In this post, we continue our journey down the Chicago River by boat on a lovely Spring day. To see Part 1, click here. As the boat continued down the south fork of the Chicago river away from downtown, we were rewarded with this view from the South. The Sears Tower is visible for several miles outside of Chicago. Between the Sears Tower and the Lake (and the well organized streets), directions are easy to follow in Chicago. The Lake, of course, is always East of you so directions are often given as North, South, East and West.
One of the interesting parts of the Chicago River are the iron bridges dotting the length of the river.
Imagine our surprise when we saw this steam locomotive pulled up beside the river. Apparently, the Milwaukee Road 261 runs seasonal train excursions, usually between Milwaukee, Chicago, and other Midwest cities.
For lunch, we went to Lawrence’s, a fish fry place in an industrial corridor near Chinatown. They have a pier where you can just pull up with your boat. I don’t have a photo of it for some reason.
We also stopped by Chinatown park so that we could grab some bubble teas from Joy Yee’s. It was a perfect treat for a day on the river.
With our bubble teas in hand, we turned the boat around and headed back towards downtown. At this time, the clouds moved into the area and the temperature dropped noticeably.
Here we are back at the fork of the river in the middle of downtown. This time, we took the eastern fork of the river, which leads to Lake Michigan. Below is the massive 4,000,000 square foot Merchandise Mart.
On the right we passed the RR Donnelly Building, one of many office buildings on Wacker Drive.
On the left, we see the iconic Marina City towers aka the corn cob towers, which are comprised of condominiums on top of a parking lot, on top of restaurants, a bowling alley, and a boat dock. Located in the same complex are the House of Blues and the Sax Hotel.
There are beautiful riverside promenades on Wacker Drive.
The soon to be gigantic Trump Tower.
The Wrigley Building needs no introduction. The gothic structure to the right of the Wrigley Building is the Tribune Tower.
Michigan Avenue runs right in front of the Wrigley Building. The glamorous Magnificent Mile, Chicago’s premier shopping street, is just north of this intersection. The very posh Oak Street boutiques are at the northern end of the Mag Mile.
The Trump Tower already dwarfs the Wrigley Building. Blech.
As we approach the locks, the gateway to Lake Michigan, we leave behind the skyscrapers.
Finally we are cruising free on Lake Michigan.
Travels with Sandy 
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