Sept 9 Michigan City to CHICAGO!!!

Sept 9



We’re in CHICAGO!!!   DONE with Lake Michigan!!   Over the last few days we've been in Michigan, Indiana and now Illinois and moved from Eastern to Central time zone.  It sure gets dark early here!

Sept 7 - We had to sit out an extra day in South Haven, MI waiting for that small craft advisory to pass. It was surprising the amount of rolling we experienced in the marina as those swells worked their way through the inlet and up the river.  They finally subsided a bit during the night providing a few good hours of sleep.   We headed out the next day to very light winds but there was still some wave motion that made the 7-hour trip to Michigan City, Indiana less than ideal.  Here’s a quick tour from the helm showing the rolling  motion.

https://youtu.be/605eGN7MSGo

 This trip continued the straight-line cruises off the coastline between ports we’ve become accustomed to on the lake with not much scenery other than water and dunes.

Journey for Sept 7

After making it to Michigan City we checked out the next day’s weather forecast and determined things were not settling down as had been predicted.   We gave it until the morning, but things still were looking unfavorable with waves increasing over the course of the day.  We opted to stay an extra night.  The Michigan City Marina is large and well protected from waves so we got a couple nights of good sleep.  Sunday morning started with a big breakfast at a local diner called Studio 801 while checking out the downtown area and a quick look at the Barker Mansion.

The Barker Mansion

The Barkers owned a huge complex that produced boxcars for the railroads. It was eventually bought out by George Pullman of Pullman passenger car fame.  Interesting note – while Henry Ford is often credited with the first assembly lines – it was actually Pullman who developed the system for the production of his railcars.   Unfortunately, the mansion wasn’t open for tours, so we moved on to the nearby outlet mall to find some heavier clothing – it’s getting cool up here.  

Michigan City Lighthouse Museum

Then a trip to the Lighthouse Museum to take in the local history and culture and finally a flight of craft brews at Zorn Brewery to finish out the day.   Seemed pretty productive for an extra shore leave day.

Sept 9 - The wind and waves were forecast to be a bit more favorable today, so we opted to make the crossing across the bottom of Lake Michigan and over to Chicago.  Not a terrible trip – at least it was a shorter day running the engines a little harder than normal and making it over in less than 5 hours. 

Chicago is in our sights!!

We’re in Burnham Marina which is one of the city of Chicago’s marinas right on their waterfront and close to all the attractions.  So far the only things we’ve taken in are a walk by the waterfront and a Chicago deep dish stuffed pizza. 

We’ll be here several days  so plan on doing the tourist thing taking the architectural boat tour  through downtown, visiting the Art Institute and Aquarium and we’re hoping to get out to Oak Park  to explore Frank Lloyd Wright’s house and studio and take a walking tour to view several homes he designed in the area.

Night time skyline view from our  rear sundeck

Journey for Sept 9