Set out for more exploring this morning, stopping for a light breakfast at one of the numerous cafés in the area and then used the last day of our 3 day bus pass to head down to the start of Route 66 to check out the roads before we leave tomorrow! After much walking we found the marked start and got our bearings, then it was back on the bus and around to Navy Pier for a look.
A large thunderstorm had everyone diving for the shelter of the lower deck on the bus, but it passed quickly and by the time we got off it had passed over.
This pier was used many years ago as a transport hub for shipping out the various produce of the city - Lake Michigan is about 140 kilometres wide here and there used to be many vessels plying the coast linking the towns and cities. Mumsie had a "blondie" and asked where the cruise ships docked - completely forgetting that it is a land locked fresh water lake!
We walked the length of the pier which is packed with shops, cafés and restaurants as well as a large Ferris wheel and a huge convention centre. It is also the departure point for dozens of tour boats that do sightseeing, meal and cocktail cruises all day long! There were lovely gardens and the whole area is getting a revamp for its 100th anniversary in 2016.
We also sampled the delicious and famous Garratts pop corn - the pecan toffee we tried was sensational!
Back on the bus and as the sky was now clear, Greg and I decided to do the Willis Tower Skydeck, so we completed the loop and learnt that the Maccas opposite our motel has the 3rd largest turnover of any shop in the world - topped by Moscow and another city I can't remember right now! Also learnt that the Fado Irish Pub we had a beer in yesterday was actually built in Ireland, but was dismantled and reassembled here in Chicago! A bit of trivia for you there folks!!!!!!
The Skydeck was an awesome experience - 103 floors tall, it is the tallest building in the USA and rises over 450 metres into the sky. We both also did "The Ledge" which a glass floored box that is set out off the main building - it was unbelievable to look down all that way and see the road so far away!!!!!
By that time it was mid afternoon and we returned to the motel to get ready to head for US Cellular Field to see the Chicago White Sox play the Cleveland Indians in the Major League Baseball.
We caught the train very easily (the subway station was only a block away) and it only took 15 minutes to get to the stop alongside the Stadium. We picked up our tickets and had a beer at the huge restaurant/bar outside near the car parks. Had to laugh at all the fans who were "tailgating", where they bring BBQ's and picnics to the game and pre game have a cook out by their cars - a more casual version of the picnics in the car park at the Melbourne Cup. There was smoke pouring of the grills and they were having a ball!
As we were pretty early we entered the Stadium and then found our seats, which were nicely placed by 1st base. It is a large arena seating about 40,000 people, and has first class facilities with unlimited food and drink stalls and dozens of toilets! Hope Tuck Waldron has done some serious research for the new stadium in Perth as this one ticked all the boxes as well as having free wifi!
Got ourselves some tucker and settled in to watch. The White Sox are on a 6 game losing street and the crowd was pee weak! Only about 10,000 there! The whole night was great fun with the typical yank razzmatazz happening all the time and when one of the Sox hit a homer there were fireworks and much ado!
It lasted about 3 hours and most of the crowd had left (by then it was 10.15pm) by the end of the 9 innings with the scores tied at 6-6. The remaining fans all got up and left and so we did the same and caught the train home - only to find out this morning that they played another innings and the Sox went down 8-6! There was no announcement of the extra innings at all and I reckon only a handful of diehards had stayed on to watch! Weird!
So it was pretty late by the time we got to bed - all set to start Route 66 tomorrow!