Chicago - Day 1 - Boat Ride

We didn't fly into Chicago O'Hare until the late afternoon. I waited an hour for my luggage, and my mom's never came... until the next morning. We had tickets for a boat ride that night (with Wendella), so we were already behind. Dinner would have to wait until after the ride... and after 8:30. We did get in a routine of eating brunch at around 9 or 9:30, lunch around 2 or 3, and dinner usually after 8 pm.

The boat ride was only a few blocks from our hotel, so we walked. The ride was also an architecture tour... and a sunset cruise on the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. It was a great way to start our trip!!!

From that first night, we were amazed by the beautiful architecture, statues, and flowers... everywhere we looked! I loved this circular parking garage. Looks kind of scary to park in!

We got to go through the Chicago Harbor Lock to get to the lake. They explained that the river flowed into the lake and in the "old" days (1800's) people used to throw their trash in the river and it'd go to the lake. So, they rebuilt things so the river would flow away from the lake. And, they built this "lock" so you could get to the lake. We explained it to Alexandra, but I think I want to build a model or something to explain it further. Any ideas?

While going through the lock, they had a police emergency and had to open the lock to let 4 police boats through. The water got very choppy with them speeding through while our boat was tied to the sides.


The lake was cool, but beautiful. We really got to get a good view of the city to start our trip off right!