So for those of you who follow me on Instagram then you know that I recently traveled to the big city of Chicago, Illinois. I stayed for three days and I had so much fun! This was my first time visiting Chicago so my family and I made sure that we made plenty of time to sightsee. Chicago offers so many shops, activities, dining, and more! I got some awesome shots of different places that I visited and passed during my time in Chicago. I will be sharing them with you today!
DAY ONE
Ok, I'm a morning person to a certain extent. One of the circumstances in which I'm not is when I have to catch a flight at 7:50 in the morning and have to have myself and my belongings together. I am thankful that our flight was so early because we didn't have any connecting flights to Chicago so we got there super early! (by 9:30am) This gave us basically a full day to take on Chicago. We stayed at a super cute hotel called the Conrad Hotel. It was so spacious, modern, and had a nice view! Another great thing about this hotel is that we could literally walk outside and all the shops and dining were RIGHT THERE (guess this isn't great for those of us who like a little retail therapy). We grabbed lunch at this super yummy restaurant called Shake Shack. Shake Shack is not your regular burger and shake joint; they put a twist on everything that they offered on their menu. I tried the shroom burger thinking that it was a burger with mushrooms on it and boy was I wrong. It was actually a portabello mushroom that was fried, on a bun, with cheese. When I tell you that was the best decision I made... I mean it! If you love mushrooms, cheese, and bread you have to try the shroom burger from Shake Shack. It was such an amazing taste! After letting our bellies settle from all the goodness, we hit the streets of Chicago. We walked around to see all the different shops that were on Michigan Avenue and there was just too many for my eyes... We stopped by the three-floor Nike store which had a 'special' top floor with custom Nike clothing and shoes. We also went to Nordstrom which was basically on steroids! I thought the Nordstrom I have been to at Lennox Mall and SouthPark Mall was huge; nuh uh girlfriend. I honestly could have spent three hours in the women's accessory department. For dinner, we went to this Pizzaria called Labriola to try the famous Chicago style pizza. I'm already a pizza lover so I was super excited to try the pizza there and it was delicious! Messy but delicious. Attached to Labriola was Stan's Donuts & Coffee. They had cake, cookies, pastries, and gelato. I got an apple pie to try and it was so good...
The Conrad Hotel - Chicago
Shake Shack
Magnificent Mile
Stan's Donuts & Coffee
DAY TWO
Day two consisted of more eating, shopping, and exploring. We tried out this breakfast place called Wildberry Pancakes & Cafe where they served specialty breakfast options (a.k.a, another place on steroids - at least their breakfast options were) I really wanted waffles but I also really wanted something with egg in it so I ended up getting a 'Make Your Own Omelette' with a Belgian waffle and hashbrowns. I. WAS. STUFFED. We walked off our big brunch and stopped by Dylan's Candy Bar which lit me up with heart eyes. Who else loves sweets?? We went to other shops like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Kate Spade, Michale Kors, H&M, etc. Later that evening, we went to Jake Melnick's Corner Tap restaurant because we read reviews that said they had really great wings. My family and I are fans of some really good, crispy wings. I tried the Pb&j boneless wings and although they sound really disgusting, it was actually a unique taste!
Wildberry Pancakes & Cafe
Dylan's Candy Bar
DAY THREE
Day three was our last day exploring this beautiful city and it sucked a bit because I had enjoyed being in Chicago and soaking up all of its beauty for the days that I was there. This day was really exciting though because my family and I did a boat tour that took us down the Chicago River. The tour was 70 minutes (and I wish it was longer), and the tour guide told us about the city's history, the early architecture, and new buildings to come. It was amazing floating down the river seeing all of the buildings so high in the sky, and how unique some of them were with their design. After taking Art Appreciation this past semester, I have found a new love for architecture and its history. After we finished our tour we headed to the Ghirardelli store because why not? Again, my eyes lit up with hearts. Before walking into this store, I never knew that Ghirardelli had so many flavors of chocolate! You could buy bags full of the mixed flavors, of one flavor, or make your own bag/tin can of whatever flavors you wanted. I decided to get the tin can and I literally fit 30+ Ghirardelli squares of chocolate in that thing... After getting our sweet tooth fix, we headed back to some shops to do any last minute shopping since it was our last day. We stopped at Michael Jordan's Steakhouse which is inside of the Intercontinental hotel. I, of course, got salmon (my fave), that came with a creamy rice. For dessert, we went to Grand Lux Cafe where I had the Warm Sticky Bun Bread Pudding with ice cream. It was basically like a cinnamon swirl bread pudding with candied pecans on top! I could eat it every day.
River Boat Tour
Ghirardelli
Grand Lux Cafe
I had so much fun exploring the city of Chicago for the first time. It was definitely an experience that I will always remember, and I will probably visit again in the future! If you have never been to Chicago and want to go, I hope that you try out some of the places I visited. If you do, let me know. I hope you enjoyed reading my travel diary about Chicago, Illinois!
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