This past weekend we did what very few people get to do. We got to spend the day on the Chicago River while it was dyed green for St. Patrick's Day. In case you are not aware of how big a party St. Patrick's Day is in Chicago you need to understand that at one time Irish immigrants were the most populous group in the city. That has changed quite a bit in the last few decades but the city is still full of people of Irish decent and we take this holiday seriously. It's a day that people who aren't even Irish can pretend to be and have a great time with their fellow Chicagoans. Since Kevin is 1/8th Irish and Colette is a smidge we go all out and spend most of the day enjoying all the various festivities this city has to offer. We've been to the official parade made famous in The Fugitive starring Harrison Ford, we went to the last "real" South Side Irish parade before they had to cancel it for a couple years because it was getting out of hand, we've watched from the riverbank as the Rowan & Butler families dump special dye in the river, and now we've been on the river passing out beads to the people watching from the riverbank.
Green River
We were fortunate enough to secure a couple spots on our neighbor's boat, Castaways, as he took a group of us up and down the river this year. The weather was decent for March in Chicago and there was food and drink galore on board. We spent much of the time tossing beads to the crowds on the new riverwalk and making lots of kids and even adults very happy. It's amazing what some green pieces of plastic can do to one's spirits. Starting at 9AM we decorated Castaways and set off for the main branch of the river. We had a great time with the exception of a brief encounter with a ridiculously rude tour boat employee who apparently wanted to ruin everyone else's day. We shrugged off her hostilities and keep on having a great time and making all the folks on the shore very happy to get their green beads.
Colette is dressed for the occasion
So Water We Thinking about our day on the river? We had a blast and thank Castaways captain Pat for taking us out. We'll be back next year!
The bar party looked fun, but not as fun as the boat party
Sleep Cygnet in the background wants to join the fun with Mr. Leprechaun
Thanks for making the trip over to the blog today after watching the story on TV or online. If you take a look around the blog there are lots of answers to some of the questions I'm sure a lot of you have. We wrote a post about all the costs and I'm sure many of you will start there. Here is the video link in case you missed it. Knowing how cold it is outside this morning you may also want to know how we are doing. Yesterday when Marcus and cameraman Carlos came out it was 63 degrees inside the boat. Well with the wind we had last night and the brutally cold temperatures it's a bit cooler inside now, about 54. We have an alarm set if the temperature in the engine room goes below 40, which it did at 5AM. We took one of the space heaters out of the living area and moved it down to the engine room to keep things comfortable down there. Inside the engine room you obviously have the engines, which don't use antifreeze like a car, and can be damaged by the cold. T
We've written before about how many people ask us private things just because we live on a boat. Since our lifestyle is a bit different than most people there seems to be an idea that we want everyone knowing about our financial lives and personal habits. Here are some questions we get: How much does it cost? What do you do in the winter? How do you heat/cool the boat? Do you ever leave the marina? Why are you doing this? Do you miss your house? How do you shower? How do you poop? Those last two come up a lot more often than you'd think. Let's face it, most of us are a bit crude. Kevin has spent a lot of time with "proper" people, businesspersons, met many CEOs of large global companies or other folks you might think are high class. Most of them turn into 14 year olds after a few cocktails. That's when the real questions come out. A lot of people are just curious, and their curiosity can overwhelm their sense of society, privacy, and politen
For six and a half years we've been living aboard Cygnet, a 42 foot Carver 4207 Aft Cabin Motor-yacht in Chicago. We've also been writing this blog on and off and have been featured on local news and other programs. We've had fun but it's time we transition to another format. Originally we wanted to write about our experience and felt that a written blog was the best way to do it. But times are changing and we've seen many boating channels on YouTube become massive. We have no desire to become full time YouTube Vloggers but we know people like video. They say a picture says a thousand words, what do thousands of pictures have to say? See you on the Small Screen, Cygnet. We've seen the writing on the wall because many of you haven't seen the writing. Due to us only occasionally posting, and other factors, our once thriving blog has dwindled into triple digit readership. It's time to get people excited again! By transitioning to YouTube we ho
Wow, It sounds great that you have spent a whole day on the water. I am sure you have enjoyed a lot. A boat party is really looking amazing.
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