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July 27, 2014

Summer Travels to Chicago: City Sights

During our four days in Chicago, we had lots of great time with friends and family, and we also had such a wonderful time taking in the sights, sounds, and tastes of the Windy City, too!

We got into town on Monday night, and we headed northwest of downtown to spend a few days closer to Hubby's brother and best friend.  We took the route through downtown, though, and the girls were mesmerized to see the city at night.  They're very rarely out after dark, anyway, and they'd never seen such tall buildings with all the lights.  They loved driving past the airport, too, and Baby A, in particular, was mesmerized that the L kept appearing and disappearing again as it went over and under ground.

On Wednesday morning, we headed toward the city to spend the day.  Our first stop was a visit to Lake Michigan, and to see the park where Daddy used to play soccer.  It was pretty chilly there, especially out of the sun, in the breeze, and super-especially by the lake!



After the lake, we went to Lincoln Park zoo.  Here are the girls, preparing to go in...



And outside, after our visit...



For lunch, we drove to the area where Daddy used to live, to eat at a Serbian restaurant.  By that time, the sun had come out a bit, and it was a beautiful little walk through Hubby's old neighborhood to the restaurant.


On Thursday morning, we drove into the city again to check into our downtown hotel, just across the street from Grant Park.  The girls were taken with the parking garage.  They thought it was something pretty special to turn our keys over to the attendant and watch someone else drive away!  And they were such good little troopers, wheeling their suitcases to the hotel.

On the walk to lunch, Baby A was tickled to see her TRAIN!



And while we waited for that famous Chicago-style deep dish, we got to watch the US-Germany game.  It was such a fun atmosphere!



(No matter where we are, sights like these always melt my heart!)


After lunch we headed to Millennium Park.  The girls loved all the sculptures!



And then we spied the famous BEAN!

Asked a lady to take our picture...and you can see her reflection in front of us.  HA!

The widest angle selfie one could imagine!
The dizzying view from inside!  You can spot A's bright peach jacket (several times over) if you look carefully! 
More views from Millennium Park...

Love this amphitheater!!!

One of my favorite pics!

And then we began our trek to Navy Pier.  The fog here, in contrast to the bright blue skies -- literally only a block or so away at Millennium Park -- was pretty crazy.

Love this pic, too!

At last, we were to the girls' most-anticipated destination, the ferris wheel!  They'd never been on a ferris wheel before, but they were some kind of excited to try it!


From the ground up!

Squee!!!
Although the ride was so much fun, the view wasn't very good.  It's amazing to see the fog, just hanging...at 3:30 or so in the afternoon on an otherwise sunny day!

The view from the top!
After the ride...all smiles!


Then we were all ready for some ICE CREAM.  It was a really (really!) long walk to Navy Pier, and we were in need of some refreshment!



Despite the contemplative face, she loved it.
Outside Navy Pier, we had to give our review...

Thumbs up from B, and all fingers up (even better!) from A!
Then we headed back to the hotel, taking in more sights along the way...

A cool mosaic wall...

A gigantic fountain...

The view along the river was so pretty!




And this is one of the more bizarre sights I've seen...the shadow of the Trump tower against the fog.  I wasn't shaking when I took this photo...that's really the way it looked!!!



After a pit stop back at the hotel, we took a walk through Grant Park, and spent a little more time lakeside.



At last we headed to dinner, to a little restaurant we kept passing, a block from our hotel.  I had a Chicago-style beef sandwich, Hubby had a gyro, and the girls were pretty incredulous when I asked if they wanted a Chicago-style hotdog.  (We very rarely eat hot dogs, and I think they didn't know they existed in a restaurant!)

My A scarfed down every last bit!
We got VERY LUCKY and scored a SUITE at our hotel...a very cool, historical place.  We could get spoiled to this!

Here are the girls on Friday morning, each in their own QUEEN-SIZE bed, next door to our enormous CALIFORNIA KING-SIZE bed.  WOW!!!

Good morning!  Here comes the sun!!!
We had a wonderful trip to Chicago!

5 comments:

Marcia (123 blog) said...

LOVE all the bean pics! All the architecture looks like such fun, so glad the girls got to explore J's old neighbourhood. Pse ask J when the best time to go is... or is it always cold?!

Mama Mama Quite Contrary said...

Looks like so much fun! I want to go on a trip with you guys!

Mandy said...

^i whole-heartedly recommend vacationing with them!

Mrs FF said...

Fun filled holiday! I love seeing sights and sounds of different cities through other people's eyes!!!

Did the girls ask daddy many questions about his old neighbourhood?


Now I want that hot dog!

Unknown said...

Looks like a great visit and wonderful pics (as always!)

I had really hoped to get to Chicago this summer. We haven't been since the twins were 2 and Adam was a baby. Just not enough time though. The good news though is that we'll be there in October for my cousin's wedding. We'll have 3, maybe 4 days, if we extend our weekend and take another day off of work/school. So much to see and do there!! Can't wait!!