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What did we do in the Windy City?
This spring we crossed Lake Michigan and spent 2 nights on a mooring ball in Monroe Harbor in downtown Chicago. Once we arrived and were safely moored, I was like a 4 year old in an ice cream shop on a hot July day – so excited to explore the city!
Of course, it helped that it was absolutely gorgeous – probably one of the 1st really hot days of the Spring that felt like Summer. Kara didn’t even pack shorts, but I’m glad I brought most of my closet with me – so I had some to wear.
On our first day in downtown Chicago, we hailed the tender service to come pick us up from the boat and bring us ashore for the afternoon. The wind died down and the sun was hot and people were out enjoying the beautiful weather. Before we went anywhere, we had to take pictures of SV Zeke E Boy moored in the harbor! She looked so good.
Kara loves to make walking tours and check off sightseeing attractions. We walk fast and cover a lot of ground. We walked just over 7 miles that afternoon on our Museum Walking Tour. We started at Lakefront Park along the path next to Monroe Harbor, walked all the way to the Adler Planetarium. We turned around and walked past the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum. We went past Hutchinson Field to Buckingham Fountain.
We turned on Jackson Street and headed into the city for an early dinner at Revival Food Hall, where we enjoyed live music, a burger + cheese fries from Bianca’s Burgers and a cold craft beer! Such simple things can be so enjoyable.
As we returned to SV Zeke E Boy that evening, a cold front (now called a pneumonia front) moved in, the wind picked up and the rocking & jerking motion was a new experience to us on the boat.
Sleeping was difficult because it was new. We were not in an unsafe spot or had questionable mooring gear, but it was the 1st time we ever used the gear, and we weren’t sure if we did it right.
Needless to say, we only got a few hours of sleep that night … but we relaxed that morning and slowly got ready to leave.
The second day in downtown Chicago wasn’t as warm, but was still pleasant. This time, we took the riverwalk path north toward Navy Pier, and admired other sailboats near the Chicago Yacht Club and Columbia Yacht Club. We walked to the end of Navy Pier outside, and then walked back toward the city inside the buildings. We made our way along the Chicago River, which appeared to still have a tint of bright green from March Madness (St. Paddy’s Day).
It was fun to see the boats that we hear talking on the radio when we’re sailing on the opposite side of Lake Michigan in New Buffalo! We discovered that these were boats taking passengers on rides in the Chicago River, so we spent some time watching them dock and disembark. Now when we hear this radio traffic, we know the boats, where they are and what they are doing.
We took a slight detour down Michigan Avenue to walk through Millennium Park and Maggie Daley Park, and went back along Randolph Street to Michigan Avenue and back down the riverwalk. You could keep going but we stopped at State Street just far enough to snap a picture of the Chicago Salesforce tower!
At the end of the day, we walked over 10 miles (nearly 23,000 steps)! No trip to Chicago is complete without deep dish pizza, so we had wings and pizza at Lou Malnati’s – YUM!
There is something so exciting and adventurous about exploring a large city. People are everywhere – all going different places. There’s so much history and things to see and do and learn about … We could have explored much more and hopefully will be back at some point in the future. We had a good weather window but storms were coming in a few days, so time to head back across Lake Michigan to our home port.
Tell us what you think
What’s your favorite thing to do in Chicago? Where do you eat? Let us know what you think of our adventures by sharing your feedback in the comments below. We’d love to hear from you!
– Kyle from Zeke Life
Live like Zeke
You’re such a good boy!
