We are staying at Hammond Marina about 20 miles south of Chicago. We wanted to spend a few days closer in town at DuSable Marina, but it was very expensive, and we called too late to get a reservation there for the holiday weekend. So Aunt Aggie is at Hammond for two weeks at a cost of $480. That comes to about $1/foot/per day, which is a great rate.
Hammond has some advantages and disadvantages. It is a huge marina with deep water and well maintained docks. There are six men's and six women's bath and shower rooms near our dock. There is a laundry room with washers and dryers for $1.00/load. There is a huge casino next door with a delicious and bountiful buffet for about $18/person.
Hammond is not in the center of Chicago. You can't walk anywhere fun from here. There is no swimming pool. (We did spot a beach next door.)
In order to get to town, we read about and tried a witty plan. We registered at Horseshoe Casino for the Total Rewards Program. We were given blankets as a door prize. We used our Total Rewards cards to sign in for the buffet on Friday night. We also inquired about the casino's shuttle service to and from Chicago. The casino picks up gamblers from several locations and brings them to Hammond. There they can gamble because the casino floats. It is not on land.
On Saturday we called Uber for a driver to take us to Chicago, so we could go to the Field Museum. Rudy picked us up and took us to the museum. When it was time to go home, we walked to the Hyatt Regency and caught the casino shuttle for free. When we disembarked, the driver gave us a blue paper ticket for a free ride back to Chicago. The ticket was punched for three hours later because you are supposed to gamble for three hours at least before you get the free ride. A casino employee also swiped our cards.
On Sunday Rudy took us to the Architecture Boat Tour. We caught the shuttle back to Aunt Aggie.
When our cards were swiped, no one jumped out and said, "You did not gamble for three hours yesterday!"
Today we met Karen and John from Last Mango, some of our first looper friends, at Giordano's Pizza. We ate delicious deep dish pizza: sausage, mushroom and onion. We rode the shuttle both ways since we weren't going to town until the afternoon.
We really enjoyed seeing Karen and John again. They had to stop their loop in Florida to come home to Chicago and take care of his parents. We have kept in touch, and they urged us to call as we got to Chicago. We are so glad we did. They are doing great and may be able to start cruising again in January. I hope they come through Georgia, and we can see them on the ICW around Savannah.
My camera could not get a photo where the name "Horseshoe"
stands out clearly. The white, shiny blob is the name.
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