St. Patricks Day 2010: Dying of the River

It was my birthday this weekend, so my husband treated me to a lovely trip downtown. One of the main events was the Dying of the Chicago River, which we also attended a few years ago. It was a bit different this time because the weather was so awful. But we still had a great time!

First, we wandered around our hotel area and at the Hyatt, wondering if they really were going to do the dying of the river since it was so crappy out. Rainy and lots of fog. See?

The Wrigley Building. You can't even see the clocktower.


The river, pre-dying.


Just in case you need some perspective, here was our view from our room on Saturday morning, and then on Sunday:



But people did start arriving, surrounding the river on all sides. Lots and lots of weird St. Pat's outfits. I only got a couple of shots without being obvious.






She is my St. Patrick's Day soulmate. Hee!

I know, you are thinking, "But the river already looks green!"


But it's not NEON KELLY green. Once they start dying it, the difference is hilariously obvious.










They throw an orange powder into the water which instantly turns green. But if the wind is blowing the wrong way like it was this weekend, the guys throwing it start to look like Cheese Doodles. Hence the white coveralls, LOL.







When it's done, it's really quite lovely.









I'm lovin' it!






Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Porta-Bote

We're headed out for a week's vacation with my sister's family, where there will be much fishing, boating, hiking, and general silliness with my awesome nephews. Before I go, I wanted to show off my husband's fold-up boat that he got this year. It will be making the trip with us, of course; that's why we got it! I watched him put it together last month, and I have to admit, it's pretty darned cool.

The whole set is here on Flickr, but I'm posting some highlights on the blog.

Looking pretty insubstantial...


Unfolding...


More unfolding...


The stick becomes the key to the set-up.


Putting in the first seat


Putting in the second seat (less gracefully than the first, LOL)


Screwing in the stern board


Voila! We have a boat!


You can also attach wheels so you can roll it to the water, which I maintain are HUGELY DORKY and make it look like Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang.


There is, of course, a waterproof floating holder for the iPhone. OF COURSE THERE IS.


And we are on the water! With very bad rowing! (The trolling motor was added on the next trip. And Hubby claims to have improved his rowing technique now.)


(Sure does look weird without the bow piece. Hubby will be adding it this week, although it's still kind of ugly with it.)


Comes apart pretty fast too...


That's all of it, including the fishing backpack


Pretty cool, righ? It's called a Porta-Bote, and you can order them online. Tell 'em we sent you!