We had an impromptu trip to Chicago last weekend to visit our friend, Eric. We've always wanted to make a trip up there after finding out that it would only be a 5 hour drive (in Texas' standard, 5 hour drive is completely normal), but it simply took us a little while to get settled down in our new home state along with a new job I started about a month ago. We were finally at a point where our house really felt like home, despite numerous impending projects we would like to do, and the weekends seemed more relaxing in a normal way.
We decided to take advantage of the Z's rare full weekend off and do something spontaneous. Eric, who recently started a consulting position in Chicago, also had the weekend off, so we decided to meet up and stay at his place. The thing is, the last time I was in Chicago was all the way back in early 2000s (2002? 2003?) with my family, and it was a very short trip. It was exciting for me to think that we live just 5 hours away from Chicago!
We drove Friday night, right after we got out of work. Our weekend bags were packed the night before, and we planned to bring Lilly along the ride.
Eric lives in the downtown area, so we were able to either walk or utilize public transportation (aka subway) to anywhere we went. Conveniently, there was also a dog park nearby, so Lilly had her fair share of exploring/having fun too.
In case you haven't connected the dots, Eric was our best man at the wedding and has been a very close friend of ours since the Teach for America years in 2008. Z and Eric have been roommates for two years at that time and spent 'wild times' in the Chinatown hitting up every dim sum restaurant they can find.
Since we figured our Chicago visits will frequent for the next 6 years, Eric decided to start our first weekend visit in the heart of downtown. I specifically requested to stop by the Millenium Park, where the famous "Bean" (actual name is Cloud Gate) is located. Although it was very clear that thousands of others also had the same goal as I did, we still had a great time visiting the park and walking around the downtown for hours. I know there are many friends I know who prefer Chicago over New York City; I could see why that was the case. I especially loved the Chicago River that divides the downtown and creating a remarkable landscape. It was a beautiful day to walk around with a cup of hot chocolate.
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| Crown Fountain |
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| Children would play here and then wait for the spouting water to come out from the towers |
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| The towers are video sculptures and would spout water every five minutes |
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| Jay Pritzker Pavilion |
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| Cloud Gate, aka "The Bean" |
A spontaneous trip also usually means lack of preparation, so our camera batteries (even the spare...) died soon after this last picture. Other things that happened after this is, eating Chicago's deep dish pizza (of course), watching a movie with Eric, more walking with Lilly, and having other friends over for a drink/chat. Actually, before we walked around downtown, we played TopGolf with a few of Eric's friends. I won both games, and I am so proud of myself...ha!
Sunday morning, we took the subway to Chinatown to have dim sum with friends. After watching a game of football, we drove back to our St. Louis home.
The Chicago trip, while pretty short, was very fun. It's always wonderful to see Eric, and we enjoy exploring other cities and experiencing what each city has to offer. We will definitely go back to explore more!
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