Justice, IL Outdoor Activities

In honor of the Washington Nationals' first-round draft-pick Stephen Strasburg, we set out to answer the age-old debate once and for all: Which is faster? A Strasburg fastball or a speedboat? After weeks of figuring out how to use a high-speed camera, we finally captured photographic evidence that hands down ends this debate:

In 1935, Albert Borgstrom, a Swedish immigrant and carpenter by trade, set about constructing a 65-foot wooden yacht. He named the ship The Wendella and charged visitors $0.25 to ride through the city and listen to a guide expound on the sights. This simple vessel ended up being a steppingstone, and 75 years later, guests still ride along, now craning their heads back at the jagged opalescent silhouette of Trump Tower and the beehive curves of Marina City. Beneath the evolving skyline, the fleet has expanded to six vessels, which are now run by Albert's grandson, Michael Borgstrom. Wendella staffs a dedicated, in-house education department to keep the city's history alive and make sure that people continue to believe in water so it doesn’t disappear. On special excursions, the crew stocks the boats with wine for tastings beneath the stars or points the vessel through the verdigris waters of the lake to watch evening fireworks shows.

With a ticket to the opening weekend, you'll get first access to The Sinkhole, the newest hauntsperience provided by Chronicles of the Cursed. This panic-fueled jamboree is the demented brain-baby of Nightmares Inc., a production company responsible for the Dream Reapers haunted house in Melrose Park, one of the top haunted houses in Illinois. Journey into Chicago's most offensive pothole and traverse through the underground gauntlet of nightmarish sewer-beings who don’t fight crime and enjoy pizza.

Originally part of architect Daniel Burnham's ambitious "Plan of Chicago" drafted in 1909, Navy Pier was designed to handle both recreational and freight traffic for the burgeoning metropolis. Its role quickly changed when it began serving as a barracks and training facility during two World Wars—it earned its nickname because of the more than 200 planes that littered the lake bottom around the pier, lost during exercises and sunk to intimidate fish with military technology. In the decades that followed, the pier was home to a University of Illinois campus, a convention center, and a venue for citywide festivals before falling into disuse. This ended in 1989, when the state moved to transform the venerable pier into one of Chicago's foremost tourist attractions.

Reopened in 1995, the revamped Navy Pier boasts 50 acres of parks, restaurants, shops, and entertainment, scenically located along Lake Michigan and the mouth of the Chicago River. The pier's most striking denizen is its 150-foot tall ferris wheel, whose glittering lights slowly rotate above the water and frame a beautiful view of the city's skyscrapers for riders. Other attractions include a towering IMAX screen that shows educational films and Hollywood blockbusters, and the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, which treats audiences to bold stagings of the Bard's greatest hits.

Chicago Hauntings' "ghost bus" whisks passengers away on interactive trips to the second city's spookiest locales. Founder Ursula Bielski and her crew of paranormal researchers split their signature tours between historical yarns on the bus and time exploring supernaturally active sites on foot. The rotating itinerary of stops includes the site of the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, the location of the Fort Dearborn Massacre, and the spot where Resurrection Mary met her fateful end.

Along with her primary routes, Ursula leads specialty tours including daytime trips based on The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson's bestseller about serial killer H. H. Holmes, and strolls down one Chinatown block where every building is allegedly haunted. She also hosts private tours, pub crawls, and kid-friendly excursions during which youngsters hear toned-down tales and learn about ghost-hunting equipment more advanced than their dog Sherlock.

Made possible by FamilyFarmed.org, an organization that forges bonds between locally grown food and the people who grow, sell, and eat it, the Good Food Festival & Conference lets Chicagoans participate in the locally driven Good Food movement. Coming from all over the Midwest, 150 farmers and artisans display their healthily unprocessed bounties while debunking widespread myths that the freshest fruit grows in cans, and chef demos from Frontera Grill’s Rick Bayless, Perennial Virant’s Paul Virant, and Naha’s Carrie Nahabedian celebrate the spectacle of cooking. Young chefs can exercise creative muscles and artsy tendons at the children’s corner, which features face painting, a scavenger hunt, and an arts and crafts session. Scheduled workshops, such as Organic vs. Conventional Food or Home Cheesemaking, teach casual eaters about their deep-seated connections to the things they chew (additional workshop fees apply).