Three Days in Chicago
Chicago style pizza, Chicago style hot dogs, and a Chicago style 25,000 steps a day because we are walking everywhere.
Pretty much anytime I travel somewhere, I go into full fantasy mode, imagining my life if I lived there. In Savannah, I imagined drinking sweet tea and going to Leopold’s for ice cream. In San Antonio, I imagined meeting my friends at the river walk for lunch and cocktails. In San Francisco, I imagined working in tech and shopping for vintage dresses on Haight and Ashbury. And then I go right back home where the trash needs to be taken out, the laundry needs to be done, and where it’s winter for 7 months of the year. Haha. Sigh.
In Chicago though, I can actually imagine myself there. Growing up in Michigan, Chicago is our big city and field trips to the big bean in Millennium park is part of our formative experience. I feel like all Michigan kids know at least one person who went off to live there after graduation. Somebody went to Northwestern or Moody. Someone stayed in the city. Somehow, that makes it feel like a real, achievable thing, and as I walked down the sidewalk looking up at those huge buildings, I wondered why I hadn’t made the choices that could have landed me here. Now I have a life and a family rooted in northern Michigan, so the question is moot, but I think it would have been cool when I was younger.
In any case, my husband and I both love going to Chicago and two of our best friends live in the city (of course!), so this year, for spring break, we decided to take our family and do all the touristy things (and eat all the Chicago style hot dogs!).
Some notes on the logistics: we live about a 5 hour drive from the city, so we drove and parked our car at our hotel’s valet garage. We have big kids, so we were able to walk pretty much everywhere with only minimal whining. And finally, we’re average people with average jobs and average incomes. Chicago is expensive and we came to enjoy ourselves, but weren’t excessive. We spent about $1,200 over the course of three days.
Okay, let’s get into it!
Day One // Friday
Up and attem’ George McFadden! We hit the road around 7:30AM and as a gift, gained an hour as we crossed from EST into CST. Hallelujah. A couple pit stops along the way, of course. We stopped for gas station snacks which is a top two favorite part of road trips, in my regal opinion, although I sprang for those Legendary protein pop-tarts which I guess probably taste good if you are extremely on a diet, but I’m not so it tasted like cardboard. Fountain Diet Coke did not disappoint though. Later we stopped at Jimmy Johns and I redeemed myself by selecting a classic Turkey Tom, with which you cannot go wrong.
We rolled into town around 12:30 and couldn’t check into our hotel yet, so we went straight to the Museum of Science and Industry, and look, if you’re going to bring a car, you’re going to pay for parking and it’s going to be exorbitant. Just know that in advance and it won’t sting quite so much. I was glad my husband was driving because I wanted to look around and besides, people on bikes and in cars in this town are straight crazy. Personally I wouldn’t risk my life to get across the street, but that’s just me.
As a mode of arrival transportation, I’ve flown into O’Hare and ubered which is fine, but my favorite is to take the Amtrak. I know it takes forever but GD if isn’t the most romantic thing. I don’t mean romance like kissing and whatnot, I mean I feel like an actress in an old-time movie or something. People seem to think Union Station is the entrance to hell, but I love it. Carrying on.
The Museum of Science and Industry is a children’s museum and do not let anyone convince you otherwise. It was spring break after all, so there was kids everywhere, so do what you will with that information, but I feel like a lot of the exhibits are really geared towards kiddos. Which works well for us, obviously. There is a really great human body exhibit with human fetuses at varying stages in the womb that I thought was incredibly cool (and made me a little emotional) but then I wondered just how they acquired these fetuses and that bummed me out badly. They might not be real, IDK. Anyway, you can basically see all parts of the inside of your body and I have little boys, so this was a big hit. There’s also a really great airplane exhibit with a whole bunch of airplanes hanging from the ceiling and a 757 that you can walk into.
It was a balmy 75º outside when we left, and friends, this was the end of March and there was still snow on the ground at our house in Northern Michigan so I was ready to find a patio and get me a margarita stat. I briefly restrained but stay tuned, haha. In the meantime, we headed for our hotel to get checked in.
We stayed at the Hampton Inn Chicago Downtown and this place was neat. It was formerly The Chicago Motor Club and while it was obviously remodeled into a hotel, they paid a lot of homage to the original intention of the building. My boys were transfixed by the Model T parked inside. They had a great breakfast in the AM and the place was clean and the staff was friendly. Also there is a lobby bar, which baby, you have me.
Here’s another luxury of big kids and also why I love a hotel restaurant or bar: you can get those little turkeys settled in for the evening and head downstairs for a nightcap. They can call you if they need something (and they will, okay. There will be a fight over the remote that will require mediation) but every parent will agree that 30 minutes to have a beverage with your husband is a damn treat.
Once we got checked in, we headed out for a quick walk over to Millennium Park which, wow, has security! We ain’t in northern Michigan anymore kids! For dinner, we popped over to Giancarlos for pizza and I finally got that margarita, but of course the deep dish pizza was the star. I looooove Chicago style pizza so freaking much. This was probably my favorite meal of the entire trip and you had to roll this girl home because I left feeling like Violet Beauregard when she turns into a blueberry.
After dinner, we did some meandering around, popped over to the river walk and somehow my family had room for ice cream, so they shared a giant sundae from Ghiradelli’s and my kids asked if the president actually lives in that tower.
Day Two // Saturday
First of all, my husband woke up enraged and so delightful. Turns out these window panes are made of paper and we woke up a thousand times to sirens and maybe construction at 4am? IDK but man was it loud. I popped in my AirPods and moved along around 2am but he preferred to stay mad. To each their own!
Suffice to say, we got a nice head start on our day, heading down to breakfast the moment it opened and heading out to the Field Museum shortly thereafter. He’d perked up by then because a walk takes care of any bad mood, I always say.
If I had to choose, the Field Museum is where it’s at. It feels like a classic museum and while there’s plenty to occupy a child’s mind, I feel like there’s quite a bit for the more educated mind to appreciate. If there’s an Egypt exhibit, you can count on me to check it out, but I’d say the dinosaurs and especially Sue the T-Rex in the keynote. A few days after we got home, I read a short little essay my youngest son wrote at school about of all our Chicago shenanigans, it was Sue who got the most airtime in his recollection.
It was lunchtime once we finished up at the Field, so decided to wander on over to Navy Pier for some food and I was game to walk, but we spotted a rickshaw and thought it would a.) be faster obviously, but also b.) be a fun experience. We looked like the most obvious tourists in town, but I’m over that. Yup, I’m a tourist and I’m having a freaking blast. There’s worse crimes.
I don’t even know what my family ate, because I was transfixed with this shaved ice I got with weird flavors and toppings. I went for ube which I’ve only ever heard of on the internet and it was this beautiful shade of lavender that I felt almost guilty eating. 10 out of 10, I almost went back immediately.
Later in the afternoon, we walked over to the Hancock building to do the 360 Chicago thing, which is pretty spendy, but very worth it, IMO. You can stay up there forever and the views are amazing. There’s another bar up there, because why not get a little tuned and feel totally fucked up by traffic moving at a mesmerizing pace a gazillion floors below you. Seriously though, if it weren’t a family trip, I might have perched up and stayed for a while, but after 30 minutes or so, the kids got squirrely so we moved on.
We walked back to the hotel and I was fixated on swinging by the Alice and Wonder store, so we went just slightly out of our way to scratch that itch. I don’t buy anything because the store was power-packed with people, but I’m glad I got to take a little lookeroo.
Finally, it was a little bit of work to talk ourselves into getting some dinner, but hunger prevailed and we went out to Kyuramen for ramen. I got a Thai iced tea which everyone wanted to taste, but nobody liked which wow, that’s just incredibly lucky for me. I usually lose three quarters of every good thing I want to eat to tiny little mouths that just want a little bite, mom!
The ramen was so freaking good and my kids loved the little button on the wall to call for service. I promise I didn’t let them abuse it, but I think it’s so clever. Rather than stopping by at inopportune times, you just push the button and within a few minutes, your server swings over. Genius.
Day Three // Sunday
This was our last day in the city, and we planned to meet up with some friends for a little family day at Shedd Aquarium. Our friends have two little girls under three, and boy, did I forget how tough those toddler years are. Someone’s always crying. Someone’s always tugging on mom and pulling her hair. Our friends were doing the divide and conquer thing, each with a kiddo shoved like a little football under an arm, while I pushed their stroller which had become a coat rack, and I was like, so glad I got that IUD.
Look, for an aquarium, it’s a good one, the facility is beautiful. But for an experience, it was a nightmare.. It was hot, muggy, so congested with people that it was hard to move around (serious!) and honestly I can’t imagine any reason to go back. I nearly burst out the door for a healthy breath of fresh air and was game to do anything else after a few hours inside. Literally no fish is that interesting.
But the architecture is something to behold!
The day can only go upward from here, right? And it did! We swung by a Jewish deli and got the best bagel and lox of my life, along with with black and white cookies because we are on vacation, baby! Then we rendesvous’d over to our friends place and our kids got to the business of playing together, while my gal pal and I popped a couple of bottles of wine in the fridge in preparation to watch the penultimate episode of White Lotus, which if you remember, was a true banger.
Day Four // Monday
Despite many bottles of wine the night before, we made an early start to head home on Monday morning. Somehow the five hours to get to Chicago felt faster than the five hours to get back to northern Michigan, but that’s just vacation time I guess. We stopped at Chic-Fil-A for one last round of junk food and gave back that hour we borrowed as soon as we crossed back into EST.
Overall, it was a very fun trip! I can’t believe how lucky we got with that warm spring weather and of course, I imagined myself living in one of those high-rises the entire time. In my next life maybe!
Where we stayed:
Hampton Inn Chicago Downtown /North Loop / Michigan Ave. // Small, but clean rooms. Friendly staff. A great breakfast and if architecture is your thing, a really nice vintage feel of old Chicago. This building was formerly home to The Chicago Motor Club and there are remnants of that history all over the building.
Conveniently located as well. It was a short walk to Millennium Park and Navy Pier, and just a quick jaunt to downtown.
Where we ate:
Giordanos for a Chicago Classic Deep Dish and a couple of Modelos.
Navy Pier for some dogs at American Dog & Burger, shaved ice from Snow Dragon Shavery and gelato at Frio Gelato.
KYURAMEN for life sustaining ramen, matcha pudding and an excellent Thai iced tea.
Kaufman’s Bagel and Delicatessen for bagels and lox, the New Jersey Bypass (pastrami and corned beef) and black and white cookies.
And you know we had visits to Starbucks, Jimmy Johns, Chic-Fil-A and the gas station along the way.