by Jim Bellomo | Oct 2, 2026 | Photography
This was our last full day in Chicago as we were heading up to Milwaukee the next morning. We had purposely not planned anything for the day so we could fill in what we had missed. I still got up early that morning and headed out to see what photographic opportunities awaited me. I walked about 3/4 miles to the Buckingham Fountain at 6:00 am, only to find it was turned off until 8:00 am. Had to go back later. But you can still see the photos below for the fruits of my early-morning traipsing around.
As for the rest of the day, Kathleen stayed in. We had already done too much walking on this trip for her poor knee. Mike, Cathy, and I went across the street to the Chicago Cultural Center to see the exhibits, but mostly to see the incredible building. I would say more, but this is a case where the photos and captions will do a better job. See below. Don't forget: if you click the first shot, you can scroll through using your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE... don't look at my photography on a phone. Please... (WOW! I haven’t said that on this whole trip yet, but keep it in mind.)
After we visited the Cultural Center, we walked Cathy back to the Airbnb, and Mike and I set off to take photos of the Buckingham Fountain, which our guide on Day two told us was the largest fountain in the USA or the World…I don’t remember which. I am sure Mike will remind me. It is a pretty spectacular fountain. We got those (see below) and headed back because we had big plans for the evening.
First was dinner at Corcoran’s Irish Pub, which turned out to be our least favorite so far, especially after our experience at Rose Mary the night before. Just kind of sad. My brother Steve and his wife Jamie joined us for dinner and afterward. Afterward, we went across the street to see the current production of the world-famous improv troop—Second City. If you are unfamiliar with Second City, it is easily the most prolific contributor of cast members to Saturday Night Live. Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Phil Hartman, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Seth Myers, and a lot more started there. The show was knockout funny, and we had a great time. It didn’t end until around 10:00, and then we had a Lyft incident that I won’t go into, but it kind of capped the evening poorly. We had to get to bed because we were driving to Milwaukee early the next morning.
"I went down to Chicago to try to go into a place called Second City. I auditioned for that and got in pretty quickly, but I couldn't stop partying. They gave me a warning: 'If you do it again, we're gonna kick you off the main stage."—Chris Farley
by Jim Bellomo | Sep 29, 2026 | Food Experiences, Photography
Yes, it does seem like all we do is eat, doesn't it? Well, our first full day in the Windy City (we found out it isn't named that because it is windy here; it has to do with politicians making a lot of wind with their speeches) was an all-tour day. We had booked a Chicago Overview Tour with Johanna through Tours by Locals, a company I have highly recommended for quite a while now. Their guides never disappoint. Johanna was no exception. But more about that later. But first, my early morning walk.
The absolute best thing about our Airbnb is its location. For visitors, the city center is Millennium Park. It is the one with the big BEAN art installation in the middle, and it is next door to the Chicago Art Institute. The park has so much more to see, and right now I am looking out the window of our 23rd-story Airbnb and staring directly at the park. That meant there were lots of places to walk to when I wanted to take early-morning photos. So I was up and out at 5:30 to make sure I got my full golden hour and was there for the sunrise at 6:34 am. Here are the photos from that walk.
When Kathleen and I were here in 2013 to visit my brother John, we went to breakfast at Wildberry and loved it. Since then, they have added a really nice, rather large patio with lots of tables. And believe it or not, in late September we were really happy to be seated out there. It was beautiful and warm. Our breakfast was also pretty much AMAZING. Check out the pics and my captions, and try not to get hungry.
After breakfast, we were headed out for our tour with Johanna. She got held up on the other side of a motorcade for the leader of the free world (snort), who was in town to present an award at a golf tournament. I am not going to get political here, but seriously…
Johanna finally arrived, and we headed out. Our day was full of quick stops where we would jump out, take photos, jump back in, and head somewhere else. We saw bridges, churches, skyscrapers, neighborhoods, great views, and so much more. And all along the way, Johanna kept us fully informed about what we were seeing, as well as Chicago's history and geography. She is a true local, having grown up here, and she knew a lot of information. We went to a bunch of places, and these are the before-lunch shots.
Last night we had our first iconic Chicago dish—deep dish pizza. Today our lunch would be the second iconic Chicago food, a Chicago hot dog. Before we left, we knew we wanted to try one, but all we knew about them was that you NEVER asked for ketchup on them. EVER! And I will admit that when it comes to hot dogs, I am a ketchup guy. But once I tried the Chicago dog, I may never go back. If you are unfamiliar with a traditional Chicago hot dog, it has an all-beef dog with tomatoes, pickle relish, mustard, a pickle spear, and small piquant peppers, all on a poppy seed bun. DELICIOUS! See the pics. We loved them. One made a super lunch, since we had that big breakfast and were going out later that night.
After lunch, we were back in the car for the second half of our tour. See the afternoon photos below. Around 4:00 pm, Johanna dropped us off at our Airbnb, and we said a fond farewell. I would recommend her to anyone for a fact-filled, fun day. Photos from the afternoon are below.
We were back at the AirBnB for about 90 minutes, and then we had reservations at Frontera Grill, one of Ricky Bayless’ Mexican restaurants here in Chicago. We had been to his “higher-end” place (Topolobampo) when we were here in 2013, and although it has a Michelin star, we weren’t impressed. I don’t understand the whole “foam as food” thing. It was four people for more than $400 (in 2013!!!), and we all left hungry. Last night at Frontera was not like that. The Eater website (where I find a lot of restaurant recommendations) said it was “not the pretentious food you would find at Topolobampo.” Thank the gods, it wasn’t. It was a delicious meal.
And that was enough for our day. We were all wiped out, and we had an early meeting with an architectural tour the next morning.
“It’s the finest hot dog on the planet, the one they make in Chicago. I said it, and I meant it!” —Anthony Bourdain
by Jim Bellomo | Sep 23, 2026 | Uncategorized
Not sure if you remember this, but we have a group of six people who travel every October. We call ourselves the October Bunch. We have traveled together every October since 2023, when we sailed on Oceania’s Vista from Montreal to Miami. Since then, we have done river cruises on both the Douro in Portugal and the Columbia River. And since it is almost October, we are off to sail again with the Bunch.
The October Bunch includes me, Kathleen, my brother Steve (of the famous Steve test of restaurants), my sister-in-law Jamie, and our incredible Florida friends Mike and Cathy. Kathleen and I have been traveling with Mike since 2005, and I consider him one of my two best friends in the world.
This year, our trip will start in Chicago this Saturday, and we will spend four days touring the city. We haven’t been there together since 2013. (I was back in 2014 to deal with my youngest brother’s death, but that doesn’t count as a city visit. Jamie and Steve have been there most recently, and our other two Bunchers haven’t been there for more than 25 years.)This should be fun.
We are in Chicago from Saturday afternoon until Wednesday morning, when we rent a car and drive north to the home of cheese and beer—Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I am pretty sure none of us have been there before. We stay two nights at a really cool hotel (which you will see when we get there). Then, on Friday morning, we board the Viking Octantis for a seven-night cruise that takes us to five of the six Great Lakes (we don’t get to Superior).
We are very excited about the cruise because, after all our years of cruising, this is an entirely new kind of ship we have never been on before. In fact, as cruise ships go, only two like it exist in the world: Octantis and her sister ship, Polaris. Octantis holds only 374 passengers in 187 staterooms, so it is much smaller than a Viking Ocean ship and larger than a Viking River boat.
As an expedition ship, she spends most of the year in either the Arctic or the Antarctic. On the way between her two main destinations, she visits the Great Lakes and the Caribbean. This gives us a chance to check her out. She has a lot of very cool gear, including Special Operations Boats for exploring, Zodiacs, and even two six-man submarines (John and Paul). The ship has a scientific lab for oceanic exploration.
You can see our route at the top of this page. We love where this cruise ends… when we sail into Lake Ontario (NOT Lake America) and disembark in Toronto, one of our favorite cities. We will spend the night so we can see our good friends Tim and Perry. It’s been way too long since we last saw them.
That’s the coming two weeks. I will be blogging away, and as always, I will have photos. I hope to use what I learned in Belgium two weeks ago on this trip.
“An account of an expedition is not a novel. Therefore, an authentic account can never be given, let alone written down by someone who was not present.” —Reinhold Messner
by Jim Bellomo | Oct 13, 2025 | Uncategorized
Our first stop on this seven-night cruise is the Washington port of Kalama, billed as the “gateway to Mt. St. Helens.” 98% of the people on board were scheduled to take an afternoon trip by “luxury motor coach” to see St. Helens’ crater and stop by the visitor center. When Kathleen and I saw the weather (having visited Mt. St. Helens numerous times before), we decided to stay on board, and I could finish yesterday’s post. The other four members of our group decided to go ahead and go, as they had never seen the mountain before.
Unfortunately, the weather was not ideal. In fact, for most of the morning, it had been pouring. When they headed out just after lunch, they had high hopes that the clouds would be below them at the summit, but instead, they found themselves in the clouds rather than above them. As my brother Steve said (in a text from the “luxury motor coach”), “We got a nice bus ride.”
But later in the afternoon, while the buses were up in the clouds, the sky cleared for a little bit here in the port city of Kalama, so I got a chance to get off the ship and walk to the new Marketplace building, the port’s Interpretive Center and all the way into town without getting very wet from the passing showers.
This means I took some great photos (at least I think they are), especially one that showcases a very unique feature of our ship. When we sailed up to the Kalama dock, for some reason, we did not stop there. Instead, the captain went a ways down the bank and shoved the nose of the ship directly into the side of the river bank. Then, the front of the bow lifts up, and that’s how we got off and on the ship yesterday. I know it sounds strange, but here’s what it looks like in a photo I took after exiting the ship myself.
After exiting out of Harmony’s bow and getting up to the bank, there was a very nice walkway that took me all the way down to the entrance to the Mountain Timber Market. Think of this as a kind of mini-mall full of cool little shops and other attractions to entice travelers like me to spend some cash. I took a few pictures of this part of the walk that I can share.
The Mountain Timber Market
Inside were these two guys keeping everyone entertained.
Above the first floor of the mini-mall, there is a long flat board. At least it looks that way from the bottom, but when seen from above is an amazing, incredibly long cross section of a totem pole.
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If you are ever driving south on I-5 and need a break, this would not be a bad place to stop. Really, a super building with lots of great shops, not to mention that totem pole.
After visiting the Market and listening to the great music, I headed further towards downtown. I shot a few more photos of the very nice park-like riverbank. There was an outdoor totem pole, a very nice hotel, and, of course, the river itself.
The outdoor totem pole.
A very nice McMenamins hotel.
The river as seen from behind the hotel.
A passing paddle wheeler
And the city’s marina for small boats.,
From the hotel, you can stroll past the marina, climb up three rickety, swayin’ metal stairs, cross a bridge over the railroad tracks, then come down even more rickety stairs to reach downtown Kalama. The town—more of a highway-side village—was mighty quiet on a Sunday afternoon. I was looking for a birthday card to send to a close friend, and honestly, the only option available was the local supermarket, which, it turned out, had a surprisingly fine selection of birthday cards. As I mentioned, downtown is really charming and quaint, so I’ve included some photos to give you a sense of the place.
Some restored buildings shops
Really liked this one.
And I loved the name of this place.
After finding that birthday card, a funny magnet to act as a gift and some cool Christmas ornaments, it was back to the ship for me. On the way, what else? A few more photos to share.
Looking down river
One more of the marina, mostly to prove there was blue sky in Kalama yesterday.
One mystery I would like solved is that the last photo in that group was taken from a very nice pier that would have fit our ship perfectly. We know that because we drove by this pier on Monday on our way to Portland, and one of Harmony’s sister ships was attached to that pier. It would have made it a lot easier for all of us to access that Marketplace as well as the port’s Interpretive Center. No ships were docked there all day, so I have no clue why we didn’t use it.
That about covers Kalama. We had a great day with some very nice food and drink, which I will cover in another post.
There’s nothing greener than Washington state. They have the most beautiful vegetation on the planet. And the water is so clean. —Fabio Lanzoni
