A Gathering of Loopers

The day began with rain which increased just about the time I had to find my way back to where we went yesterday for my pedicure appointment and hair cut.  I was really nervous about going by myself!  However, due to the kindness of a stranger who just happened to live on the 79^th floor of the Aqua Condo (pancake structure) I was able to find the correct bus.  He actually walked me to the corner and pointed out where I needed to go.  Along with his help and two or three phone calls to our tour director, Cherie, I made it there and back.

The sidewalks were crowded with folks taking advantage of the Labor Day sales and traffic seemed just as heavy as on work days... later, on the way back I found out they were filming a movie in front of the Randolph House (tall building) and many streets were blocked off and no one was allowed to stand and watch... they asked us to keep moving! Bummer!  But being an old lady I figured I had the right to move SLOW.  Ha!  Still I never really saw what was being caught on camera.

It took me longer than I had expected to make it home and so I had only a short time to get ready for the Looper's dinner party at the Harbor Host's beautiful condo,  It over looks Lake Michigan and the Natural History Museum.

I thought this might be a good time to Take A TAXI!   But the Captain thought we could figure out the buses and thus we arrived only a few minutes late.  We had a fun time enjoying Chicago Style Pizza and salad and desserts.

And here's the Chicago First Mate's Club.

Only two couples at the party were staying at our marina. The others were at a marina closer to this condo.  I only recognized one other couple there but it was fun meeting new folks.

After the party, some called taxis and some rode their bikes and the crew of Miss gg walked a few blocks to a bus stop!  We got on the right bus, got off at the right corner and then walked the wrong way!  So we had a little bit longer stroll tonight enjoying the brightly lit streets.

I am not sure what building this is but thought it was worth a photo.

Arriving at our dock we found lively entertainment going on outside the Chinese Restaurant.  A very good trio!

Then a perfect conclusion to our day came at the end of our dock..  FIREWORKS!  

Happy Labor Day Weekend Everyone!                 

Ticket Ticket Who's Got the TICKET?

We have at last recovered from what was to be a short walk to buy a bus pass.  Cherie had told us all we needed was a bus pass and we could go anywhere in Chicago quickly and easily.  It was 97 degrees today and I don't even want to know what the humidity might have been!

To start with any walking trip to town is rather like going into the “Secret Garden”.  This is how our friend Larry described it and he was right.  It is a short distance to downtown but to get there we have to take the “path” as the dock guys call it. This path goes under Lake Shore Drive through a parking lot tunnel which leads to what can only be called an alley. This alley has a fenced off lot next to it that is filled with high weeds and trash smack dab in the middle of 3 beautiful high rise apartments.  After this you walk through another parking lot “Tunnel”.  This brings you out into a most beautiful little park..... and this is where I took the picture of my all time favorite building I like to call the “pancake” structure.   It looked to me like someone had put pancake mix between the floors and squashed them together.  Actually, it is called the Aqua Condo Building.

This is a close up picture... can you see the man sun bathing on his balcony?  It looks as though there is no railing but it is there.

So far so good as we trekked to the nearby grocery store to buy our bus passes.  But now the grocery store no longer sells them... so off we went to the place they told us, CVS drugs. They didn't tell us wrong cause CVS does sell them but not the one, two or three days passes we had wanted.  At CVS Cherie called the bus company who then sent us to Millennium Park to the “station” there to buy the kind of passes we needed.  We never found this "station" even after asking the park security folks.  We were at this point many blocks into our little hike!  But it was GREAT to see this Park with it's interesting sculptures.

On the way to the Park, and it seems many times, we went up or traversed Michigan Avenue.  It is a beautiful tree lined 6 lane street.

We found out at the Park that there was a weekend long Jazz Festival at Jay Pritzker Pavilion.

This is the Pavilion with red seats down front and plenty of lawn in back for people to lay blankets and enjoy the Free concerts.

Here is another sculpture called Cloud Gate that we are standing in front of but everyone calls it “THE BEAN”.

I stood under it and took this overhead shot... if you look hard enough you might find me in this picture.

I was close to being a puddle on the concrete an hour later when we finally found a place, Walgreens, that sold the bus tickets we wanted.  Next door to this drugstore was a cafe with AIR CONDITIONING... Cherie and I went there and left the guys to buy the tickets.... we all had lunch there and then took off to find the right bus to take us to a place I have to go tomorrow to get my hair cut... so nice of our Tour Guide Cherie to do this for me... we all thought this would be a quick bus trip and we would also see sites along the way.

We had lots of people tell us go this way, go that way to get this certain bus.... So hot, so tired of walking but did find pretty planters on the streets.

AND Trump Tower Chicago.

When we finally agreed on the bus to take, Cherie and Larry got on and I couldn't find my bus ticket!  So there we were the bus door was now shut and Larry & Cherie are yelling aren't you coming?.... bus door opened again …...I dug deep in my pants pocket and found it just as the bus driver was closing the door again... I waved it at her and she reluctantly opened the door!  The passengers were not too happy with me... but off we went in what was suppose to be a bus that had AC but with all the people crowding on it seemed fairly hot to me!  The bus trip was long, stopping often but we finally came out where we needed to be... a high rise condo co-op with a hair salon!  Surely there was a place near the marina...but then again this place had an opening the next day which was rare.  And I might add a bit scary!

The others cooled off while I checked out the place.  THEN began what would have made a good three stooges movie!  We could not agree what bus to take..mostly because my sense of direction is broken and has always been this way!! The door man at this condo called on residents as they came downstairs to help us find the right bus... several gave their opinions but only one seemed confident and was in the end correct but we just didn't follow her directions completely!

I stubbornly was holding out for the EXPRESS Bus... I was so dehydrated and sapped from the heat as we all were by then... it was nearly 4p at this point and I just wanted to get back to the boat and the AC there!  You won't believe this but we actually occupied every corner at this intersection waiting for the “right” bus.... I laugh now as I write this but none of us were laughing then... I think the others wanted to kill me but couldn't figure out how they could do this being weak from the heat.  

We eventually got home, some showered the hot day off and we all relaxed in the cool wonderful AC of Miss gg.

A storm was about upon us so Walter checked the lines and tightened things...we opened the blinds to watch the storm and the beautiful downtown night lights.   After it had passed Walter snapped this photo of the edge of the storm.   This is looking toward Navy Pier.... you can see the ferris wheel to the far right.

Larry brought us a delicious Chinese dinner from the restaurant right here on our dock.  And soon we were all feeling a lot better. We hate to see them leave tomorrow.... it has been so much fun having them aboard!

We will soon be on the midwest rivers with the new adventure of dodging big barges...don't you want to come along? :-)

FOG Horns and an Invisible Ship!

We had planned on leaving East Chicago, IN, at 8a but FOG kept us at the dock for nearly two hours.  Finally the fog lifted a bit and a weak sun came out.  It was bright enough at our dock to drop our lines and depart.

We moved slowly out into the Lake.  Once we were on our way with our course set the FOG joined us again!  What an eerie feeling to be moving through that white stuff.  Plus we had rollers (large unbreaking waves) coming at our quarter beam (from the front port side of the boat) making us roll.  However, we felt safe with our radar on showing what other boats might be around us.   We saw a few little ones, fishing boats not far from land.. guess they wanted to stay close in the fog.  And it was kind of interesting finding them first on radar and then actually seeing them as we went toward our Chicago, IL, destination.

Here is what the fog looked like from the Bridge. 

THEN we saw a large ship on the radar and it was moving toward us on the same course!  Walter change our course to give this ship plenty of room but not knowing for sure where she was, was intimidating to me!  THEN we heard a loud blast of her fog horn!!! WAY too close for my liking....The Captain gave a blast of our horn to answer this ship.  Checking the radar ….. we should be far enough out of this ship's path.  We sat there and stared hard into the fog.. surely she was getting closer to us.. WHY couldn't we see her?!  We saw NOTHING!  We never did see this large ship but at last we heard another blast of her fog horn from a more distant place... whew!

The fog had lifted from the water 2.5 hours later when we entered the Chicago Marina.  So we had no problem finding our assigned slip..... and did it by ourselves since this marina does not monitor the radio.  But I was disappointed that we couldn't see the sky line to take a photo...only the lower portion of all the buildings could be seen as the fog had completely engulfed the city.

Our friends from Ohio were due in by 3p so we had time to tie up, scrub the decks down, hook up the water and shore power and find a Subway for a quick lunch and a short tour of a lovely park nearby the Marina.

We were so excited to have our very first visitors, Larry & Cherie

Here Larry takes a turn at piloting Miss gg.

After chatting for a while we took off walking to the Navy Pier which is a big attraction here.  To get there we took the bike and walking road over the Chicago River... risking our lives as fast bikers whirled by us!

By dusk the fog had lifted and the night lights of downtown were beginning to shine.

Here is the Ferris Wheel at the Navy Pier lit up with a moving light show at night.  We might... maybe.... return and ride it while we are here … but it is very high!

I walked out to the end of our pier to get this photo...we seem to be surrounded by part of this city... such tall buildings!

Cherie really loves this city and will be a great tour guide tomorrow as we go exploring....

Haul Out Day

The day began with wind and FOG  and stayed overcast most all day.  AND it was delightfully cooler!  

After checking the weather report and finding some waves at 6 feet we knew we would be staying here another night.  Thankfully, it was not too windy in our harbor for the haul out to take place.

Here, Miss gg, is headed for the lift.

The Captain is piloting her into the lift slings

Each side of the boat is marked for exact placement of the  aft slings to prevent damage to the prop shafts.  The lift operator must get it right.

Slings finally adjusted and lift begins.

34,000+ pounds going up!

All the way up and moving onto land and our first anxious look at the bottom.

Walter gets a close look at the props and shafts.

Prop: The blue color is the paint and the orange is the primer but even the primer is gone from the tips of this one prop.  We expected this after nearly getting out of the narrow channel and churning up some sand on the short cut we took to St. Michael's, MD.  Nothing bent! Whew!

The Mechanic then came and quickly fixed the stuffing box for the port rudder shaft and left some stuffing with Walter in case the other one should start leaking.  We praised God nothing else was wrong with our good ship.

Miss gg coming off blocks and going back over the water

Going down

Just before she got all the way down Walter and I “walked the (wobbly) plank” to get into the boat.  It was held for us by one of the lift guys who mentioned something about shark infested waters below!

Back out of the lift and heading for the fuel dock.  Much cheaper fuel here than in Chicago so we took advantage of this. 

Weather report is good for tomorrow and we are pretty excited as our friends, Cherie & Larry from Ohio are driving to Chicago tomorrow to be with us on Miss gg for a couple of days! Wahoo!

Hot & Hazy Day Traveling to East Chicago, IN

Today was not a pretty day for picture taking for two reasons it was a bumpy ride to our next stop and it was hazy.  Also, we were going into a industrial area where we will get the boat hauled. 

The wind had picked up before we left this morning so we knew it was not going to be smooth but was suppose to ease up toward noon which was about the time we were due to arrive in East Chicago, IN. Yep, still in Indiana. We are only about half an hour drive from Chicago, IL, but 2.5 hours by boat.

The first thing I noticed this morning was the HEAVY humidity when I stepped outside to help with the lines.  Reminded me of the Florida Keys it seemed so thick.  Here is this best photo of the day taken when we were leaving Michigan City, IN, with the same Looper boat ahead of us, Second Wind.

At one time this morning we were on a collision course with this long barge and it's tug boat that was almost half as long as the barge. They were coming right at us but seemed far away.  He was moving a lot faster than we were so the Captain changed courses and the next thing I knew this shipment blew past us!

Our dock was near this industrial area. 

As we slowly moved into the marina we noticed lots of rock under the water.  The West side of Lake Michigan is rock compared to the sandy East side.   I was on the foredeck awaiting orders from the Captain to change lines from starboard to port if necessary. But the marina never answered!  So we went looking for the slip assignment and found it but there was one of those little personal watercraft boats in it.  It was tied to the boat in the next slip but still in our slip so there was no way we could get in the slip.  The Captain has gotten really good at backing up and did so very smoothly...all the way back down that row of boats.  

We decided to tie up at the fuel dock and did so alone.. no one came... Walter walked all the way to the marina office that he found LOCKED!   I was loosing confidence in this boat yard! Apparently all had gone to lunch so he called the office on his cell phone but they never did return the call.  We cranked up the generator and waited... at least the AC was working in the salon. The heat was unbelievable today.  It was 95 but the feel like temp was 107 degrees!

We made sandwiches and waited some more.  Finally, the man who tends the fuel dock showed up and asked if we wanted fuel.  After he found out what had happened he called someone and found us another slip and helped us tie up there.

I sure hope they know how to lift a 34,000 lb boat!!???

We have decided to not stay here any longer than we have to...if nothing more is wrong with the boat after the stuffing box is fixed then we are heading for the downtown marina in Chicago, IL, tomorrow afternoon.

Here is a photo of what is behind our dock. This is a gambling ship that just stays there and people come aboard it to play the different money games.  The tall building is a hotel with gambling and has several restaurants.  

We are so hoping and praying that nothing else is wrong with our boat... Walter thinks there is a possibility that one of the prop shafts could be bent... we did hit something a while back below the water.. a big bump but nothing more.

This may not be as lovely a place as we have been but the water is still the star... beautiful clear water even in this kinda run down marina.  

Hot & Humid in Michigan City, IN

The heat and humidity here today reminds me of Florida in the summer....near record highs expected tomorrow!   Feels like index is predicted to be 107 degrees!  I was up in the middle of the night because the aft cabin was so hot. The good news is the AC guy came today, discovered the problem and will get the part to us when we go to Chicago.  In the meantime he showed us how to run both AC units to keep the aft & forward cabins cool.

Another good thing:  we found a boat yard to haul our boat (lift the boat out of the water).  So on our way to our Friday destination which is downtown Chicago we are stopping at East Chicago Marina Tuesday night...... part of the “haul out” expense also includes us staying at their marina for three nights.   It will be so good to know that the stuffing box for the port rudder shaft is no longer leaking.... it's under the carpet on MY side of the bed!   This should definitely help with the occasional nightmares of waking and stepping in water! :-)

Today we manage to sightsee and get the laundry done.  We are beside pretty Washington Park so we put a load in the dryer (I wash the clothes on board) and took off for the Lighthouse tour just across the parking lot here.  As is our usual outcome the lighthouse is not opened on Mondays!  But we did walk around the grounds and the park next to it.

First, here is a pretty flower bed in front of the marina office.... we think the flowers are planted to spell M C Port (Michigan City Port).   I only discovered this while editing today's photos so you are looking at it sideways! 

And one of the many pots of flowers all around the marina.

An 1858 Lighthouse

Side of lighthouse

The Park next to Lighthouse has an amphitheater in tiers on the grassy bank next to Trail Creek.

More of Park beside the Creek

Then up on the bridge in above photo looking back at the Park we could see a nice outside area with tables.

From here we continued our walk trying to find a large outlet mall which was suppose to be only 4 blocks from the marina but turned out to be 8 city blocks.  I consumed two bottles of water on the way back to the boat!

Looking forward to our time in the “Windy City”... could use a breeze!!