Road Trip Vacation, Summer 2015 Version (part four)

Day Four dawns!

We retrace our route into downtown and again “hop on” the Big Bus.  

First stop is Navy Pier.  But we’re not here to shop or ride the ferris wheel.  

No no.  Architectural boat tour!

Confession number one:  I enjoyed this much more than I expected.  Learned a lot about the science of buildings!  

Also a great opportunity to snap some pics. 

What’s next?  I have to conquer my fear of high places as we visit the John Hancock Center.  We took a tip from a local and skipped 360 Chicago (the attraction on the top floor) and instead took the elevator to the 96th story, location of the bar.  Featuring a whole lot of huge windows.  

Confession number two:  For many years I saw the Hancock Tower in pictures or movies and thought it was the Sears Tower.  The black surface and twin white spires threw me off.  Now I know better.

It took me several minutes and one beer to finally get a little close to the edge for picture-taking.  

This is toward the southwest, and Willis Tower.

North, with the beach and Lakeshore Drive.

Finally it was time to head down and put our feet back on terra firma.  

Now, where to eat lunch?  

How about an Irish pub not far from the Hard Rock Cafe?  (Anyone who goes to downtown Chicago and eats at a chain needs a long talking-to.)  

Lunch was great, however they were out of corned beef so I opted for fish and chips instead.  Washed it down with some Guinness Blonde.  Stay true to my (father’s) heritage!  

Plan for the afternoon was some shopping followed by a stop at Willis (Sears) Tower for our second real high visit of the day.  However the shopping went longer than expected and when we arrived at the building that was the tallest in the world through the 70’s, 80’s and most of the 90’s we were told by the staff on the ground floor that Skydeck had an hour to hour-and-a-half wait time.  

Shoot.  

If we opted to go up we might cut it just a little too close to catch the Big Bus back to our first stop.  We chose to skip it and instead hit Dunkin Donuts for a little pick-me-up, then journey east many blocks to fetch the car.  Time to rest up and wrap up our penultimate day in the Windy City.