8/6/22 Second day in Chicago

After a good nights sleep on very full bellies Erik and Renee headed off early to find a dog park for Riva.  A boat neighbor told us of one very close. We hopped onto our bikes and very quickly found a beautiful park tucked among the buildings almost right across the street from the marina.  Unfortunately for Riva the dog park was being renovated and was closed for 3 weeks. There were still many other dogs out and about in the park to visit and play with!

As we returned to the marina we stopped and reserved a Lyft bicycle for Derek for when we head to Shedd aquarium.  After a light breakfast we hopped on the bikes and headed for the aquarium.  We spent a couple of hours wandering the aquarium looking at river, lake and sea creatures from around the world.  Lunch was Chicago style hot dogs for Erik and Renee, and vegan hot dog for Derek, from Kim and Carlos hot dog cart.  

The vibrant colors of the oceans never cease to amaze

Much less color but no less amazing and intriguing 

Where is its Tutu?
My fellow Marinette friends will understand

Cool puffer fish!😎
 
Shark!!!!!😳

Forever Nemo

Snapping turtles are so cuddly 

Chicago dog with a view for lunch outside of the aquarium 

Back to the boat to rest up for more adventures later.  Breaking out the Insta-pot we air fried the leftover deep dish pizza from yesterday for another yummy, satisfying early dinner.  

Cooled and rested, we again snagged a Lyft bike for Derek, AND now Erik as well because once again his bike was discovered to have ANOTHER flat on the same rear tire. Ugh!  This time getting bikes was not quite as easy.  There were no bikes available at the station just outside the gate of our dock so Erik and Derek walked on foot a half mile or so to a Lyft station in the park (where the dog park was located that we visited earlier) that indicated on the app that it had 8 bikes available.  Renee took off on her bike intending to meet them at the park as well.  She managed to get somewhat lost trying to ride to the park.  The area is very bicycle friendly, however, it can get fairly confusing mostly based on a bunch of multi level roadways and bike/pedestrian paths.  She ended up calling Erik to tell him to just meet her at the Sears Tower.  Renee met back up with Derek and Erik to experience The Skydeck.   The Skydeck is in what was previously The Sears Tower (now known as Willis Building) and is on the 103rd of 110 floors.   The views of the city were spectacular.  Derek was tickled to stand in the spot where a scene from Ferris Buelers Day Off was shot.  We chose not to wait in a significant line to experience standing in one of the glass floored boxes that protrude out from southern wall of the building.  It really didn’t look that more thrilling to us than simply standing in the window sills of the many other large glass wall windows on the Skydeck.   Also, we had made reservation to do the architectural boat tour which was departing from the Navy Pier, about 2 miles away, at 6:45 pm and we were going to really be pushing things to make it over there.  

Sweeping views of the city and Lake Michigan

They allowed us to Spider-Man climb up to the top! 

Quickly peddling down the now very busy streets (most with bike lanes) of downtown back towards the pier we parked our bikes and made it to the boarding station of the boat tour just a couple minutes AFTER our reserved trip had departed.  The workers were friendly and accommodating and managed to squeeze us onto another tour that was departing at 7:30 just down the street.   The upsides were that it was a bit later in the evening making for a more comfortable sunset cruise AND it allowed us time for a quick pitstop at a Ben and Jerry’s for cold, delicious treats!

The architectural boat tour was well done and quite informative.  Our tour guide, a lifelong Chicago resident, really knew his stuff as he talked and told of the history of the city’s landscape.  Interesting to learn about the architecture pre and post Chicago fire.  We all agreed that the tour was likely the best of the activities that we did utilizing our ‘City Passes’ that we now had managed to get a freebie on (remember the Ferris wheel ended up not getting counted toward the 3 activities).   

Beautiful skylines 

In with the new and modern 

As well as some of the older

Cruising the river at night fall

Departing the tour boat we grabbed a couple Lyft bikes again and pedaled our way back to the marina in time to take Riva up for a walk before chilling on the boat for a while and ending the wonderful day watching a weekly firework display launched from the end of the Navy Pier.  Exhausted, we had all the fun and activity we could handle for one day!  

Chicago certainly turned out to be a favorite stop for us on our journey.  It was extra special to be able to share it with Derek.  We will be back!  

Our view of the fireworks, we could have moved to the end of the pier for an unobstructed view….but we couldn’t muster the energy 🥱😴