No Travel
Once again we packed more activities into a single day than one would think possible. We started the day to a thick fog cover, which we were concerned might interfere with our bicycle trip plans. Luckily by the time we were ready to go, the fog had lifted enough to make the bike trail visible.
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| Fog Cover at the Marina in Chicago, IL |
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| Biking along foggy shoreline in Chicago Jeff with Sierra in orange seat, Devon, Ev Brandon in rear i.e. front of picture |
She did not stop complaining in fact until we took her out of the bike seat at the Lincoln Park Zoo.
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| Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, IL |
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| Kangaroos |
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| Giraffe Eating lunch |
We could not believe that such a nice zoo with so many animals had free admission. We got to see all the favorites of lions, tigers, monkeys of several varieties, as well as several species of birds. I don't remember ever seeing kangaroos in a zoo before, so I added that to the list of exhibits we needed to see as we walked through the zoo. Jeff wanted to see gorillas which he got to see, and Clark was looking for giraffes which we found as obviated by the picture above.
After a couple of hours of walking around, my feet hurt and I was hungry. Everyone agreed it was time for lunch and we found some picnic benches and plopped ourselves down to eat the lunches we brought from "home", i.e. the boat and condo.
We finished our zoo tour after lunch and worked our way out of the zoo and back to the bike trail to complete today's mission. I had two things on my agenda for Chicago - 1) to bike the lake side trail and 2) go up in the Ferris wheel at Navy Pier. With the bike ride to the zoo, I got item one out of the way. On the bike ride back to the boat, we got list item two checked off as well.
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| Navy Pier Ferris Wheel in Chicago, IL |
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| View of Chicago from Ferris Wheel - note the building chopped into two pieces by the persistent fog (taken at 4:00 pm) |
After our quick Ferris Wheel ride, we jumped back on our bikes and headed back to the boat to take it out for a run with our family guests to fill up with fuel and empty the holding tank for the head. Natalyn was not available earlier for the bike ride, but she walked over from the condo to join us for the boat ride.
The ride to the fuel dock at Burnham Harbor was uneventful - just the way we like it. The whole trip took us no more than one hour, but it was fun to take out the crew for the quick trip and view of Chicago from the lake. On the way back to the DuSable Harbor Marina, I brought out some snacks which we ate as we chatted and enjoyed the views.
Once we had the boat "put to bed" with the electric plugged in again and the lines secure, we headed over to Brandon's condo to pick up his car to go out to dinner at a Chicago Brewery.
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| Goose Island Brewing Co. - for dinner tonight |
I suggested the brewery idea because I know one of Jeff's favorite things is to sample home brews in pubs that brew their own beer. Goose Island had 16 varieties that could be sampled with a max of four per person. Generally I do not partake of alcoholic beverages, but to get the full 16 samples, we implied that I would be sampling the drinks as well as Jeff, Devon, and Brandon. When the waitress asked for proof of age to be able to drink, she asked to see my ID as well. I haven't been carded in so long I don't remember the last time. I suppose I should feel flattered but I suspect that she is obligated to card anyone who will be drinking regardless of what she thinks their age might be.
When the 16 5 ounce samples came and Brandon, Jeff and Devon started their tasting, I decided 'what the heck I would sample too'. It was interesting to taste the varieties. We started with the milder wheat brews and worked our way up through the hoppy, Belgian, and bitter brews. I learned that I am partial to wheat and have no interest in hoppy or Belgian at all.
Clark is not a drinker and did not sample. The food was standard pub food - burgers, fries, fish & chips, ... Clark missed his vegetables as none were served except his salad side dish. After dinner he suggested that we go find an ice cream shop for dessert. Brandon had driven us to the brewery, and he generously agreed to drive us to an ice cream shop before heading back tot he condo. We went to what appeared to be a very popular place called Margie's Candies.
Brandon drove around the block twice at Margie's Candies trying to find a legal parking space - none existed. Then we noticed that all the cars parked in front of the ice cream shop were illegally parked, so Brandon pulled into a space vacated by another car and sat in the car to wait for us in case he had to move in a hurry. Jeff noted that we were probably safe with the car placement as a police car was illegally parked a few spaces down from Brandon with the cops in the shop buying their ice cream to go. When they pulled out, they drove right by Brandon and the other cars sitting in front of the shop as if no cars were parked there at all.
As we finished our ice cream cones, Brandon drove us back to his place where we had to say our sad farewells. Jeff, Devon and Sierra fly out to go home to Idaho tomorrow at 7:00. Brandon is up at 5:00 to head into work at the hospital. Clark and I depart Chicago and start our trip south down the Chicago River to the Illinois Waterway tomorrow as well. We said our farewells to Natalyn before dinner as she had to work starting at 8:00 tonight and could not join us.
We packed a lot into our short stay in Chicago, and I thoroughly enjoyed our visit. It will be interesting as of tomorrow getting back into the daily travel mode of stopping into small towns instead of staying at a large marina for a few days in a big city.
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