Do you know what's better than owning a boat?

Having good friends who own a boat and invite you to ride in it. J and I had a great evening last night. We were invited to join our friends (who have the boat) plus another couple for an 'evening cruise'. (And it was adults only. This is a big deal when you know that between our three families, we have 19 children. Plus, we wouldn't all fit on the boat together.) So, at 5 pm last night, we set off for our three hour cruise. (I only put that in because now you will all be humming the theme to Gilligan's Island for the rest of the day, because ours was really four hours.) First there was the quick trip along the lake front to get to downtown Chicago, and then into the lock to get to the Chicago River. We cruised up the river all the way to Chinatown, where we tied up and ate our dinner. (It would have been fun if some of the restaurants served dock-side like they do along the river downtown. But we probably wouldn't have been able to afford it anyway if the prices of the downtown restaurants are any gauge.) We finished dinner and headed back as the sun was setting. By the time we reached downtown, it was dark (well, as dark as it gets in Chicago) and we had a magnificent view of the skyline. We then went through the lock once more and back into Lake Michigan. As a final cap to the evening, we pulled up to Navy Pier to enjoy a live jazz performance for a while. It was a lovely evening...thank you M and C!

A final note: it was so interesting to see familiar sites from a new angle, it gives them a whole new look. For instance, looking up from underneath Lake Shore Drive as opposed to driving on it. We also saw things we don't normally see from any angle...while waiting for the lock to open, we also saw a little flotilla, which we couldn't figure out at first. But, thanks to binoculars, it turned out to be a string of very expensive boats with a coast guard boat on either end and what looked like coast guardsmen on the decks of the boats in between. It was very curious and provided much conversation and speculation. But as you can probably guess, no mention of anything like it in the paper this morning. Why don't papers print stories about the things one is really curious about?

The only downside to the evening? I must be getting old and my inner ear isn't able to stabilize as it used to. I've been on a boat all morning. In fact, as I type, it feels as though the computer and I are bobbing gently up and down, up and down, on the water. It's a good thing I'm not prone to sea sickness.