Take a Break from Winter

How About a Scenic Kayak Ride

For those of you hearty enough to brave the Northern winter, it’s been a worthy challenge this year. That darn Global Warming has once again headed his ugly rear and brought us artic conditions and piles of snow. According to Buckeye Chuck, spring is near. But, do not bet the ranch on that prediction. So, in an effort to shore up your strength, I wanted to use this post to take a break from winter. Perhaps we can travel to a warm, scenic location and paddle our way through the splendor of Mother Nature…

Aren’t these pleasant pictures of nature’s serenity? Maybe…but that’s not PugsleyTonks. That approach would be too normal. We shall take a scenic kayak trip, but let’s leave Mother Nature behind. Let’s do kayaking…Chicago style.

Kayaking…Chicago Style

When you choose a kayak adventure on the Chicago river, you can forget about the solitude and quiet serenity of Mother Nature. The Trump Tower replaces the beauty of the expansive mountains. Furthermore, the closest thing to wildlife are the drunken tourists whipping by you on rented boats. There is the realistic threat of a large tourist boat chewing you up like a manatee. As opposed to the pictures above, your view is something like this…

The basic kayaking approach on the Chicago river is like using a bike lane on a major highway. The big boats get the middle part. Then, the little kayaks get the edges on either side. There are continuous wakes from the traffic that make staying in your lane a bit challenging. Furthermore, you theoretically have right of way versus the big boats. But, that assumes they know the law. And, that they see you. And finally, they can stop in time.

If that is not enough to go wrong, they will even rent you tandem kayaks. Yes, Carol and I can kayak in the same boat. Therefore, I get an additional “115 pounds” of dead weight to propel through the water. Then, there is the additional hitch of Carol never steering in the right direction. What could possibly go wrong?

Chicago River Scenery

While the majesty of Mother Nature was not on display, scenery on a Chicago river kayak tour is outstanding. Furthermore, Carol and I also choose to do this trip with a professional guide. Consequently, the tour guide provided us with interesting narration on the urban architectural and Chicago history. For example, here was my view from the kayak with a couple of my least boring photographic captures…

My favorite non-building site was the pedal boat/bar. If you have been to any major downtown, you have seen those stupid, mobile, pedal bars. Basically, its a bar on wheels that you pedal around a city while you drink. Why pedal around? Just go drink at the bar. Anyway, while kayaking, I saw my first pedal boat/bar. Same concept, but on the water. As if there were not enough things to run me over, now there is a drunken, pedal boat/bar.

All kidding inside, this kayaking adventure was a fun and different thing to do in downtown Chicago. Most importantly, I did not drop my phone in the river when taking all these pictures. With good weather, taking a scenic kayak adventure in Chicago river is worth doing. In a very small way, I hope this post helped you to take a break from winter. Have a warm and wonderful day. PT

Links and Other Follow up

I hope you have enjoyed “Take a Break from Winter” on Traveling with PugsleyTonks.

If you need a good meal in Chicago after kayaking, check out this post https://travelingwithpt.com/grilling-out-in-chicago/

Additionally, If you want to plan your own Chicago river adventure, here you go https://urbankayaks.com/