What can be said about Chicago? So different from New York City, so strikingly beautiful in its geography and so stunning in the curation of its architectural skyline and tasteful design of its parks and riverfront. Notwithstanding all the bad press Chicago gets because of crime and murder (generally localized in a small part of the city), the city is stunning, sparkling and a huge human creation overlooking a deep blue expanse of Lake Michigan. We were grateful and happy to be back in an urban environment and get all the products, foods and services of the modern urban bubble.

DuSable Harbor, where Salty spent a very calm 9 nights, was a calm and beautiful haven of turquoise waters and a tremendously convenient spot to walk to Chicago's downtown Loop, Navy Pier, the Riverwalk and the north river restaurants and hotels. But we did look skyward every once in a while. Exactly one year to the day before we arrived, a winged black humanoid with red eyes was spotted by multiple witnesses flying above DuSable Harbor (https://www.phantomsandmonsters.com/2017/09/witnesses-observe-huge-bird-like-being.html), but was a no-show when we were there. Probably for the best. Otherwise from the sky, we only got a few drenching with downpours from passing thunderstorms over the time we were there. We also engaged a cleaning firm to wash and wax Salty while there - so that she looked entirely more presentable than she did after 4 months of slogging through muddy lakes and canals.

In addition to taking the time to be studious and legally up to date at the IPO Annual Meeting, we took an architectural boat tour on the Chicago River, a ride on the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel, walked the Riverwalk, took a walking tour of the downtown Loop area and the Magnificent Mile, rode bikes all the way up the coast to Belmont Harbor and down to Burnham Harbor and Soldier Field Stadium (home of the Bears) and ate out every night at some of the best restaurants we've run into on this Great Loop trip.

One of the magnificent things about Chicago is the Chicago River system - engineered by human hands to alter the flow of two rivers, the Chicago River and the Calumet River, to flow towards the Mississippi River watershed instead of out into Lake Michigan. In the late 1800's, it became clear through several events that the waste water and resident pathogens flowing out from Chicago was contaminating the city's water supply that was pumped in from the Lake. Canals were built and the Calumet and Chicago Rivers were connected to the Des Plaines River that flowed out to the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. With the help of locks and management of water levels, the Chicago and Calumet rivers now flow out through the Ship & Sanitary and the Cal-Sag canals into the Illinois River and ultimately the Mississippi away from Lake Michigan. A perfect example of industrial externalities being foisted on somewhere and someone else - but leaving Lake Michigan much cleaner than it would have been. Chicago area waterways are probably cleaner than they've been in centuries due to this engineering feat and careful environmental management of the last several decades.

We were sated and spoiled by our time in Chicago, but it was time to move on down through the Chicago river and canal system...