird fish and animals associated with it. The Carribbean Reef was a huge tank that displayed all types of tropical fish and rays. Most mesmerizing was a display of jellyfish, but the most beautiful was all of the brightly colored or oddly adapted fish in the coral reef exhibit. We also watched a dolphin show and went to a 4-D movie, "Happy Feet." Around closing time we noticed that the staff were setting up dining and serving tables. Turns out we were there when they were having "The Shedd and Jazz" night. Capt. Larry was going to take Jane out for dinner, but we decided to stay and have dinner at the aquarium. Various vendors had a variety of menu items and it was great. While we were waiting for the event to begin we me Allan and Tanya Klasser. We had such nice conversation that we all decided to dine together, and we ate, talked, and listened to a jazz group for a couple of hours. It was a delightful evening. Allan and Tanya offered to take us anywhere we needed to go, but there was no place pressing that we needed to go. We returned to the boat and watched fireworks from the cockpit of the boat. Capt. Larry told Jane that he had arranged this for her birthday, but she didn't buy it.

Going to Wrigley Field

NASCAR's Jimmy Johnson throws a pitch

The Cubs looking valiant

Jane with Cubby Bear

The next day Capt. Larry took Jane to her first MLB game. Unfortunately this was a Cubs game. There's a story in Chicago that Jesus said to the Cubs, "...don't do anything until I get back." And the Cubs apparently embrace this request. Today they were playing the Atlanta Braves. We left the marina early and caught the subway that dropped us off right at the Wrigley Field entrance. We walked around the neighborhood for a while then went into Cubby Bear's sports bar. Jane had an Italian beef and Capt. Larry had a Cubby Burger and we split an order of elotes (a Greek dish of grilled corn, mayonnaise, lime, and chili powder- it's good!). We left the bar and went into Wrigley Field and found our seats. It wasn't long into the game (1st inning) when things were getting out of hand. And yes, the Cubs remained behind and lost the game. We returned to the boat and had dinner aboard.

Hey Madison, that's your street!

Mmmmmm, Chicago-style deep dish

On Friday we caught a bus and rode it downtown to the area where many of the large retailers are located so Jane could do some shopping. We went to the former Marshall Field nine-story (now a Macy's) main store on State and Washington. Jane was really impressed with how big it was and the huge inventory it had. She bought as pair of shoes there that she said was the most expensive shoes she had ever purchased. We left and went to a couple of other retailers where she got some perfume and a leather jacket. Then we hopped a bus and rode a few blocks for lunch at a Chicago institution- Lou Malnati's which features Chicago-style deep dish pizza. It was delicious and different, but not necessarily better than Capt. Larry's deep dish pizza. We left the restaurant and went to a hardware store, then returned to the boat. We had happy hour out on the dock with our new found boat neighbors.

Brunch with Joann and Hadiye

In the Clark historic district

Starry-eyed at the planetarium

On Saturday two of our new dock buddies Joann Murphy and Hadyie Steward invited us to a brunch in a nearby historic district. It was delicious and a really interesting area that has been restored. We finished our brunch and walked around the neighborhood. Hadyie walked with us over the the Adler Planetarium. We viewed several space and celestial exhibits at the planetarium and a couple of 3-D movies about space imaging. The planetarium was nice, but not nearly as interesting as the field museum or the aquarium. We left the planetarium and made our way back to the boat. We had dinner on the boat and were invited for a nightcap aboard Joann's boat Midnight Fox. We viewed some more fireworks around 9:30 p.m. and visited with her and another dock buddy, Frankie Quartullo until almost midnight! What a day!

P-dock going for brunch

Brunch at the yacht club

Joann, Jane, and Hadiye

Well it's Sunday, the day before we leave. But things are really just getting cooking! The group from P-dock (the dock we are moored on) decides to go to a brunch at the Burnham Park Harbor Yacht Club. The yacht club tender picked us up at P-dock and took us to the club. The brunch was delicious and the blood marys and mimosas were great. After a tender ride back to the dock everyone sat out on the dock and whiled away the afternoon. P-dock is a great close-knit group that has a lot of fun and is known by the entire Burnham Harbor marina. We had supper on the boat and said goodbye to some of the P-dock boaters that were returning home after the weekend.


The people we met and the things we did made our Chicago visit absolutely awesome! It couldn't have been better.

Chicago skyline over Burnham Harbor at night