AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 10 SOUTH HAVEN TO CHICAGO

August 30-31:  South Haven:  We left for South Haven on a perfect day.  No wind with Lake Michigan like a sheet of glass.  Great for the transit.

Entrance to South Haven.

Typical seawall protecting the entrance and harbor from the furies of Lake Michigan.

September 1-2: St. Joseph:  We left South Haven for St. Joseph hoping to find a weather window in the next few days to make the crossing to Chicago.

St. Joseph is another town that is decorated with art.  This time in the form of various fun depictions of animals.  Fortunately, this is the only bear that we have encountered on the trip so far.

Art with a sense of humor!

Vincent Van Goat!

More conventional art on the waterfront.

September 3-10:  Chicago:  After listening to the marine weather report, we learnt that today was going to be the only day in the next several days that we would be able to make the 50 plus mile crossing to the west coast of Lake Michigan to reach Chicago.  So we were up at first light and prepared to leave St. Joesph.

Leaving St. Joesph at dawn we encountered an armada of sailboats that were just completing their race from Chicago-150 boats in total.

Chicago Skyline from 3 nautical miles out.  We made the crossing to Chicago just in time.  An hour after we arrived, the wind really picked up, followed by a thunder storm.

The view of the Chicago skyline from our marina which is located in the downtown harbor district. Quite different from our more rural stops so far.

The marina is also right in front of the famous Soldiers Field Stadium: http://www.soldierfield.net/content/stadium-history .

Reunion with Maureen's family that lives in Chicago:  Pippa, Sharon and James.

Adler Planetarium

Our marina is located in the heart of the Chicago museum area which includes the Field museum, Adler planetarium and the Shedd aquarium.  We spent an interesting morning in the Field museum which is home to Sue-the most intact Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton that has been discovered to date.  It is not known if the T Rex was male or female but it is named after Sue Hendrickson the paleontologist that discovered the specimen.  Sue is exhibited in the main foyer of the museum and is an amazing sight as 90% of the skeleton was found intact. 

Chicago is also the home to some outstanding architecture.  Although we will cruise down the Chicago River when we leave, we decided to take an architectural river tour to learn more about the city's past and present buildings.

For over 75 years, the Wrigley Building has been recognized as one of Chicago's most attractive buildings. Its sparkling white terra-cotta cladding is considered an example of well-proportioned architecture.  From 1920s to 1930, 150 major buildings were completed.  The Great Depression brought Chicago's building boom to an abrupt halt.  Only 15 major buildings were constructed for the period ending in 1960.

Trump Tower:  Trump announced in 2001 that the skyscraper would become the tallest building in the world  but after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the building plans were scaled back, and its design underwent several revisions. When topped out in 2009 it became the second-tallest building in the United States after Chicago's Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower).

This building that was designed to incorporate the curve in the river.  The glass exterior was also designed to reflect the other buildings along the river.

There are 40 bridges along the Chicago River in a distance of 5 miles.  Our tour gave us a preview of what we will experience when we take the Duddon Pilot down this route.

Millennium Park located on the Chicago waterfront hosts outdoor sculptures, music concerts and interactive art displays.

An example of the outdoor art is Cloud Gate.   A 110-ton elliptical sculpture is forged of a seamless series of highly polished stainless steel plates, which reflect Chicago’s famous skyline and the clouds above. A 12-foot-high arch provides a "gate" to the concave chamber beneath the sculpture, inviting visitors to touch its mirror-like surface and see their image reflected back from a variety of perspectives.  Inspired by liquid mercury, the sculpture is among the largest of its kind in the world, measuring 66-feet long by 33-feet high.

Outdoor concert hall.  Might need a few blankets in the chilly Chicago winters.

We originally planned to spend about 5 days in Chicago but ended up staying for 7 as the wind howled at over 20 knots and created 6-10 foot waves for a week.  Finally, the weather improved on Saturday, September 10 so we prepared to leave.

The Navy Pier on the morning of our early departure. 


Chicago Harbor Lock.  This lock drops about 2 feet to allow boat traffic to enter the Chicago River.  The primary purpose of the Lock is to prevent the Chicago River from following into Lake Michigan.

Passing under one of the 40 bridges on the Chicago River.  Many of the bridges have only a 17 foot vertical clearing.  Our vertical draft is 19.5 feet, so we lowered our mast to achieve a 15.5 foot draft.  Even so, it was a scary experience going under some of these bridges!

Wrigley building dressed with a giant American Flag to commemorate the September 11 anniversary which is tomorrow.

A perspective of how close and low some of the bridges are-we held our breath as we passed under some of them.

Fellow Looper, Last Chance, going under one of the low bridges.