The River and the Teapot

 

by Pa Rock

Traveling Fool

Yesterday I got out early and walked several blocks around my hotel including a trek over to the beach at Lake Michigan which was already crowded..  People were there watching the Navy's Blue Angels practicing their formation flyovers in preparation for this weekend's Air and Boat Show. The jets have been flying over the Lake Shore area for several days getting ready for the big show.  I watched for awhile, though I have had a stiff neck since my last broken arm two years ago - and am not much for staring upward for long periods of time.  

(My last work assignment before retiring was at Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix, and while there I managed to get my fill of the comings and goings of fighter jets, so jets roaring overhead aren't as big of a deal to me as they are to some.)

While at the beach I saw one local cop in uniform with a name tag that said "Pagan," which I thought was kind of cool.

Heidi and her husband, Jason, took several family members on a large boat excursion along the Chicago River and out onto Lake Michigan in the afternoonn, and I was with their group.  The river, which apparently was a cesspool until just a few years ago, is now clean and deep with dozens of varieties of fish inhabiting its waters.  We rode up and down the river with a very well-versed guide telling us the history of the area and of many of the individual skyscrapers along the river.  It was extremely informative. Our boat motored into a marine lock where the water level was raised to the level of the lake, and we went out out into Lake Michigan and traveled along a significant portion of the shore line, while again hearing more Chicago history.

The fighter jets performed overhead throughout our 90-minute cruise, so it was quite a day to be out on the water!

Roughly the same group went to Chicago Musical Theatre Festival at the Steppenwolf Theatre in the evening where we watched a read-through production of the musical version of The Brass Teapot, a work based on a story that my son, Tim, wrote and published on the internet several years ago.  The story has been made in into a film, twice, and Tim was involved in both of those, and he also has been involved in the production of the current musical version of the material,  Tim was at the theatre last night where he served as an intermittent host to our group.

The performance was great.  There will be an abbreviated version of the material presented at a musical  theatre festival in New York City in October, and I have every intention of being at that one, too.

(Have I mentioned before how proud I am of Tim and all my my kids and my nieces and nephews?  Well, I am!)

More exploring today - and heading home tomorrow.