boat

Entries Tagged as 'boat'

Blarney Island

August 26th, 2011 · No Comments

So, we took the boat over from Port of Blarney to Blarney Island. Let me be clear when I say that this is not a bar ON and island, but the bar IS the island. It’s location is a mile off-shore in Green Lake, nearby Antioch, IL, inspiring their slogan “A Mile Away From Reality.”

The story is that in the early 1900s Blarney Island was a houseboat on the Fox River. Jack O’Connor owned this houseboat and across the way he had some big competition from Shorty Shobin’s place, known as Shorty’s. Well, one night in a poker game they each bet their businesses and Shorty lost. Over the years Blarney Island has grown immensely and changed hands many times. IN 1939, a dam was put up in McHenry, which flooded the riverbanks. The dam created what is now Grass Lake and also cut Blarney Island off from dry land access, making it an official island.

Ok. Enough of the history lesson. If you want to read more, go here.

Dallas

When we arrived we all got out of the boat and kind of looked around, wandered around. Dallas bee-lined for the food ordering window, which was the best thing we could have done. (Aside from my bee-line for the bathroom.)

We sat inside at the lower bar for a while and ate and had a beer. Someone (not me) took these photos of our scantily-clad waitresses down there.

Really gross, though. I looked up and saw all this underwear hanging from the ceiling! Ugh! Time to go outside!

Outside it was a gorgeous day. There was a band playing cover songs. Pretty fun. Actually, when they went on a break they were just playing songs on the speakers and I danced with Brian to All the Single Ladies and possibly more songs. When the band came back, I was on the stage talking to them about what to play. I requested Miley Cyrus (inside joke) but they said no.

Front: Rachelle & Christine Back: Dallas, Sara, Todd, Kelly

The deck outside was really nice. It was great to be in the sun, as this summer comes to a close. There were outside bars, outside band, outside dance floor, outside tables and chairs. This is not a place to go in bad weather.

Here’s the outside bar. Blarney Island claims to be “The Key West of the Midwest” and not only that, also “The Greatest Boating Bar in the World.” Key West because it’s decorated with “palm trees, boats, babes, bikinis, booze and more“. The greatest boating bar because it’s an island you can drive your boat right up to.

Mike & Sara

I honestly do not know how long we sat outside drinking beer and listening to the band. Here’s Mikey with my sunglasses on. My busted sunglasses. Adam and I were spinning in circles.. more like he grabbed my arm and spun me… and my sunglasses went flying off and the lenses popped out. No biggie, though. I only get cheapo sunglasses for this reason!

Maybe Blarney Island should also claim to be the best helicopter bar. At one point a helicopter landed there and some guys got out to hang out at the bar. Crazy. I ran over to see what was going on and some bouncer/security stopped me before I could get too close. I think he said one of the owners has a helicopter? I’m not sure now.

Saw this funny sign in the bathroom.

Kelly, Sara, Rachelle

At some point (I have no idea what time it was) we had to go to meet the van we hired to pick us up (no cabs out here). Here we are waiting for the boat to arrive to take us back to the Port of Blarney.

Christine & Adam

Adam & Christine waiting for the boat.

Dallas

Dallas being an idiot on the boat…..

Sara & Brian

… while Sara and Brian enjoy a romantic boat ride.

Brian, Todd, Dallas

At that point we probably should have just gone home, but NO. We ended up going to some townie bars in Antioch. First was The Tavern Depot. If I remember correctly, this was in a strip mall kind of area. And it was empty. Like just us and the band. The bartender was sweet though, and we filled up on free popcorn and some pizza while playing pool.

Todd

Next we walked over to Limerick Lounge, which was really packed. It was a party going on in there!

Todd, Mike, Brian

At some point some of our group left and went to Rugans, which was where we finally met up. There was a guy here playing the guitar and singing. I asked him to play Miley Cyrus and he said NO. I was getting so tired by now. As you can see above, everyone was pretty much DONE! Time to go home.

Navy Pier

July 21st, 2011 · 2 Comments

On Jess’s second day of her visit I took her to Navy Pier. I haven’t been to the pier for years, so it was time. Jess had visited Navy Pier before, but she was very young (2004, 2005). I asked her if she remembered and she said she can’t remember a lot from when she was little. Funny. In my mind she is still “little.” Hahha. She is the ripe old age of 8.

Rachelle & Jessica :: Seadog Boat Cruise

Quinn :: Seadog Boat Cruise

Our captain.

Chicago Skyline from Seadog Lake Cruise

Chicago Harbor Lighthouse from the Seadog Lake Cruise

A month or so ago I saw a Groupon for Seadog boat cruises. I thought this would be something fun for Jess and I to do, so I bought it. I invited Quinn to join us, so we met Jen and Chad and Chad’s dad, who was in town from Baltimore, on the pier. We were doing the 30-minute lake tour. Seadog also does Chicago River architecture tours and some kind of extreme ride where they go really fast and spin in circles and who knows what.

For the lake tour we would go fast for a bit and then slow down and the guide would point out some things in the skyline and then go fast again. I think we went about 40 mph. I’m not sure, though, because the guide was terrible and had really bad jokes, so I was trying not to listen. It was a fun ride. Definitely worth the Groupon price of $13. And, it was great to be on the water and get the breeze, since it was 90+ degrees, 100 with the heat index, that day. HOT.

Navy Pier Swings

After the boat ride, Quinn went off to the Children’s Museum (located on the pier) for a while and Jess and I headed for the rides on Navy Pier. Jess had been telling me about how she went to Bay Beach, an amusement park in Green Bay, and how she really liked the swing ride there. She wanted to try the swings on Navy Pier, but wasn’t so sure when I told her she’d have to ride herself because I get sick going in circles! I told her I’d wait right at the exit and it would be fine. She manned up and went on the ride and even told me later on that she was brave enough to barely even hold on! Daredevil.

Funny side note about Bay Beach. Our family used to go there when I was young. The way that Jess was describing the rides to me, it seems like nothing has changed. I remembered going on the rides she told me she went on. One difference was that Jess told me they had a roller coaster now, which they never had before. Back when we used to go, it was like our parents and aunts and uncles would stake out a spot by Lake Michigan and hand my cousins and I some money. We’d go buy tickets and candy or whatever and disappear for the day. Just meet them back up on the grass for a picnic later. I don’t think this is how Jess’s trip went!

So, after the swings we met back up with Quinn and his family for lunch and then we were back on our own, off for more rides!

Jessica on the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel

Rachelle & Jessica. Right after this Jess actually spoke up to request that I don’t take any more photos of her!

Views from the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel

View of the swings from the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel

Jess had also told me that the ferris wheel at Bay Beach was boring and she didn’t like it. When she saw how big the ferris wheel at Navy Pier was, she decided she wanted to give it a second try. Here’s the thing: The Navy Pier ferris wheel goes so slow. Like so slow that it never even stops to let people on and off. They just exit and board while the thing is moving… slowly moving. And you only get one trip around. Afterwards Jess told me that it was boring and she didn’t like it. Figures!

Cirque Shanghai Extreme

Cirque Shanghai Extreme Motorcycle

Cirque Shanghai Extreme Motorcycle stunt

There are FOUR motorcycles in there!

Our final activity on the pier was to see the Cirque Shanghai Extreme show. I took my other niece Stephanie to a show similar to this a couple years ago and she really liked it. This Cirque show is kind of like a variety show with groups of performers coming out and doing different tricks and acrobatics and balancing acts. One of the biggest additions to this show was the acrobatics they did with motorcycles in the show’s finale. They rode the motorbikes on a wire over the audience and did tricks from above the middle of the audience. They also rode the bikes in a metal ball. I thought it was impressive when they did one, but then they added another and another and another. At the end there were 4 motorcycles riding around in the metal ball. Crazy. I couldn’t tell if Jess liked the show or not. She seemed interested, but afterwards wouldn’t really say. (She is still SO SO shy and mostly not talkative around us. Especially Dallas, who she has not spoken a word to in her whole life.)

This day turned out to be a long day, just because it was so hot outside, I think. I was so sweaty and tired when we got home. Plus, we took a bus and a train each way to get out there. Ugh! But it was a fun day and worth it. On the ride north to meet Amanda, I did get Jess to admit she had a fun weekend, so that is good. Before her visit she had told me more than once that she didn’t even want to come for a visit, but I’m glad she did. Despite her shyness and lack of openness to us, I think it is good for her and fun for me to have her around. Hopefully it will get better as she gets older (I’ve been saying this for about 6 years!).

Deep Sea Fishing Off the Kona Coast

March 24th, 2011 · 3 Comments

At 5:30 a.m. we got up and headed down to the Honokohau Marina near Kona. Chris chartered a boat for us to go deep sea fishing! I thought it would be really expensive, but we were able to get a private boat and captain for a half day and it came to about $50 per person and we got to keep any fish we caught!

Captain Bob took us out on his boat, the Thrill Seeker. When asked what kind of fish we wanted to catch, I said “Delicious ones!” Danny planned to cook up the fish we caught for dinner that night, since they were staying in a condo with a full kitchen and grill. Captain Bob said he’d try to get us some ono, ahi or mahi. I think he also goes for marlin (black, blue, or striped).

At the marina, before heading out, we each took Dramamine. No one wanted to be stuck out on a boat for 4 hours puking their guts out because they were seasick.

Unknown side effect of Dramamine: Drowsiness. Not even just a little tired… but like crash-out sleep!

The good news is that no one got seasick. The bad news is that we all slept for most of the boat ride! The good news? No one missed anything. The bad news? We didn’t miss anything because we caught ZERO fish!

We did get to see some schools of spinner dolphins and a bunch of whales, not humpbacks, but a smaller kind of whale.

Sign in the bathroom: “Please do not put anything in the “head” unless you have eaten it first. “Head” is boat-speak for “toilet.”

At the end I was kind of disappointed, but it’s not like Captain Bob can guarantee that you’re going to catch fish. He did tell us that about 35% of his customers are repeats because they’re happy, so I’m sure he catches fish often… just not with us! As Chris said, “this is why they call it fishing, not catching.” So, we paid for a chartered boat to take us on a beautiful sunrise trip, basically. It looked like this. For four hours:

Since we still wanted to Danny to cook us dinner, after we were done fishing (or not fishing) we went to the Bite Me Fish Market at the marina and to Costco in Kona to buy fish and things for dinner!

Chicago River Boat Tour

May 6th, 2010 · No Comments

I’m on a Boat!

August 10th, 2009 · 5 Comments

Killian grew up sailing on Lake Michigan with his dad and brothers. Remember last year? He even got married at the Columbia Yacht Club, where they dock their boat. Killian and his family do the big races, like the race from Chicago to Mackinac Island, but also do smaller Beer Can Regattas every Wednesday night.

For years Killian has invited me to go out with them on a Wednesday night and I never did. Dallas got really sick once when he went and I was afraid I would too. I’ve gotten sick on a zodiac in Hawaii and on a sailboat in the Caribbean and whale watching in San Diego, so I had a history. At Tour de Fat Jess and Killian got to talking and Killian told her about sailing and Jess was interested in going some time. Then about a week ago I saw Killian’s brother Malachy on the train and we started talking about it. Finally, I decided “enough talking!” and made plans for Jess and I to join them for sailing.

I took Dramamine ahead of time and I didn’t get sick. I had a fun time and so did Jess. I don’t know that we could tell you much about sailing.. we were just trying to stay out of the way of the action.. but I did get some great photos.

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