Sunday in Chicago

 

Sunday was Dave's first day in his conference so Camden and I were on our own.  But not to worry, we had lots of good plans!  

Our first major stop was the aquarium, but we needed breakfast first!  We found breakfast at Stan's Donuts.  Very good donuts and a good breakfast sandwich.  I got a cronut (croissant donut) which was really good.

Then we continued our walk to the aquarium.  We walked through Millennium park and saw the Bean again, but this time close up.  

The Carbide and Carbon Building

A fountain in Millennium Park

We then were able to walk through Grant Park and see the Buckingham Fountain.

The clouds were low this morning and hiding the top of the buildings

Our view as we walked to the aquarium.  We actually were walking illegally on the bike lane.  Apparently they have lanes only for bikes!

We had a good time at the Shedd Aquarium.  It is a very nice aquarium and we both liked the beluga whales the best.  We also got to touch sturgeon and stingrays, and see some cute penguins!

  

There was a really good view from the aquarium!

Touching sturgeon

The plan was to go to the zoo next, but Camden has other plans and we ended up ubering to the United Center to see the statue of Michael Jordan.

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We figured out the bus system by the time we were leaving the United Center and were able to spend only $5 to get to the zoo by bus.  Before we went to the zoo though, we had to get some lunch.  We found another cool spot called RJ Grunts for lunch.  It had a good atmosphere and seemed like locals ate there.  We got sandwiches and homemade chips.  Yummy!  The menu was interesting and a little overwhelming.

We had a good time at the zoo, even though many of the animals were inside during the time we were there.  But we did get to see the gorilla run around and beat his chest!  The zoo was nice, not super big, but a decent zoo.  The neighborhood around the zoo seemed really nice though!  

Camden does not like alpacas after he had one sneeze on him at a field trip

The baby ducks were not in the zoo, but were a hit

The gorilla that beat his chest.

This gorilla needs some lotion for his dry foot!

We were lucky to see the lion outside

We took the bus back to Michigan Ave. and were able to get into the Harry Potter store.

We also were able to get into the world's largest Starbucks.  I was planning on getting a pink drink, but they only served drinks that have coffee in them.  

The only other stores we went in were the Burberry store, where I shocked Camden by showing him how much a Burberry trench coat costs...over $3000!  And the Nike store.

I really liked this quote at the Nike store

Camden found our dinner location because he wanted Mexican.  We went to Su Casa.  The queso was really good and the food was good, but on my ranking, it was the lowest of the restaurants we went to.  Not that it was bad, just not as good as the other great places we ate.  

Fun lights in restaurants are a favorite of mine

We ended the evening taking a short walk on the Riverwalk with Dave.  Another long day, but lots of fun!

  

Vacationing after a race!

Vacationing and racing is fun because I get to cross off another state and I get to see new places.  But sometimes we take it easy after the race.  Not this trip!  Because Dave's conference didn't start until Sunday, he had one more day to see Chicago, so we made the most of it.  

First thing after cleaning up was to get some lunch.  We found a restaurant named Nando's because of Ryan Trahan's recommendation (I visited 50 States in 50 Days).  They serve peri-peri chicken, which we think is African.  Maybe Portugal.  But either way, very yummy!  And a cool looking restaurant.

 Walking to Nando's was in the rain, but thankfully it stopped while we were eating.  We decided to go to the 360 Chicago Observation Deck in the Hancock Tower by way of Michigan Ave.  (It is not officially called that anymore, but that is what it used to be called.)  So several stops along the way beginning with Ghirardelli's Chocolate!  We all got milkshakes and watched several wedding photo sessions by the river while we drank them.  We tried to go the Harry Potter and Starbucks stores, but the lines were super long!

View from Ghirardelli's

Could not see the end of the Starbucks line!  This is the largest Starbucks in the world

We made plans to come back to this store another day

But we could explore the 7 floors of stores in Water Tower Plaza, including the Lego store.

Chicago made from Legos

Our next stop was the Hancock building.  In high school, I had gone to the top of this building two times, but wanted Dave and Camden to see the view.  Also, they added the Tilt ride that Camden wanted to do.  This is a window that tilts out from the building while you are standing on it.  It was scary enough watching him do it!  But he was fine with feeling like he was falling off a high building!

The window tilted out three times!

Looking at the Sears Tower from the Hancock building

I was always told the views from the Hancock were better than the Sears even though the Sears Tower is taller, and we definitely saw some good views from this building!  Then we walked back down Michigan Ave. and took a quick break at the hotel before going to dinner and the Sears Tower.  We would then be able to compare the views.

The courtyard in front of the Hancock Tower

On the way to the Sears Tower, we went to Millennium Park to see Cloud Gate, or the Bean as most people call it.  We didn't get too close because there were lots of fences blocking places off because of a concert that evening.

We found another great place to eat, Miller's Pub.  It had a dark old tavern feel and the food was really good.  Three Greek brothers bought it in 1935, but didn't have enough money to change the sign, so it stayed Millers.

The Sears Tower was our next stop.  Officially it is called the Willis Tower, but people in Chicago still call it the Sears Tower.  The name has an interesting story.  When Sears decided to not continue to pay for the name, Willis (not sure if it is a company or person) paid for it to be called Willis.  But they didn't get there money's worth because people still call it the Sears Tower!  Now the name is up for sale again, but since they spent a lot of money to rebrand it as Willis, they aren't changing that again.  So whoever pays for their name to be on the building next really won't get a good deal.  Especially since everyone still calls it the Sears Tower.

The scary part of this tower is the Ledge.  A glass ledge that is attached to the side of the building that you can stand on.  After waiting in line to take a picture of Dave and Camden on the Ledge, the man taking official pictures basically pushed us all out on the ledge for a picture.  I closed my eyes until I was standing or sitting and did not look down.  It did make for some cool pictures!

 

Dave was fascinated with the spiders he was seeing at the top of both towers.  How did they get there?

I guess the Hancock has better views because you can see Lake Michigan, but the Ledge made for great pictures.  It was fun to see both of them!

We took a little detour back to the hotel by taking the Riverfront walk.  Lot of lights and people and a light/movie show on an outdoor building.  

It had been a fun day!  But we were all in bed by 10!