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This weekend marks the end of the River Cruise season and the anticipation of the joys of winter. Our five Short Tales reflect both of these things.

“A picture is worth a thousand words” – and here are two pictures from Rebecca Trumbull and Marcia Ross that reflect the varied audiences the River Cruise serves, followed by another diverse encounter on the river by Cynthia Bates.

A drawing made by a six year old as a gift at the end of my tour. I think she gets the message about how important the bridges are. Rebecca Trumbull

I had a bachelor party on board and they insisted on taking this picture with me and making me part of the festivities. Marcia Ross

Global Guests by Cynthia Bates

It’s always interesting to see the kind of global travelers we encounter on the River Cruise. I thought my most exotic passenger ‘til now was the lady from Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

But yesterday, I encountered a family of four from Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan. Here for two weeks, and our River Cruise at the top of their list. Despite a bit of a drizzle, they stayed on deck in the front row and seemed mesmerized.

Now only three more of these (former Soviet) “stans” to go.

Amanda Lewis describes an unusual tour on a snowy day. Emily Clott’s tale joins the river and a snowy day.

Dodging Snow Plow Tractors by Amanda Lewis

On a snowy January day, I gave the Must See tour to a group of ladies from England. The daughter was living in Chicago temporarily and wanted to show off some of the city for her visiting family. We went up the stairs to the Illinois Center outdoor plaza and began to discuss the Wrigley Building, the Tribune Building, and the Illinois Center. The snow was really coming down. We joked about them getting a truly memorable tour. Little did we know what was about to happen.

Midway through my presentation on Mid-century Modern, a tractor with a snow plow began to shovel the plaza. Needless to say, we cut things a little short due to the sound and to get out of the way. About ten minutes later I was presenting on Aqua from the Aon plaza and lo and behold …. another snow plow tractor appeared and we could see it coming right towards us! We ducked into one of the spaces along the building to let it go by and then went on our way. The guests were good sports about all the adventure.

Close Encounters of the Snowy Kind by Emily Clott

About five years ago, I walked down to give a November River Cruise in an early season snow storm. A few guests were huddled near the dock waiting for the tour to begin, so I walked up and told them I was sorry that the weather was so bad.

“That’s not a problem for us,” a woman declared nodding toward her husband, “we’re from Rochester, NY. It snows all the time there.” I told her that my sister and her husband used to live in Rochester, but it wasn’t snowy enough for them, so they decided to move to Marquette, Michigan where it snows even more.

“That sounds like Jenny and Michael Broadway,” she said to her husband.

“Jenny Broadway is my sister,” said I.

The number of incredible coincidences necessary for that story to have happened is countless. It truly is a small world!

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