The Windy City, Vacation Pt. 2

Well, Cancun was amazing and we just didn't want the vacation to end.  Sort of.  We had to make a stop through Chicago on our way back to California, and to be honest I was pretty excited.  I hadn't ever been to Chicago and was really looking forward to visiting one day.  And today was that day.  This was really just a glorified lay-over, but my babe was determined to show me as much of the city as we could get in within our short overnighter.  Luckily he is a good ole mid-western boy, so he was no stranger to Chicago and led the way!

So, if you haven't been to Chicago before, its amazing to know that the train takes you straight from the airport to the loop in downtown Chicago - more than likely, right were you want to be if you're a "tourist". 

We decided to exit at State / Lake to take a little stroll to head over to Millennium Park to see the Jay Pritzker Pavillion.  This outdoor stage is awesome, I would love to see a summer performance here.  Gorgeous!

 



Next we headed to the famous "bean", as everyone must do while in Chicago.  It really is so cool and I was so excited to finally see it in person.  Dork.

 



After a short walk through the park, we made our way to Buckingham Fountain, which was really cool!  But holy hell, was it windy and chilly since it is so close to the lake.

The views were so pretty and I was having an amazing time!  At this point, we were starving and we had received some recommendations on Chicago-style pizza, because duh.  We got split recommendations between Lou Malnati's and Giordano's.  We decided to go with Lou Malnati's before heading back out and exploring the rest of the city.  We, of course, had to order our favorite beer from its home town.  312 Goose Island.  Yum.



 

 

It was getting really late, so we decided to take off and see our last stops - the Willis Tower, and to actually see the Chicago River. 

 

 

 

Even though it was a super short trip, we managed to get a lot of sight-seeing done in just a matter of hours.  It was so much fun and I can't wait to go back and see more, for maybe more than a night!  What are some of your recommendations for my next trip back to Chicago?