We popped down to the cafe nearby for breakfast again this morning. I’ve been so happy with my hotel choice, it’s very central, has a great view over the river, there’s an excellent breakfast place next door ( which is handy because the hotel rate didn’t include breakfast) and the prices was bearable. Chicago hotel prices are eye-watering!
The rain started while we were eating breakfast and it was really coming down when we checked out. We drove 15 minutes north of the CBD to see another of Neil’s Blues Brothers Icons, or a Baseball icon, depending on your point of view – 1060 West Addison is Wrigley Field, the home of the Chicago Cubs baseball team.
As we drove back past the city and continued south and west around the lake the rain just got worse and worse.
When we stopped at Neil’s final Blues Brothers find it was too wet to stop so this pic is taken through a damp windscreen. Do you recognise the Palace Hotel Ballroom? Where the band played their final spectacular concert 🙂
The thunderstorms really hit as we drove across the state border from Illinois to Indiana. I think Indiana doesn’t like us, as we had similar dicey weather the last time we were in the state in 2016! Fortunately the rain had eased a lot when we finally arrived at Indiana Dunes National Park Visitor Centre. I bought a pin ( I’m collecting a pin from every park we visit) and we also bought our annual National Park pass. These only cost US$80 and if you’re visiting a few parks within a year ( or in our case, within one trip) then it’s great value and saves a lot of money in entrance fees.
We drove out to the lake to the Portage Lakefront & Riverwalk but the weather was still pretty bleak. I could JUST make out the skyline of Chicago across the lake.
Wet weather is always great shopping weather so wasn’t in lucky that I’d noted the nearby Lighthouse Place Premium Outlets on the map when I’d been studying the area on the map! As it turned out Neil did much better than me, we picked up some great casual shirts and work pants for him at the Van Heusen outlet as well as a jacket at North Face. I did buy a new wallet and also a nice fleecy jacket at the Columbia outlet, but I think Neil’s won on the outlet shopping tally so far!
We lost an hour in time as we headed north into Michigan, as the state is on eastern Time and we’d been on Central Time. This meant it was nearly 4.30 when we arrived at the pretty lakeside town of Holland. We were here to see one of the many iconic lighthouses that are dotted around the lakeshore. The Big Red Lighthouse of Holland is one of the most photographed. By now the rain had disappeared and the sun was shining so we enjoyed our stroll across the sand to see it.
There was a fabulous building behind the lighthouse, one of those grand American mansion homes and as far as I can work out its is privately owned. Goodness knows what it would be worth!
We decided to follow several other out along the pier that juts out into the lake with a smaller light at its tip. About half way out I started to wonder if it was such a good idea as the water was starting to wash over the edge. I told Neil if I fell in, to make sure he saved my camera!
I’d congratulated myself that I made it to the end with dry feet but coming back the lake got its revenge – my nice Skechers are currently drying off, they were drenched!
We wer very glad when we finally arrived at the Shoreline Inn in Muskegon. It’s set right on Muskegon Lake, a small inlet off Lake Michigan. Muskegon is one of dozens of lakeside towns that are popular summer vacation destinations. We ate a wonderful dinner at the hotel’s Lakeside Inn restaurant, before rwturning to the room to watch the glorious sunset.
The weather is supposed to be good for the next few days so hopefully we can make the most of it!