I’m on the brink of summer and I can taste its sweet nectar more everyday as the school year comes to a close (for those who may not know, I am an elementary art teacher by day and a dork by night). Jon is already in Iowa an I will be joining him this Monday evening. Almost every summer of our marriage we’ve driven out to Iowa to visit our dear friends Tyson and Sarah who run a lovely Christian camp. Jon gets to play speaker for the week and I get to play the speaker’s wife who takes advantage of the free ice cream (typically a Dr. Pepper float) and plays mini golf.
THROW YO’ HANDS IN THE AIR FOR CHICAGO
I’ve been hankering to visit Chicago for quite some time now and randomly wondered a few months ago how far the camp was from Chicago. Low and behold we discovered it was only four hours away. Can I hear a “WHA WHA!” and now a “BOOYAH” and afterwards let’s spell out “C-H-I-C-A-…..” okay I’ll stop. If you can’t tell, we were super excited.
WHAT SHOULD WE DO THERE
We don’t exactly have a place to stay at this point (we’ll likely use our go-to save money on housing site, Air BnB) so offers or suggestions are very welcome, but more than that I’d love to hear what restaurants, museums, coffee shops and local stops we need to take. Where do you go for deep dish pizza? Where should I go for a delicious dessert? Where can Jon get a unique beer? What are the daytime spots and fun nightlife hangouts (not that I’m cool enough to go to them, but it’s always good to know about!). Oh and one last question…
Do you live in chicago? Would you like to meet up for lunch? Holla at yo’girl, thanks!
{image by Anderson Design}
18 comments
Comments feed for this article
June 3, 2011 at 7:14 am
Amy @ Lovely Nest
Chicago is a wonderful city! I’ve been many many times. If you want deep dish pizza, Gino’s is the place! As for attractions, if you’ve never been, you’ll probably want to check out the Magnificent Mile, Navy Pier and the Bean, touristy but classics. Some fun stores to check out are Paper Boy and Orange Beautiful.
June 3, 2011 at 7:46 am
Brandi {not your average ordinary}
Have a great time in Chicago, Vivien! I’ve never been, but I’ll get there this summer! I do have lists of places to go/eat that people have sent me when I posted about my road trip. Here are a few: Ann Sathers, Vong’s Thai Kitchen, Devon Street, Victory Gardens, Looking Glass, Steppenwolf, Tufano’s, The Half Shell, Pequods (pizza), Lou Malnatis’ (Chicago style pizza), Tango Sur, Hot Doug’s, a Cubs’ game. Hope this list helps a bit! And make sure to take lots of photos!
June 3, 2011 at 8:51 am
alicia
I am a Chicagoan, though now I live in Houston. My advice: Chicago-style pizza is overrated so unless you really love deep dish I’d skip it. Millennium Park (home to the Bean) is worth a visit and you can walk from there to Michigan Avenue. Lincoln Park and the zoo can be fun too, if you like parks and zoos. For fancy drinks check out Violet Hour or, if you are crazy and lucky, Aviary. There are TOO MANY great restaurants, but here’s a few: Big Star, Avec, The Publican, The Bristol, Bongo Room for brunch, Tavern on Rush for lunch and people watching, Goose Island or Half Acre for beer, Marai for sushi. That’s a totally haphazard list, if you need more specific recs definitely email me!
June 3, 2011 at 9:53 am
Maddy
*sigh* must be nice to have summers off! The road trip to Chicago sounds like fun, fun, fun! It’s on my list of places to visit. I’m also glad to hear that you use Air BnB. I’ve heard about that site and have been considering using it for our next getaway. Can’t wait to see all your pictures and have a yummy deep dish slice for me!
June 3, 2011 at 10:41 am
rachel
OH Viv! Have a wonderful time. It’s going to be great weather when you are up there, but I know you will love all of it. I think you should rent bikes and ride around the city! That way you can see more and of course have GREAT pics!
Have a blast. We will miss you in Dallas!
June 3, 2011 at 10:48 am
Gloria
I’m SO intrigued by Air BnB. How many times have you used it? I have a good friend in Chicago who I’ve been meaning to visit – hopefully I can get there sometime this year
Can’t wait to hear all about your trip, have fun!!
June 3, 2011 at 11:44 am
Tang
Have fun in Chicago! I’ve never been but would love to visit one day. Can’t wait to hear all about it when you’re back!
June 3, 2011 at 12:23 pm
Amber Blue Bird
Hope you have a great time in Chicago. I have heard awesome things about but have never been able to visit there myself. I am going to have to check that housing site out. I like a good deal!
June 3, 2011 at 1:45 pm
Toye
Vivien! I just got back from Chi town a month ago. My best lady friend and I choose a city each year to celebrate together in… even if it’s just for a few days. I agree with most of the other people’s comments. We were only there 4 days so we didn’t get to do everything we wanted. If you are in the Michigan Avenue area, you must go to Macy’s! It’s a 7-story shopping mecca with 3 restaurants and a Frango Chocolate shop inside of it (Frango… will you marry me?!) How could I forget the cathedral ceiling?! Go see it. I heard the architectural boat tour was good, but it was sold out when we were there.
Garrett’s popcorn was okay, IMO. Also, we liked Girodanno’s the best for authentic Chicago style pizza. The best view of the city is def. the Hancock building, but it’s kinda pricy for just an hour of your time and a few good pics of the city. Mill. Park is a great picture taking area!!! The contemporary art museum wasn’t very impressive to me or my friends. I wish we could have spent more time at Navy Pier, but we just went to take a few pics b/c we were in a hurry…I will post pics up from my trip this weekend. Happy travels.:)
June 4, 2011 at 8:20 pm
heather j
Have fun at camp and Chicago! I’ve never been there but would love to go. I also am intrigued by airbnb. I’ve heard of it but haven’t “known” anyone who’s used it. I’ll have to look into it.
June 6, 2011 at 12:04 am
honeymyheart
in planning a summer trip with my husband, we’ve been toying with the idea of chicago! i think it’s the shows on travel channel and food network that have me interested in the city. hope that you have a wonderful time there. can’t wait to read about your adventures
and have a great time at camp, too!!
June 6, 2011 at 8:29 am
Meghan @ My Wishful Thinking
Ooooh! How exciting Viv! Hope you have a fantastic time! Post pics when you get back! I wanna go too now!
June 6, 2011 at 10:28 am
Alexis
I just found your blog though pinterest! And I live in Chicago. Unique Beer stops? Map Room or Hopleaf for great beer selections. Half Acre brewery tour for fun brew tour (only 1 per week and line gets long…so go early). For deep dish I love the non-chain places like oven grinders or Peaquods, but Giordanos is great too.
For siteseeing…the architectural boat tour is wonderful, grab a drink at the top the John Hancock and avoid paying the fees. Millennium park has the bean and free daytime concerts in the outdoor pavilion. Chicago has wonderful outdoor rooftop bars – the Roof at the Wit Hotel, Epic, C-view to just name a few.
Restaurants? Sunda, Japonais, Frontera Grill, GT Fish & Oyster, Girl and the Goat for more pricer nights out. For a more casual night out try Big Star, Lillie’s Q, XOCO. And you are always likely to find a street fest – we have over 400 every summer.
Message me if you want any more ideas. I love talking about my home city and food
June 6, 2011 at 4:22 pm
www.StarHughes.com
I hope you have an amazing time!!!! I love Chicago. One thing that my friends recommend there is taking the river tour – I guess it’s the best way to really see the city! I hope you have a great time!
Star Hughes Living
June 8, 2011 at 11:11 am
Maddison
Hi Viv. You’ll have a great time in Chicago no matter what you do, but as a Chicagoan who likes the not-so-beaten path here are a few of my picks: for great authentic Italian style pizza (I think deep dish=overrated) go to Spacca Napoli http://www.spaccanapolipizzeria.com/, for a fun coffee/book/wine shop try the Book Cellar in Lincoln Square (Western brown line stop) where you’ll also find fun boutiques and restaurants. Do a quick Google search for street fests and outdoor concerts/bands/markets, too. The river architecture tour is touristy but is a must and be sure to check Millennium Park like Alexis said for the free concerts. Alexis also mentioned Hopleaf which is up in Andersonville–a cute little Swedish neighborhood with fun design stores and home to Ann Sathers with their famous cinnamon rolls (go for brunch). I’d be happy to give you more ideas too so let me know. Have so much fun!
June 8, 2011 at 12:44 pm
AlphabetCityStudio
My boyfriend and I just got back from Chicago last night! It was our first time visiting and we fell in LOVE with the charming city! I’m so excited for you!!!
So, yes, one of the recommendations above is to go to the John Hancock building where you can get a great view of the city. Instead of paying $15 to go to the observation deck, go to the 67th floor Signature Lounge and get a drink instead (I like their Bloody Mary), but I would not suggest eating there. We had the guac and chips and it was meh, so I’m guessing the other food won’t be so good – although I’ve heard the Signature restaurant on the 66th floor has good food. Go during sunset so that you can see the city lights start to come on.
We started at Navy Pier one day and took the ferry taxi to Union Station ($7?). It’s cheaper than the other tours and takes less time, unless of course, you want to take the boat tours. We preferred checking out the city on foot. The water taxi ride was just gorgeous! From Union Station, we took the Metra (train) to Miracle Mile towards the John Hancock building. You have to transfer from the Pink line to the Red line (I think – ask, they’re very friendly and helpful). Since the transfer was outside the station, we walked around the block to check out the area – we were lucky that an art fair was going on a block away.
After visiting the John Hancock building, we walked through Miracle Mile to get back to Navy Pier to get our car. Parking at the Navy Pier is $24. On our water taxi ride, a Chicago native couple suggested parking around Union Station, since it’s cheaper, and then taking the water taxi to Navy Pier instead.
For deep dish pizza we had Lou Malnati’s – suggested by our friend who used to live in Chicago. There are several locations, but he told us to specifically go to the one located on Wells Street. It was yummy!!.. butter crust! MmMmMmM!
Lincoln Park was fun to walk around. The zoo is free, but I can’t tell you much about it since we got there late and they were closing so we didn’t get to see much. Walk around Lincoln Park/Lincoln Park West area – it’s just nice to see everyone enjoying the beach, jogging, biking, etc. with the city as a backdrop.
Our last night there, we went to Sixteen Lounge Terrace in the Trump Towers International. Food was OK, not the greatest, but again, we were enjoying the night view of the city and the gorgeous weather. I had their white sangria (can’t remember their name for it), and that was yummy. A bit pricey there, but worth the view (that’s the sort of stuff we like).
Have a wonderful time!!!
July 4, 2011 at 11:47 am
chicago eats! «
[...] HUGE thank you goes out to those of you who were kind enough to share your recommendations with me. It deeply influenced our trip and enhanced our Chicago experience! Thank you, thank you, [...]
November 29, 2011 at 4:23 pm
skolnilz
Hi there,
Where did you find that print?
Thanks!