The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves...

Saturday, October 8, 2016

Sweet Home Chicago

Following the game, we had the rest of the day plus most of the next day to check out Chicago. We back-tracked to Union Station to pick up our bags, which we couldn't take to the stadium, before hiking the urban jungle to our hotel.

With a great base camp at the downtown Fairfield, we explored most of the city's vibrant core on foot, walking from Soldier Field in the south to the Hancock Building in the north, and from Union Station in the west to the tip of Navy Pier jutting east out into Lake Michigan.

To rest our tired feet, and more importantly for some narrated history of the city and its architecture, we also enjoyed an open-top river cruise of the city from Lake Michigan to quite a ways down the Chicago River South Branch, on yet another beautiful autumn day.

By late afternoon, we worked our way back to the train station and caught our ride home. Several unexpected delays hindered our progress, but otherwise the ride was peaceful and smooth. We crossed the border at midnight into a traffic jam on the Ambassador Bridge due to overdue structural repairs and a backlog of transport trucks.

After a long day and a lost hour returning to Eastern Standard Time, I dropped off Other Mike and finally made it home by 130am......with the alarm set for 6am and back to work after two very long but fun-filled days.

Deep Dish pie at Lou Malnati's

Enjoying a few brews at Rock Bottom prices.....

City skyline from the end of Navy Pier

A relatively calm day in The Windy City!

Chicago North from the 94th floor of the Hancock Building

Welcome to the Jungle!

Navy Pier and Lake Michigan from high above

Only the 2nd largest building in Chicago, but still....huuuuuuuge!

Bridges and Skyscrapers

Reflections of a City

The El crosses the river

The Merchandise Mart - the largest building in the world when built in 1930

Willis (Sears) Tower - the tallest building in the city and second tallest in North America

Cool old school drawbridge - the whole THING goes up!

Chicago from below

Riding the Rails again as we head for home

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Da Bears

After three years of Bears-Lions games at Ford Field in Detroit, Other Mike and I finally made the trek to Chicago for Lions-Bears at Soldier Field. Departing home at 4am, we crossed the border without delay and made it to the new train station in Dearborn with time to spare. A relaxing ride on the rails saw us in Chicago by late morning.

Our seats were high, mere rows from the top of the highest part of the bowl.....but great seats all the same. Beyond the field, we could see Lake Michigan on two sides and part of the downtown skyline. It was near-perfect weather for those of the fair variety, with 18 C temperatures, a light breeze and generally overcast. Even occasional misty drizzle could not dampen the mood.

The Bears outplayed the visitors for most of the game, and likely should have scored more points. In the end, they did enough on offense even with their backup quarterback replacing the injured Jay Cutler, and made the necessary stops on defense including two key interceptions.

In spite of a late surge by Detroit, the Bears won 17-14 to the delight of the home crowd. The victory also redeemed my honour, as my current record at games we had attended was 0-3.....though bearing in mind that all three losses occurred on Detroit's home turf.

Catching our second wind, we filed out of Soldier Field and set off to explore the The Windy City.

Catching the early train at Dearborn station

A quick snack before the game

View from the Nosebleed Section

Da Bears take the field!

The Anthem

Hoyer helms the Bears offense against the Lions

Sunshine over Soldier Field

Our seats even had a view of Lake Michigan!

Touchdown Bears!

D-Fence!

Cloud cover - aka Ginger's Paradise

But Bears fans don't care!

Final Score 17-14....for Da Bears!

Sea of sated fans swarm the streets of Chi-Town

Sunday, September 18, 2016

Grand Manan Island

We saved the best of the road trip for last - nearly a week of cliff camping on Grand Manan Island in the Bay of Fundy. Given cooperative weather, it's about as close to perfection as we have found in our varied travels.

After a pleasant drive from PEI to Blacks Harbour, on the southwestern coast of New Brunswick, we caught the ferry to Grand Manan. We made straight for Hole in the Wall campground, disappointed to find that our favourite cliff site was currently occupied....but of course, it was Saturday.

We selected another site on the cliff for one night, knowing we could move the next day to Cliff 17. To be fair, they're all pretty awesome.....we're just picky at this point in our fourth visit to the place!

The weather did cooperate, and we spent the next six days and nights perched atop a cliff, reading books (and some work stuff); watching seals, whales and the ferry go by; enjoying bonfires, and generally marvelling at regular intervals over the unparalleled view.

We did squeeze in a few hikes, some tours around the island, and the wind died down enough that we even worked in some sea kayaking on our last night, ironically paddling from North Head harbour out and around the lighthouse to underneath our cliff site and back. Unlike whale tours and other motorized ventures, it's incredible how close a dozen curious grey and harbour seals will come to check out your kayak! Sadly we left the cameras on dry land for fear of the obvious.

We took the early boat to the mainland on Friday morning, thankfully gaining an hour at the Maine border as we took a beautiful short cut to southeastern Quebec, before hammering westward to the south of Montreal and on into Ontario. A fifteen hour day saw us stop for the night in Trenton, followed by a short run home the next morning to the awaiting feline chaos.