CHIcago Part 1

We're baaaaccckkkkk!!! So not to long ago I blogged about finding an awesome book at St. Vinnie's, Fodor's Chicago's 25 Best, 7th Edition, which sparked something in me to take a fun road trip vacation to CHICAGO with my darling husband!!!  Its such an amazing city to visit!  If you haven't gone yet......you definitely should go!!!

You can read all about my plans for our trip HERE if you haven't already!! I know....I know.....I'm a little crazy when it comes to planning trips!  I just like to utilize all my time and energy and feel like I've accomplished allot!  This is especially true when visiting a busy city.....as apposed to visiting the beach where its totally acceptable to do nothing but sun bath and sip on cocktails all day (we hope to do this in September!!) Needless to say We Went......We Seen.....and We Definitely Conquered!!!! I mean my "dogs were barking HOWLING" when it was time for us to check out of the hotel Saturday morning!! We definitely did as much as we could and as much as we could afford in this short weekends time! So here is the recap of what I would liked to have happen in my ideal fantasy world (where there are lots of sparkles, glitter, fairies, butterflies and unicorns.....don't judge me!):

Thursday:

• Arrive at the hotel and check in.
• Grab something small to eat. 
• Enjoy the day at Navy Pier: Go on the Ferris wheel.....enjoy the views of the city from the pier (take loads of pictures).
• Enjoy a romantic meal maybe at Shaw's Crab House (or another restaurant closer to the hotel)
• Comedy show at Second City at 8 or 11 (We would see: "THE ABSOLUTE BEST FRIGGIN TIME OF YOUR LIFE Show")
• Back to the Hotel!

Friday:

• Enjoy a small breakfast
• Go on the chocolate tasting tour (2 ½ to 3 hours) starts at 12:45                  
• Shop the Magnificent Mile (Nordstroms to use my gift card from my Bday! Hey Hey Hey! Maybe something from my wish list? I'm just sayin!)
• Back to the hotel to rest and change!
• Have dinner at Mike Ditka's restaurant (This is one of Scott To Do's found on this LIST......Ditka's Da Man!)
• Grab a drink at the 96th floor signature cocktail lounge at the Hancock building. Drinks are pricey but there is no fee to get to the lounge and the views are spectacular (so I hear)! On a clear day you are able to see 80 miles and 4 surrounding states from the perch over Oak Street Beach. And if you’re a lady the south views from the women's bathroom are suppose to be amazing (the men might want to throw on a dress and some heels to get a piece of this action! Ha!)
• Back to the Hotel!

Saturday:

• Find/Pack up the car and grab some breakfast
• Head on over to North Ave Beach and find a place to sit and watch the passersby while enjoying our coffee!
• Enjoy a day at the Lincoln Park Zoo (did I mention its free?? Yes I said free…..like you don’t have to fork over any beans to see the lions! Cha ching…..in my pocket that is! So convenient after spending lots and lots of moolah from the days prior….am I a thinker or what?!?!) Oh and we must arrive at the sea lion pool for the 2pm feeding….how cool is that!
• Say C'est La Vie Chicago and head on over to my brother’s place to enjoy a fun filled family party.

AND here is what REALLY happened (in the real world I live in where I actually wake up and go to my 9-5 job and plan stinkin' trips like this that aren't really long enough and feel like they were just a figment of my imagination.....mmmkay!! I'm just kidding I have a blessed life and I tell myself that everyday...HA!) Oh and I will post in two parts so I don't lose anyone along the way......I promise you will get to the end of this post.......maybe!!

So let me try to go back in time and give you every stinkin' detail of our trip:

• SUCCESS Arrive at the hotel and check in. 

We stayed at Hotel Felix which is a fun modern swanky hotel and eco friendly too......(hybrid cars park free)!  We don't drive a hybrid but I wish we did.....would have saved 70 buckaroos on parking!  We scored a great deal a la priceline.com! I must say that i was  really nervous bidding on a hotel without seeing it first, but i have no regrets and would probably do it again.  Sure there wasn't a pool at the hotel and the rooms were pretty small compared to other hotels we've stayed at, but that should be expected when staying in the city! (who has time for the pool anyway when there is a whole city to explore.....not this girl?!?!)

(Most pictures are borrowed from the hotels website because mine do not do it justice!)

Hotel Felix:

The Lobby:




The lobby fireplace: (Would love to have a display of stacked wood in the wall in my future home some day!!)

Eco friendly Rooms: We requested the king sized bed!! Super comfortable!!

Eco friendly Bathroom:

There wasn't a bath tub but the shower was still amazing:

They hade H2O products which smelled a lot like my beloved Aveda products:

• SUCCESS Grab something large to eat. I know I said small above but....Hey we were hungry STARVING after driving for 3 1/2 hours! We dined at Weber Grill which was close to the hotel!

 Let me tell you.....we were left sooo full that we didn't/couldn't eat the rest of the night!!! Its a fun atmosphere with an open kitchen layout and everything is grilled with real charcoals.....cool right?!?!

 I had the Wisconsin Kettle Burger......shocking I know! HA!......and Scott had the Beef Brisket. And NO i don't have any pictures to show.......did i mention we were starving?
• FAIL SORT OF Enjoy the day at Navy Pier:   We attempted to do this but figured it was too cold as we walked closer and closer to the lake......did i mention I was wearing a sun dress......well I was......and I was freezing! So we turned around and went shopping instead! (We did go back the next day though......with a warm jacket in tow! HA!)

• SUCCESS Shop the Magnificent Mile (Nordstroms to use my gift card from my Bday! Hey Hey Hey! Maybe something from my wish list? I'm just sayin!)  We had a great time walking in and out of all the stores which included Nordstroms, Zara, Forever 21,etc. and I window shopped at stores such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Tifanny's! HA! A girl can dream right?

• ADDED Tribune Tower: We passed a Gothic looking building known as the Tribune Tower along the way.  It's a beautiful building with a very ornate entrance!  You can watch WGN, tribune-owned radio station, through the studio window.....pretty cool!!!

 

• ADDED Enjoy a cocktail at a local bar: So to end the night before heading back to the hotel to catch some zzzz’s, we attempted to find a bar close to our hotel to have a much needed cocktail. Why close to the hotel?? a. because it would be easy to stumble our way back to the hotel and b. so we wouldn’t venture off in a bad neighborhood and get mugged….stereotype???….maybe but we weren’t taking any chances! Ha! We ended up walking around in circles and decided we would pass up the Rainforest cafe and head on over to the Hardrock cafe. We didn’t stay too long and ventured out some more (this time passing up a big grody looking dude on the street who was trying to sell “14 carat gold chains”) as I held on to Scott a little tighter as we walked across the street. Ha! We found ourselves at a cute Irish pub which I cant remember the name of.......it was pretty packed for a Thursday night…….after work cocktails must get drawn out to the wee hours of the night!

 

• FAIL Enjoy a romantic meal maybe at Shaw's Crab House (or another restaurant closer to the hotel)  Since we had a huge early dinner at weber grill we didn’t have an appetite large enough to enjoy this place but theres always next time!! Actually we now have a whole list of must try restaurants everytime we go to the city!
• FAIL Comedy show at Second City at 8 or 11 (We would see: "THE ABSOLUTE BEST FRIGGIN TIME OF YOUR LIFE Show")  We figured we would like save this one for next time when we can  see it with some of our closest friends and family.  
• SUCCESS Back to the Hotel! Finally my feet would rest!!

The view from our room at night:

So there you have it…a super long post about our fun-filled Thursday afternoon  in the windy city! The weather was actually a bonus (beautiful weather!!) considering it was supposed to storm/rain! Thank you mother nature for waiting until Sunday to storm (oh man did it storm……oooweeee….more on that in an upcoming post!!) If you made it this far than koodles to you but let me tell you......you have not seen nothing yet……wait until CHIcago Part 2 ….HINT: it'll be longer than this one......overflowing with lots and lots of pictures!

xoxo Joanna D.