Third Windy City Saga Tour Complete!

Whew! Last weekend was the third Windy City Saga Tour that I've hosted in less than eighteen months. It was an unmitigated success. This time we were at capacity again with 22 readers plus my husband and myself, and two special guest authors on Saturday--Kate Breslin and Laura Frantz! These tours are based on the sites readers see in my historical novels in the Chicago-based series called The Windy City Saga: Veiled in Smoke, which focuses on the Great Fire of 1871; Shadows of the White City, which is set during the World's Fair of 1893; and Drawn by the Current, which revolves around the 1915 Eastland Disaster.

Our home for the weekend was the historic Palmer House hotel, which was featured in both Veiled in Smoke and Shadows of the White City. The interior of the Palmer House. It went through a $1.7 million restoration.

Downtown Chicago is beautiful! When the city was first founded, they called it a City in a Garden, which was likely aspirational at the time. But today, it lives up to the name.

This time we had our group meetings in my hotel suite rather than in a separate meeting room. It made it easy to serve coffee/tea, etc.

Our shuttle was ALWAYS early for us, which did my nerves a world of good. 

Below is our group from Thursday night, Aug. 31, on the steps of historic Second Presbyterian Church, which has Landmark status. 

The interior of the church is amazing. There are 175 angels in the sanctuary. On our tour of the church, we were able to go up into the balconies and get an up close look at all the Tiffany windows. You can see part of our group on the right side of the picture below.

After our tour of the church, we had a walking tour of Prairie Avenue Historic District. This Second Empire-style home shown below was very typical of what would have been here during the time of the Great Fire of Chicago. This house was what I had in mind when I wrote about Hiram Sloane's house, where Meg and Sylvie lived for much of Veiled in Smoke.

After our walking tour, we took a tour inside the Glessner House mansion. Then we had dinner in the carriage house, where we were joined by "Catherine O'Leary" --actress Ellie Presents portrayed the Irish woman who was blamed for the fire. Bill Tyre, executive director of the Glessner House, portrayed a reporter who interviewed her for our group.

The next day began bright and early with breakfast in our suite. Here I am with readers Rick and Kim Elliott and the series this tour is based upon! 

After breakfast, we took the shuttle north to the Lincoln Park area. Readers had the option of visiting the Chicago History Museum or going on a walking tour of Lincoln Park. We had a great group, all together!

After a giant lunch at River Roast, with a view of the Chicago River at the site of the Eastland Disaster, we headed south to the Chicago Maritime Museum. There we saw artifacts related to the disaster, and I participated in a joint program which the museum opened up to its member. When the Eastland Disaster Historical Society finished their phenomenal, moving presentation, I shared briefly about the decisions I made as an author creating a novel around the historicl event. Below, I am with Ted and Barb Wachholz of the Eastland Disaster Historical Society. Barb's grandmother Bobbie was a survivor of the disaster. She was 13 years old at the time.

Saturday morning we were joined by authors Laura Frantz and Kate Breslin for a Breakfast Book Club in our suite!

I'm still in awe that these ladies joined us for our activities Saturday. What a joy to have them along!

Our tour guide Kevin of Wild Onion Walks took us on a walking tour up Michigan Avenue. We had the best possible weather, right in between two heat waves!

One of our major stops was at the Chicago Cultural Center, which was the first dedicated public library. It was often called The People's Palace. Step inside and you'll know why!

From there, we walked just a couple of blocks to Macy's on State Street, or as we history buffs like to call it, the Marshall Field building, since it was that flagship department store for so many decades. The photo below was by Jeanne Crea!

During our tour of this building, we saw this amazing Tiffany mosaic domed ceiling. 1.6 million pieces of glass were used in its making.

Our morning tour ended at the Walnut Room, where we had our last group meal together. The Walnut Room restaurant on the 7th floor of Macy's. Marshall Field was the first department store in America to offer a restaurant.

The afternoon was free, and then we came together for the grand finale: the Novel-Tea Evening with the Authors! We had a wonderful time with about 55 readers! Here are the authors, from left to right: Lynn Austin, Susie Finkbeiner, Amanda Barratt, Joanna Davidson Politano, Laura Frantz, Jocelyn Green, Kate Breslin. Each one is SO warm and generous. Chris Jager was there from Baker Book House to emcee the event and of course--sell books! I'm so grateful to all who came to this event! 

For more photos from our trip, see the Facebook album here. These readers also did amazing things during the free time! Visits to The Art Institute and Millenium Park, dining at deep-dish pizzerias, architectural cruises on the river, adventures on the Wooded Island and historic cemetries, to name a few. They all made the most of their weekends, that's for sure!

If you had gone on this trip, what do you think you would have enjoyed the most?