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Ahhhh, Memorial Day weekend on Green Bay. Freezing bay water, chilly nights
in sweatshirts, shoes, and most likely rain gear/umbrellas. So, when the
suggestion was raised taking of a road trip to Chicago for the weekend with
another couple to boat the Chicago
river our response was, “Why not? It should be at least 5 degrees
warmer down there, right.”
Day 1
So of we headed Saturday morning with a 37’ Baja trailing
behind. t was sunny, and the outlook was fairly good for the day. (You
never know whether to believe the weathermen or just consult the “bones” or
a Ouija board.) Thick clouds had rolled in as we neared the boat launch in
Waukegan, IL, just over the border into Illinois. Within seconds of
launching the boat and parking the trailer the deluge began. Noah had
nothing on us.
It was about a 35 mile journey from Waukegan to Chicago, which with the rain
forced us to rest the 4-barrels and make our way leisurely down in about an
hour. And as luck (or the gods) would have it the weather started to clear
as we approached the towering skyline.
If driving into downtown Chicago at night is beautiful – arriving by boat is
even more incredible. Rather than stressing about the semi trailer pounding down on
you inches away from your car on the freeway, you can actually relax and
take in the entire cityscape as it passes by.
 The
best logical place to arrive at in Chicago is Navy Pier. We entered the
breakwater through the main east entrance and trolled along the pier
checking out the scene. Within minutes of arriving we were warmly welcomed
(please read with sarcasm) by our friendly USCG cruiser (with a bow-mounted
machine gun) who invited themselves onto the boat for a “safety” inspection
(for our own safety, of course). The officer who did the inspection was
actually quite friendly, and our captain and boat passed with flying colors. We thought we were free and clear when the officer asked, “You all know the
Illinois boating rules, of course?”, as we and our captain continued to swig
down our beers . . . “Uh, yeah, of course”, we replied, “there’re just like
Wisconsin, right?”. “Well”, sergeant "Bilko" continued, “the captain can
legally drink while boating, but the limit is 0.08%”. We thanked him for
reminding us, and off he and his squad went.
Boy, this weekend wasn't starting off quite as planned. Rain, and then a
courtesy inspection. What’s next, a swarm of locusts?!@#&*
Chicago Boating Weekend - Day 1, “Take two!”
From then on it was smooth sailing (or should I say, “cool runnings”, since
we’re power boaters). The sun burned away the last vestiges of the morning
haze. And the skyline looked as if it would fall right on top of us. The
water is crystal clear and a vibrant blue-green color. (Is this the same
Lake Michigan water we have in Wisconsin?) We headed south for a mile along
a breakwater for the DuSable Marina, where we had a slip reserved (www.chicagoharbors.com).
We slid in amongst the "sticks" (sailing appeared to be the primary type of
vessel in the marina) and pulled into our dock.
The original plan was to stay on the boat for the weekend. But, some last
minute searching uncovered a room at the 4-star Intercontinental Hotel right
on Michigan Avenue for under $100/night. (Thank you
Priceline.com!) We grabbed a taxi to
the hotel to check-in and unload luggage. We asked for two beds (instead of
the standard 1 king) and our own Paris H. stand-in flashed Tucker, her
recently arrived 4-month-old puppy, and they promptly upgraded us to a
master suite at no charge. Badda-Bing!
For the evening we headed back to the marina to check out the Columbia Yacht
Club (CYC), which is actually an old 372-foot Canadian icebreaker and
ferryboat moved there in 1983 (www.columbiayachtclub.com). After presenting our GBYC
membership card they welcomed us in, providing a temporary card to use the
Club’s services, and even gave us a full tour of the ship which has a
beautifully renovated main bridge. Then, as good representatives of the GBYC
we retired to the bar for a beverage (or 2, 3 . . . There were numerous CYC members
available to share stories including one who has sailed in over 50
Chicago-Mack races. We departed for dinner at a little Italian restaurant
that one of the Club members owned, and made it a (relatively) early night.
Day 2
After a slow start to the morning, we did what any good boaters would do while
in Chicago – go shopping?! (Well you have to please everyone, right?) A few
hours later, after managing to keep our wallets tightly protected in our
pockets, we boarded our vessel to accomplish our main goal for coming here,
cruising the Chicago River.
We buzzed Navy Pier again for good measure and checked-out the “Playpen”.
The Playpen is Chicago’s answer to Long Tail. Okay, maybe it’s just a
bit nicer. (www.motorboating.com
and search under ‘Playpen’ for details.) However, on this late-May
weekend afternoon there were no rafts for us to tie-up with and maybe 15-20
individual boats anchored. So, we headed into the Chicago River locks
famous because they actually reversed the direction of the Chicago River
back in 1900 (www.chipublib.org/004chicago/timeline/riverflow.html).
 So,
for the first time in years we donned life jackets, which are required when
passing through the locks, and headed in trying to stay ahead of a half dozen large tour boats being
man-handled by rejected school-bus drivers (no offense intended), and
grabbed a line on the wall to secure us as they closed the rear locks.
Within
a few seconds they started to open the front locks . . . without
lowering the water first! Expecting to see a flood of water gush forward and
our boat with it, we braced for the unexpected. Surprisingly, only a
trickle drained out - the water level below
the locks was less than a foot lower than the lake. (I guess the water level
in Lake Michigan really is low.)
We idled west under Lake Shore Drive, Michigan Avenue, and other old
steel and concrete bridges as we gawked at the skyscrapers from our low
vantage point. Driving or walking through downtown Chicago staring upward
at the high rise buildings is pretty remarkable. Gazing upwards from the
river is even more amazing.
After a mile the river came to a ‘T’ where it joined the main Chicago River running north/south. At this point the water turned a murky,
chocolate color reminiscent of our (lovely) Fox River. We headed north for a
couple miles until is was clear the scenery was going downhill fast. Heading
back south we had a great view of the Sears Tower and the entire Chicago
skyline from the west side. There were several spots where the ‘No Wake’
rules were suspended, so we pushed the throttle forward to get some air. About 3-4 miles southwest of downtown we spun around and headed back to the
locks, Lake Michigan and Navy Pier. The only disappointment of the river run
was there was not a single bar or café along the way catering to boaters.
The few places located along the river had signs against tying up. You would
think with nearly 3 million people and a lot of boaters they someone would
have a restaurant/bar along the river with access for boaters.
 Back
by Navy Pier there was live music and numerous tour boats docked there. But
no pleasure boats were allowed to tie off along the pier. So, we
headed back to our slip, hopped a cab to the Pier and continued on foot.
Navy Pier on Memorial Day weekend is a great place to spend some time - lots
of interesting people to watch and great live music (and several bars of
course). The band stopped shortly after 9pm for the waterfront fireworks
display. I won’t get into comparisons to Green Bay, Menominee, Sister Bay,
etc. Let’s just say they were as good as anywhere else. But, they seemed
better because we had accomplished our main goals for the weekend:
√ Arrive to Chicago by boat
√ Boat the Chicago River
√ Party on Navy Pier
√ Have a blast!
Day 3
Monday morning, Memorial Day, we grabbed breakfast at a little place off north Rush Street
and then packed-up the boat and headed north along the shore. There are 2-3
other marinas just north of downtown, one of which (Montrose Harbor) we
cruised through just to see. However, I would recommend DuSable to anyone
headed here due to it’s excellent location close to downtown, Navy Pier and
the Columbia Yacht Club.
Shortly before Waukegan there is a quaint marina in the town of Wilmette
that is worth a few minutes to cruise around the harbor. Although there was a mix of sail
boats and cruisers, most of the boats were tied to moorings. Small tenders
carry you back and forth from shore. There are no transient docks, so
although we wanted to stop in to the Yacht Club located there, it would have
been inconvenient. Maybe next time.
In the end, is it worth trekking down to Chicago? In the words of (someone
famous), “Every new port beings a new adventure!” I don’t really know if
anyone actually said that, but it sounds good. With our short boating season
it’s difficult to justify losing a potentially good Door County boating
weekend. But, since wherever you go on Memorial Day weekend will likely be
cool (especially in the water), I think Chicago is a worthy visit,
especially if you can trailer most of the way. In July/August I’m inclined
to remain true to our local ports. (Although The Playpen sure does look
interesting.)
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