NAVY PIER — Standing in line for the Navy Pier Ferris wheel on Sunday, 6-year-old Ryder Alderson was nervous. Unlike his 11-year-old brother Drake, who'd ridden the wheel five times, Ryder was a novice, and afraid of heights.
"I've been on it zero times!" Ryder proclaimed as he climbed into the red capsule.
But once they lifted above the buildings around them, Ryder forgot his fear, pointing and yelling "Look at that!" at every tarred rooftop, gleaming skyscraper and flock of birds that crept into view.
Ryder and Drake's parents had brought them from their home in Crete, Ill., to ride the wheel on its last day in service. The wheel is set to be dismantled and replaced by newer, taller one by next summer.
The Aldersons were spending the day biking up the lakeshore together, but they stopped at the iconic theme park to get in one final ride.
"It's one of the best ways to get a good view of the city, in a way that's slow and comfortable and doesn't cost too much," said Darrin Alderson, Ryder and Drake's father. "It's the perfect thing for kids ... and I wanted to bring [Ryder] to let him go on it before they take it down."
When the wheel was built, Darrin Alderson remembered, he wasn't much older than 11-year-old Drake.
"Back then no one really came around here, but they've built it up so much and it's changed so incredibly, and now it's this great place for visitors to come check out," said Alderson, a lifelong Chicagoan, looking up at the wheel. "And I think the new wheel is gonna be great — it's gonna help us compete with other cities like London and New York."
Meanwhile, as Drake and Ryder descended back down to the ground, they were surprised when the wheel jolted to a stop.
They looked down and noticed that they weren't the only ones taking advantage of the wheel's last day. Into the adjacent box stepped Mayor Rahm Emanuel, surrounded by a scrum of television cameras.
When the time came to step out of the box and return to his parents, Drake couldn't help but already feel some nostalgia for the wheel, which he'd been riding since he was 7 years old.
"I like the color of [the Ferris wheel], the way it's red and has this cool old kind of style, in a way that looks good against the city," he said, looking back at it. "I don't know why exactly, but I think I'm really gonna miss it."
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