blue skies smilin' at me on the chicago water taxi

These are a couple of pics from my boat ride commute Wednesday morning. 
Say it with me - boat. ride. commute.


There are all sorts of methods people use for getting to their jobs day in and day out.
Walking. Driving. Trains. Buses. 


I take a train from my home in the 'burbs to the station downtown. Nothing unusual about that. Thousands of commuters do the same. It's an excellent way to make the 35 mile trip. No traffic jams. No road construction. No one driving like a maniac, passing me when there is clearly no room for them to squeeze between already speeding lines of traffic. No one driving too slowly in the passing lane, causing me to step on the gas, accelerate into the adjacent lane and swerve around the offender, giving them a nasty look as I pass and squeeze myself back into the fast moving lane.


The train gets me downtown reliably. Every day. Once in a while, there are delays and people love to moan and groan about the delays. But overall, train-ing beats driving, hands down. I can sit back, close my eyes, listen to my music (properly, non-intrusively through my earbuds), check my e-mails on my iPhone, sip a cup of coffee. 


After I get to the station downtown, I have a couple of options for going the last mile and a half to the office. 
Walk or bus or boat.
Most people opt to walk.
A lot choose a bus.


And, a very few of us walk a block to the far end of the train station, exit through a revolving door, cross a sidewalk, enter a covered doorway, down a metal stairway, down to a dark, basement-like, waiting area. At the far end of the waiting area is a door and through that door is a short walkway that leads to the Water Taxi. A taxicab-yellow-with-black-trim boat. 
A boat!


There are cushioned seats inside the cabin with enough space to seat about 40 people. There are seats in front that are outside, open to the elements. And there are a few seats in the back, again, outside and open. 
My choice seat, weather permitting, is a seat in the back. I find a seat where I can lean my back against the back wall of the cabin, prop my backpack next to me and for the minimal charge of a buck-sixty, with the purchase of a ten ride pass, I let the boat take me down the river for a ten minute mini-vacation. 
The river goes past amazing buildings, under a series of bridges, past some mild attempts to bring food, drink and entertainment to the river's edge and drops me off two short blocks from the office.

It's a boat!
It glides though the water for ten delicious minutes. 


And on some days, the sun is out, the sky is blue. It's beautiful...