Upon retiring from AM General, I received a gift certificate for the Odyssey dinner cruise from Navy Pier in Chicago. We picked a great evening to use it. I upgraded perks a bit as Kathy's birthday is this week, so we celebrated that as well!
Navy Pier was built on the Lake Michigan shore line in 1916. It was built to serve as a mixed-purpose piece of public infrastructure. Its primary purpose was as a cargo facility for lake freighters, and warehouses were built up and down the pier. However, the pier was also designed to provide docking space for passenger excursion steamers, and in the pre-air conditioning era parts of the pier, especially its outermost tip, were designed to serve as cool places for public gathering and for entertainment. It's Chicago's number one tourist attraction. At over 3,000 feet in length, it's packed with shops, restaurants, entertainment venues, and of course docking for great dinner cruise vessels like the Odyssey.
At first it looked as though a small storm might roll in, but it dissipated before it made it to town. The meal was fantastic (they give you several choices, all of them sounding outstanding). After the meal we headed to the top deck and were surprised how warm it was out on the water. There was a slight breeze, reminding me more of Caribbean waters than Lake Michigan! Of course the big perk of this was to see the fabulous Chicago skyline from a mile out...and closer, as we approached it coming in. We got to see fireworks from Comiskey Park (White Sox). There are fireworks cruises several times over the summer, which costs more...so we got a small show for free! We had the added benefit of a full moon which reflected off the lake...so we got a bonus there too!
Happy birthday dear!
One the world's most magnificent skylines!
On the main floor a desert bar had been set up while we were upstairs; so back we came and partook of that and the outstanding trio playing music! But it was too alluring to watch the stars, moon and city, so after a couple brownies and strawberries from the chocolate fountain we went top deck to finish off the cruise.
The cruise was three hours. For us it was three perfect hours!
Don't wait until you retire to do this (luckily I had been on a similar one for a business event many years ago). It's worth the time and $$$ to do now!
Wow, that up-close photo of the Chicago skyline looks like it's from a postcard! Nice camera work.
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