Sweet home Chicago!

Saturday, August 31, 2013
Last evening we got to experience a Wizard of Oz type of Midwestern storm.  Well, almost, no tornado thank God.  We were sitting on the aft deck enjoying talking to our nice dock neighbors.  I had just finished asking them about tornadoes and storm cellars.  Just then the skies went from daylight to midnight darkness.  The winds started blowing the chairs around and the skies opened up with thunder and lightning thrown in just for fun.  We bungied the chairs to the rail and waited out the storm while listening to NOAA on our radio.   They were advising people to take shelter and if the tornado sirens went off to go to their cellars.  We're on a boat! We don't have a cellar!  After a bit the storm died out and that was that.  Welcome to Indiana!  No Brandon, we didn't die!

We were all psyched about going to Chicago for the day so we waited for a taxi at the casino next door to the marina.  While we were waiting we started talking to the doorman.  He was quite the character. He was a 50 ish African American with shoulder length dread locks.  He told us he has 3 granddaughters.  Grandpa with dread locks.  Could this be a new look for Dave?  His last name is Bond and his mom had a thing for Sean Connery so, yes, his name is James.  Shaken, not stirred please.  We told him that we are disappointed that Buddy Guy is not playing at Legends; his blues club, this week.  He said, and I'm not kidding..."Who is Buddy Guy?"  Really!  How could a 50 something black guy not know who Buddy Guy is?

The taxi finally showed up and off we went.  Question, what IS the proper etiquette for asking your driver Mohammed to stop texting while driving 75 m.p.h.?

The 1/2 hour drive into the city took us through a virtual Michael Moore documentary on the sad state of American industrial communities.  It has it all here: humungous decaying and abandoned steel mills, weeds growing up through old cracked pavement, shabby public housing, endless grime on tired old buildings, rusty chain link fences and a feeling of gloom.  I saw a sign at a convenience store that said you could get 10% off by showing your union card.

I wonder what it was like here in it's "day'?

Was its shining moment producing the war machines that helped us save the world in WWII or during the post war boom years?  Rosey the Riveter lived here with her blue collar guy and times were good when the plant was working overtime.  Are those days gone forever?  Sure looks so.

We arrived at Millenium Park and the 35th annual jazz festival.

 

 

 

 

We stopped for a famous Chicago hot dog and it was o.k. but has nuthin' on Zweigles back home.  Besides, it was steamed !! :(

 

The jazz festival was pretty  much what I expected.  We stopped and listened to some musicians and toour uneducated, untrained, un-HIP ears it seemed that too many of them were engaged in musical masturbation solos.  You know, the only person enjoying it is the person playing it!  I've never been a big fan of the self indulgent too long drum solos or screaming saxes that sound like when I step on Aja's tail.  So we moved on.

 

We were headed to the touristy Navy Pier and got sidetracked by an architectural boat tour of the river.  I'm glad we did because in a couple weeks we will be headed there on our way to the Mississippi and going smack thru the city.  It was interesting to hear about the buildings.

George Jeston lives here.

 

We went to Navy Pier and while walking there I asked Dave that if 18 years ago, the last time we were in Chicago, he ever imagined that we would be here on our boat someday??  He just smiled.  I think he had this planned all along.

 

We passed a Segway kiosk and I wanted to give it a try but Dave said he didn't really feel like spending the night in Emergency with me.  Smart ass.

 

We had a nice, overpriced dinner and took a taxi back to the boat.