Chicago Long-Eared Owls

We took a mini wildlife tour of Chicago today.

Recently, a number of news outlets reported a rare sighting of long-eared owls roosting in a park near downtown Chicago. So we headed over there today. There were three left (according to the Chicago Tribune they numbered eleven several weeks ago) and one was hiding behind branches.

Here are a few photos . . .





While there, a lady told us about a hawk in a tree a block away. That was a nice little bonus . . .

The Chicago Spire

Ok, winter is starting to drag.

So . . . it's time to start thinking about Chicago as another port on the Great Lakes to enjoy. After all, we don't expect to be here much in the summer, so any posts about Chicago will have to be while we are "weathered in" over the winter.

So, that's what we' ll do . . . start posting about the great port of Chicago and some of the things you can do or see here - even in the winter.

First up: the Chicago Spire. Since it's being built just across the river from us, we have a great view of it from our living room window. Phil - who may just have a little too much time on his hands during winter - started a web site devoted to watching the Spire being built. If you're interested in seeing construction photos of the Chicago Spire, you can see them at Building the Spire.

January in Chicago

Well, it's the middle of winter here in Chicago. We look out over Lake Michigan and here's what we see . . . the lake is frozen and colors are all gray and muted even on a brightly sunny day.



One more photo . . . this is one of the water intake stations out on the lake.


On days like this, last summer's cruise seems to be far in the past. But we aren't letting the weather get to us (well, at least not too much). We're beginning preparations for next summer's cruise by, finally, organizing all the photos, blog entries, memories, etc. from last summer's cruise. How does that prepare us for next summer? By motivating us, of course!

But it also serves a more utilitarian function. In order to better organize everything, we're setting up a web site to store info about places we've been and experiences we've had. The site will be a great source from which to view our archived blog posts as well as other info we plan to post.

The url is:

http://greatlakescruising.googlepages.com/


Enjoy . . . and it's only sixty days (or so) until spring arrives!

South Haven, Michigan to ...

As we've already visited South Haven, we'll stick to the new stuff. Well, some new stuff, some old. First of all, when visiting a port we've been to before, we find it easier to kick back and relax. But not too much. We did squeeze in a 51.5 mile bike ride on the Kal-Haven Trail. Phil's getting very worried as Bernie kept saying, "Wow, can you believe this was 50 miles? Didn't it feel like 30?" Phil didn't think it felt like 30. He thought it felt like 75. But the trees have started to change now and the trail is beautiful this time of year, too, so he didn't mind. (Phil suspects Bernie is going to talk him into a round trip Lakefront Path ride when we get back to Chicago. Phil is correct.)

We had planned to leave South Haven on Wednesday, September 26 and head over to St. Joseph, Michigan. The weather, however, didn't entirely cooperate. While, land-side weather was beautiful and there was very little wind, a Tuesday night storm had kicked up some interesting waves. The way South Haven's break wall is constructed enables the waves to zig-zag back and forth through the channel creating a cool visual effect.









In the meantime, we enjoyed the sunsets and moon rises, finally ate at Clementines (a 25 year old family owned - really good - restaurant in South Haven), and marveled at how many people put their boats away so early.


Oh, we also made jokes about how sometimes there are mis-spelled words on "official" signs. But other people seem to do that, too.

On Thursday, September 27, the waves had calmed down and the weather looked good for a trip to St. Joseph. However, a more thorough review of the weather and forecast, convinced us that a cross lake trip back to Chicago would be do-able.

We filled the tank up and headed out. On the way out we passed the Friends Good Will, which is an excursion tall ship out of South Haven's Michigan Maritime Museum.



The crossing was generally uneventful. There were a few sections where the waves were larger than expected. About 30 nautical miles out, we started seeing the strange looking sand dunes that told us we were coming back to Chicago. We saw our last freighter of the trip. Then an old familiar lighthouse.


So now we're in our home port. Seems to be some controversy brewing on this side of the lake, too.


Looks like we'll be weathered in here for about 236 days.

See you next year!

Meridian
(and Phil and Bernie, too)

P.S. Look for a Trip Roundup Epilogue in a few days.