Kayak Chicago

    When we first moved out here, we kayaked lake Michigan off the shores of Chicago. It was a blast back then and we knew ever since that experience that we wanted to kayak on the actual Chicago river that cuts through downtown. 

    My Grandpa Johansen who passed away about a year and a half ago now, would always tell Brian and me that we needed to take a river tour of Chicago when it was dark. He told me this right up until the last time I saw him before he passed away. I mentioned to Brian that it was something that I wanted to do before we left Chicago and so for Christmas this last year he got me the chance to see Chicago at dark---by kayak!

     We met our Wateriders Kayak group at 7 pm, an hour or so before sunset and loaded into our kayaks. Brian and I took single kayaks while everyone else were in tandem kayaks. While it would have been fun to be in the same kayak, it was fun to explore, race, and just look at each other. We have very badly needed a date like this one. It was both romantic and adventurous-just our style!



      I have fallen in love with this city. It is hard to believe we have only 9 more months left in this grand city before the next big adventure. Being on the river put a little outdoors into the city and I loved it.

      We would kayak a ways down the river and then we'd stop and our tour guide would tell stories of different Chicago gangsters and ghost stories. It was super fun to listen to these stories and even get a little spooked by some of the areas he showed us-for example, we stopped in an area of the river where 840 people had gotten trapped inside a boat that sank and every one of them had drown in only 18 feet of water. 

     This year marks the 100 year anniversary of that boat sinking and "supposedly" these people will be roaming the shores of Chicago river all summer long. ooooooooohhhh! Haha  

 

     While I think this would be a fun tour to do during the daytime, I think night was perfect because the river can be really busy during the day with cargo ships, tour boats, and other personal crafts. There were a few times when we had to be a bit more careful crossing the river because there was a lot of traffic.

   
     After about 8 pm, there were no boats and it was just us in our kayaks out there. It was like this peaceful moment where the river was still and silent except for our paddles breaking the surface of the water, but then we were surrounded by the twinkling lights of these huge buildings. The sounds of the city echoed very faintly around us which made it pretty magical.

Definitely the very best way to see the city.. hands down.

Chicago has stolen a bit of my heart.