Long Weekend in Chicago

Our Family Labour Day Weekend in Chicago

We are really, really, really looking forward to seeing our kids!!

Jeff and Shannon, the newlyweds; Chris and Tayler, the sweethearts; Ruff and Copper, the grand dogs.

We are looking forward to seeing my sister Joanne and her husband Dwayne.

We are looking forward to seeing the City of Chicago.

We are looking forward to being on land, walking and biking.

We are looking forward to eating out.

Shortcut through the park

We unloaded our bikes and headed uptown for supplies.
 Brian had researched the phone companies, and we were anxious to get a U.S. phone and plan.

Well, my bike had a flat tire, so I had to walk the mile uptown, while Brian pedalled slowly beside me.

I hit Starbucks while he went phone shopping and we met up at the grocery store. 

This time we did remember our carry bags, but we had so much stuff...we couldn't carry them!

We used the bike as a mule and headed back to the marina.

The kids arrived about 6:30 Friday night, and we immediately ordered some special Chicago pizza. Each of them weighed about 10 lbs.
We had a relaxing evening on the sundeck, watching the sunset, getting caught up and telling stories of our trip so far.

Burnham Harbour Marina - Downtown Chicago

 It was hot, but we had a good breeze on the water.
We had a full house, and everyone was a good sport, camping out with us for the weekend!

Saturday, we began our venture into the city for some sightseeing.

We walked along the Lakefront trail over to Navy Pier,  uptown to the Magnificent Mile, past the Jazz Festival, through the Maggie Daley memorial park, by the fountains and back to the marina.

People watching on Magnificent Mile

Someone said we went 17 km or 22,000 steps.

 Both the kids and the dogs jumped in the lake to cool off and we hung out and had a BBQ on board.

A tired Copper

Sunday was another hot day, Joey and Dwayne joined us for an afternoon on the lake.

The water was cool but refreshing and the harbour was busy and popular.

 A bit of excitement when our boat started to drift, but a great afternoon!

 Even Ruff jumped in the lake with us!

We then headed over to Wrigleyville the see the sights and grab some dinner. 

The local police officers who appeared to be big, burly, tough guys, were neighbourly, and dog lovers, as they offered the pups a drink from their water bottles.     A great night all around!

Monday was the drive home day, so the kids had to leave. A very, very teary day for Janice!

So, we just got busy. Started cleaning up, doing laundry and getting some chores done. 

We needed to take down the mast to fit under the bridges, in preparation for heading out tomorrow.
We topped up our water tanks, as we have heard that some resources can be scarce down the rivers.

We were just chatting about our morning departure when Brian thought he heard a pump running. 

When investigating, he found that we were actually starting to sink!  But just sort of.
There was an abandoned through hull vent, that had started letting water into the bilge because it was below the water line!  So, why was it below the water line??  Since we had filled up the fresh water to about 300 gallons, we were HEAVY.  We ran some taps for a couple of hours and were able to stop sinking.

Tuesday was departure day.

 As always, a final weather check before leaving and there was a good size thunderstorm cell approaching.
We didn't enjoy the thought of having our first river day in a heavy rain, so we hunkered down for another shore day.

Brian changed the oil in the fuel injector pump, we got some blogging done, then we caught up with Joey and Dwayne again later on  for a bike ride uptown and a Mexican dinner.

The Bean

Condo living downtown. Note the car parking on the first 12 floors.

Biking Downtown past Buckingham Fountain

An unusual Mexican fajita sandwich in broth

A little surprise after dinner…. 

Janice's bike tire was flat again!!

 We were about about 4 miles from the marina, it was already near dusk, and we had to get creative.  Dwayne tried to give the tire a co2 shot, but that didn't hold up.

 Being the athletes we all are, Joanne rode on Dwayne's bike seat; 

 Dwayne pedalled standing up; 

Janice rode Brian's bike; 

 Brian rode Joanne's bike and carried Janice's disabled bike. 

 We were quite a sight, laughing all the way! 

 Good thing we had lots of solid Mexican food to fuel us along. 

 A great night again, and a good forecast for morning.

Goodbye Chicago….What a great city!!