We made it to Chicago!
We woke up early, got the camp site cleaned up and packed up and were on the road by 8:30. We were pretty impressed with ourselves, and decided we had earned a yummy IHOP breakfast after about an hour on the road.
We decided to take the highway to Chicago, because with the holiday weekend upon us, we wanted to get here quickly. Plus, neither of us have any been here before, so we were excited to arrive. (The fact that we had just camped two nights in a row and a hot shower and comfy room were waiting for us might have had something to do with it too.) We stopped for a break when we reached Indiana (yes, I thought of you James, haha). Then it was just more highway into Chicago. We did take the Chicago Skyway, which had a great view of the lake and skyline as we approached.
Once we arrived (after wrestling through a bit of rough traffic on 94 in the city), we checked into the hotel (a Sheraton, you'd be proud, Dad) and were really pleased with it. We immediately took some nice, long, hot showers, and then got dressed and headed out to find lunch. We wound up trying a little Italian pizza and wine bar (the hotel gave us a coupon for a free pizza there, yay!). We decided not to wait for a patio table, and instead sat in the bar area to watch the World Cup game. We're so glad we did, because what a game! We were on the edge of our seats all the way through our delicious lunch (which included a bottle of wine and a huge sorbet and fruit dessert...ahh, how I love vacation). Then it was off for a walk around to run a few errands, and do a little shopping on State street. Now we're getting ready to hit the town (in our new outfits, haha) for some drinks and dinner.
Though being on the bike has been a blast, I think we're both looking forward to an off day tomorrow. Especially since it's supposed to get near 90 tomorrow! Speaking of which, if anyone has any suggestions about things we shouldn't miss during our full day and night in Chicago tomorrow, please comment/text/email/call us!
Pictures: me and the Indiana sign, and the view of Chicago as we drove in
Very obviously, take in some of the lakefront - it was one of my favorite aspects of living in Chicago. If there's a concert at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, take advantage of it!
ReplyDeleteSome less obvious ideas:
1. The Chicago Cultural Center - often has great free concerts and exhibits, and the upstairs is a beautiful space (used to be reading room when it was a library).
2. Explore some of the neighborhoods:examples: Andersonville (there's a great Belgian bar called Hopleaf; a lovely home-cooking Japanese place called Sunshine Cafe; several good Middle Eastern AND Scandinavian places - try an Ann Sather's cinnamon roll!); Bucktown is supposed to be quite hip now.
3. If you want to go a little further afield, Devon Street on the far north side is the heart of the South Asian community - and has several good Indian/Pakistani restaurants.
I guess my mind always goes to food!