Hi everyone, welcome to one of my most exciting travel posts yet! This one’s about my recent trip to Chicago, Illinois and I can’t wait to tell you all about it! I’ve never been to Chicago but my uncle lives there part time, so my mom and I went to visit with him and explore the city over a long weekend. Let’s get started!
We flew into Midway International Airport on a Thursday afternoon, so when we arrived, we had the majority of the day to see the area he lives in. He doesn’t actually live in the city of Chicago, but in a town called Elmhurst that’s only a short drive away. It’s the absolute cutest little place that has an amazing downtown area and you would never know you’re only twenty minutes outside of Chicago! There are so many trendy coffee shops and boutiques and the people were so friendly! There were also a ton of cute spots to take outfit photos so that’s always a plus! One of my favorite things about the Elmhurst main street was the old movie theater called “York” that they still have in business. This town also has a train station right in the middle of it, so you can hop on the express train and be right in downtown Chicago in only twenty minutes! Great for work week commuters and weekend adventurers! If you’re in the Chicago area and have a little bit to explore the suburbs, Elmhurst would be a good one to visit.
Friday was our first full day to adventure, so we hit the city early. We were up and out the door by 8:30 and ready to tackle the day! So no time was wasted, we purchased tickets for the day ahead of time with the Go City Card app. With the Go City Card app, you pay before you download the app and are then given a long list of attractions to do in the city. With this app, you’re allowed to choose three things to do and all you have to do is scan your app when you get to each destination. It was a great way to skip some lines and see what the city had to offer! For our first attraction, we went to the Sky Deck, which is in the Willis Tower. Apparently, the Willis Tower used to be called the Sears Tower, but the name switched a couple years ago. The views from the top of the building were insane! They had three or four glass enclosures that were extended over the side of the building so, when you walked out on them, there was literally nothing separating you from 103 floors down except a thin sheet of glass. Crazy!
Next, we headed to Navy Pier. Navy Pier is super cool and there was lots to do and see! We first went inside where there were a lot of places to eat and then we headed out to the end of the pier to see Lake Michigan. Chicago sits right on the lake so the water was beautiful! While we were there, there was a Rolling Stones exhibit going on so there were tongue statues everywhere – so neat! There are also a few rides and a ferris wheel on the pier (which are also an attraction that’s included on the Go City Card app), so we took some time to ride a few rides. The ferris wheel was a great idea because you can see the entire skyline of Chicago when you reach the top. Definitely worth the trip to the pier to see that!
After Navy Pier, we grabbed a quick lunch and decided to do an architecture boat tour as our third attraction for the day. We caught the boat right around the bridge where Trump tower is located and rode all around the Chicago waterways! It was a 75 minute tour in total and we learned so much about the history of Chicago and the different types of buildings that have sprung up since the Chicago fire. This initially wasn’t something I was super excited about when I saw it on the list of things we could do, but it ended up being one of my favorite things we did while we were in the city!
On our last day in Chicago, we explored a little bit more and went to the Bean! I found out it’s actually called Cloud Gate, but it’s in Millennium Park, which is a really beautiful area of Chicago where there are a lot of sculptures and other forms of art. After this, we did a two hour segway tour with a company called Absolutely Chicago. It was awesome! We had a few minutes before we started where we could practice and get the hang of it and, I’ll admit, I almost wiped out the first time I went up a big hill, but overall it was pretty easy! Great for people of all ages! Since we had spent the day before going all around the city, I had perviously seen a lot of what we saw on the segway tour, but it was nice to get some more information about the touristy locations we went to. I’d recommend doing this if you want to see a lot of prime Chicago spots in a short amount of time!
My trip to Chicago was incredible and thank goodness I could sleep in the day after we got back because I was exhausted! Overall, Chicago was a lot cleaner and more friendly than I was expecting and I’d go back in a heartbeat. I’m already looking to visit again soon so let me know if you have any suggestions of places to go that I didn’t mention in this post. Have a great rest of your week and I’ll see you next Tuesday with another post!
Great post! I enjoyed reading about your exploration in Chicago! I agree with you – Chicago gets a bad wrap. There are bad area’s just like any big city. Knowing where to go and when to go it key. The city itself and most suburbs are clean, safe and offer a lot of rich history to explore. Keep your posts coming!