Eric and I celebrated 9 years married on June 9th! To celebrate, we spent 5 nights in our favorite city, Chicago! Thanks to both sets of Grandparents for their help with the kids so we could enjoy the time together. Here are some pictures of our trip....
View from our room. We stayed in the River North.
Room faced the river! About to head out to dinner on our first night.
We went for a run around the city on our first morning. Started along the river, then went down the beach of Lake Michigan, then through Grant & Milenniumn Parks before heading back to the hotel. Lots to see on the way, so we stopped at some landmarks for pictures! Fun way to see the city! And we did 5 miles!
Buckingham Fountain
View of the city from the fountains
Crown fountains at Grant Park
Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park
Cloud Gate, or 'The Bean'
On the Dearborn Street bridge heading back to our room
After getting cleaned up, we walked around, did some shopping and exploring, and made a pit stop in a fun cocktail & coffee shop at some point in the afternoon.
We went to the bug Under Armour store where Eric hit some golf balls, and to a giant candy store to get some goodies for the kids.
Had to give the bacon chocolate bar a try..... not too bad, actually!
Dressed up and headed for a night out on our anniversary!
We ate at a restaraunt called Wildfire. Loved the atmosphere, and the food was amazing!
Eric with his beer flight he ordered
And me with my wine flight :)
Steaks have arrived!
Soooo good!
After dinner we did 360 Chicago in the John Hancock building. We've never been up there at night, so we thought that might be cool for a change. Look how pretty!!
Lots of pics all around the different angles of the city.
Heading down!
Friday morning, we had an early lunch on a great rooftop patio. (Looks like I have a baby beer! It was a beer sample, ha!)
After lunch we went down to the beach for some chill time and sun.
It started nicely, with cool views and a few drinks at a beach-side
bar..... but then it got HOT! So we decided to cool off in Lake
Michigan. Big mistake... because when we did, our backpack was stolen from beside our beach chairs. We spent the next 3-4 hours basically figuring out how to function with zero wallets/money (mine was in there too) and zero identification. My remaining cell phone (luckily, it was hidden under a towel and not in the bag, Eric's long gone) was truthfully our only saving grace! It took a lot of leg work and some seriously amazing neighbors, but we got money wired to us and passports overnighted so we could make our flight out on Monday. Whew! We'll never make that mistake again!
While I love this pic of us.... I hate the memory of what followed just after it was taken.
We wrapped up enough to be able to still make The Blue Man group that night. A fun way to unwind after a stressful afternoon!
This was in the bathroom of the theater, and it made me giggle! I needed that laugh, so bad!
Inide Briarstreet Theater, ready for the show!
They secretly asked me to participate in part of the show, and gave me a job... so I obliged. I held up my Toblerone box on que, and one of the Blue Men came and snatched it from me. It was a great show. We loved it when we saw it in Vegas, but we loved it even more in a smaller setting in Chicago, where they originated.
On Saturday, we did a kayaking tour on the Chicago River. This was so much fun!!
Set and ready to go!
Eric did most of the work in the back, while I helped out (sometimes) in front. Hey, someone had to be our photographer!
With most of our group at one of our stops. It was cool because we'd gather, our guide would tell us about history and architecture of the city, then we'd head out to our next stop.
Some great views of the city along the way! I loved seeing all the buildings from this low vantage point.... made them all seem so majestic!
So fun!
Our hotel is the small on in the middle, The Westin.
After a fun morning on the river, we got cleaned up an headed out for more exploring the city.
Made it out to a comedy show that night!
Sunday morning we walked around some more, an got to video chat with our kids at Millennium Park. They loved seeing the skyline and the bean!!
Hi guys! We miss you!!
That afternoon we went to the Lincoln Park area to do a walking beer tour. We snapped this picture on a cool street on our way there. Just love the look of Chicago, all over. Similar to NY, but so much prettier, cleaner, and a little more spacious. Didn't take any pics while on the beer tour, I guess we were having too much fun. We had a really cool tour guide and a fun group. We stopped at about 5 local spots and did beer tastings at each one, and also learned a lot about the history of beer in Chicago. Lots of fun!
Our last night there, and we finally got pizza! Eric had to have some Chicago deep dish, while I kept it simple with thin :)
Minus the backpack issue, we had a great trip!! Love Chicago even more every time we go!!
