Lady Royal: Michigan City, IN and Chicago, IL

Michigan City was a nice stop – with an outlet center and casino nearby. Rob shopped for a short while, and I shopped a little bit longer. Although the casino was nearby, transportation was provided. The Blue Chip Casino was located at “2 Easy Street!” How cute. We went with Bob and Pam, had a nice dinner, then gambled for a while. It's always more fun to win! The next morning, we left for Chicago.

Bob and Pam at Blue Chip

Leaving Blue Trip

The trip to Chicago was not fun. OK, maybe there were a few times when we said “wheeee” and it was a little bit of fun. Pam even got on the radio and said, hee haw, or gidday-yup, or something like that! It was a long ride, and we were all happy when to see Chicago's skyline and pull into the harbor. We docked in downtown Chicago, next to the Navy Pier, and just took in the scenery around us.

Linda, thanks again for the champaign! After a long, rocky ride, it was the perfect time to crack open the bottle! We then went to dinner at Berghoff's, which has long been a Chicago landmark. The Berghoff brothers started brewing Berghoff beer in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1887. When they decided to expand their market, they sold beer at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, and opened their Chicago restaurant in 1896. After the prohibition was repealed in 1933, The Berghoff was issued Liquor Licence No. 1. Although I didn't think the food was great, its history was interesting.

The next two days were packed with a lot of walking and sight seeing. The flowers and parks throughout the city are awesome. The waterfront is beautiful, as is Grant Park, which also includes the Art Institute of Chicago and Millennium Park. The Chicago Marathon starts and ends at Grant Park, and it is also where President Obama delivered his election day victory speech. Millennium Park is an award-winning center for art, music, architecture and landscape design. It features the Frank Gehry designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion, the most sophisticated outdoor concert venue of its kind in the United States; the Crown Fountain; and the popular Cloud Gate sculpture, also known as “the bean.” We met Aimee Golub at the bean, had a great lunch at Hot Wok Cold Sushi, and spent the afternoon at the museum, which was awesome. See how good you are in identifying the following art! After walking the Miracle Mile, we headed back to the marina.

The next day, we took down the mast and bridge. When entering the river, we will pass through about 40 bridges in about 5 miles, and have to be under 17 feet to make it through. We probably could have made it without taking down the bridge, but it was easier to take it down than to stress out about how close we were cutting it! We enjoyed an architectural river tour; went to the Signature Room on the 95^th floor of the John Hancock Building, where “the sky's the limit;” and then went for deep-dish pizza at Gino's East.