Chicago,IL Day 1

15 September 2014

We got out of the marina at Waukegan at a few mins to 7AM. There was rain in the forecast for after 10AM so I wanted to try to make it to Chicago before it really rained.

The water was pretty flat for Lake Michigan standards so we had a pretty easy ride. As we pulled into the harbor there was a fire boat spraying water everywhere. I’m not sure what they were doing, but I’m going to go with “Welcome Quo Vadimus to Chicago!”

Susan had made roasted cauliflower soup from the veggies the night before, we had it for lunch today. It had a great taste and warmed us both up.

We trekked across town to the DuSable bridge. This is the second bridge we would have come to on our trip up the Chicago river. But it’s fixed into position and has a 17′ clearance. We need 17’2 inches to make it under and the water levels are up some due to the rain. We will use the Calumet waterway to the south.

You can tour the Northwest tower. We walked to the ground level with the motor (50HP) and the gears that lift the bridge. My roboteers would have been impressed at the 8 levels of gearing that are used to allow such a small motor open the bridge. Well there is a huge counterweight so it really only needs to lift just over 2000 pounds.

The tower has a history of the river from the bottom up. Back in the 1800′s and early 1900′s the river was a mess. It was full of trash, fecal material, rotting animals, etc. At one point it caught fire and badly burned two bridges. They decided to fix the problem by digging a canal from Chicago to the Mississippi river. This would allow water to flow from Lake Michigan (where they got their drinking water) downstream and flush all the “effluent” down the Mississippi. They started work on the canal and pretty soon the State of Missouri figured out what was about to happen.

A lawsuit happened, but Chicago kept digging. Their theory was that once the canal was open and the water flowing there was no way that the government would be able to close it. Turns out they were right.

As we climbed higher we learned that Chicago tried to become better stewards of the river and have implemented a sophisticated storm water runoff system to keep the sewer system from over flowing. At this point in time the river is as clear as it was before the settlers came.

From the tower we walked down Michigan avenue to the Art Museum. We got there about 3:30 and they close at 5PM. We looked at the guide and the place is huge, there was no way that we could see it all (or even most of it) in 90 minutes. We decided to postpone for another day when we would have more time.

We walked back to Millennium Park that has some pretty amazing outdoor sculptures. My favorite is “Cloud Gate” the giant silver bean shaped mirror. WOW. I had seen pictures of it but it’s much more impressive in person. We got lots of pictures of both of us with it. When you look at it, it appears to be seamless. Later on in the park are two interior views and I could see that it’s made up of panels. I’ll need to try to remember to Google it later on.

There is a set of four heads that are very thin, but have been sculpted to show the face and the back of the head. When viewed at the right angle they look like full heads. A pretty good example on how perspective works in art.

Along the front of the park are two four story tall blocks that face each other across a reflecting pool. The blocks show faces that look, smile and then purse their lips and spit. When they do that a giant firehose sized stream comes shooting out. It’s fun to watch and I’d guess that in the summer time it’s a great place for little kids to get soaked and play.

We had stuffed pizza at Giordano’s. Susan remembered it from when she worked here years and years ago. It was very good, the crust is more of a pastry like crust with layers, vs pizza at home that is more bread like. It was very filling, we got the small pizza and still brought home two slices.

We got back to the boat early. Because neither of us slept well and the early start we were both in bed by 8PM.