Today was our original departure date . . .

. . . and it was a beautiful summer day. It was warm, but not too hot, the sun was shining brightly, there was just a light breath of wind, and Lake Michigan was that wonderful deep blue color with no waves at all. It was a perfect day for crossing over to South Haven.

Too bad Meridian is still undergoing repairs.

So we stood at the window, gazed down at our empty slip, and held a solemn moment of silence . . .


Then, it was back to work doing the mundane we're-not-on-our-cruise-yet tasks. You know, things like cleaning the fish tank, dusting off furniture, and backing up the hard drive(s).

But it's not all work around here.

As long as our departure date has arrived, why not act like we're on vacation? And what better port to visit than the City of Chicago? So we've been living a bit of the tourist life lately.

Yesterday, we took a stroll down the lakefront to check out the Cool Globes exhibit. The display features over 100 globes, each five feet in diameter. Most of them are down by the museum campus. Artists designed the globes around the theme of potential solutions to global warming. It's an interesting exhibit, with many good ideas about everyday things we all can do.

Here's a shot of Bernie's favorite, one that extols us to eat locally grown organic foods. No Mr. Potatohead jokes allowed!!!


And here are a few others . . .


Here's another shot of the lakefront, looking out over Monroe Harbor and Navy Pier from the museum campus.


And finally, a nice view of all those lucky people whose boats are not being repaired. Nice view of the Chicago locks and the Navy Pier area also.


That's all for now. We hope to hear good news from Chicago Yacht Yard in the next few days. Cross your fingers for us!