It's been a week full of adventure, rain and finally 2 days of sunshine! Chicago was awesome! It was the highlight of our trip so far. There was so much to see and do there and we stayed in the big city for 4 days waiting for the rain to let up. Then we finally left Wednesday (in the rain). Being there longer allowed us to go to the top of the John Hancock Center (94 stories), see Buckingham Fountain, Soldier Field, Millenium Park, Cultural Center, Navy Pier and much more.
Another spectacular view awaited us as we cruised through the canyon of skyscrapers on the Chicago River as we were leaving the city - awesome vistas all around us! Then eventually after leaving the downtown area we saw the commercial side of the city - barges with scrap iron, quarries with sand and limestone, abandoned buildings and tenaments.
Before the day ended we came upon tree lined river banks, parks and recreational areas. Then in Joliet, we stopped at their Bicentennial Park and checked out the area, went for a walk before we headed on down the river to Three Rivers Marina, where we spent the next night. That was an experience! It was very different from Chicago. The marina was in a state of disrepair and out in the country. I went for a walk in a wooded area and saw a deer! It was so quiet there - what a contrast from the night before!
Now we are on the Illinois River and passing many barges - yesterday we saw 10 -15 in a 2 hour period!
That is many more than we have seen on the upper Mississippi River at a given time. Today we even went through a Lock with a partial barge - they were having their lunch at the time. - made us jealous. So far we have gone through 6 Locks, without any problems. We have a careful captain and helpful 1st mate.
The trees are starting to turn some beautiful colors and we have been admiring God's handiwork all around us. Looking forward to more of the same as we make our way south to St. Louis.
No comments:
Post a Comment