Chicago Day 2

Day 2 started with us taking the metra into the city.

The homes in the Chicago area are something else.

Every house is different and beautiful with luscious greenery surrounding it.

Seriously I wanted one.

 

We got into the city and went straight to the Willis Tower. Popularly known as the Sears Tower and soon to be called the United Tower.

And yes we went to the top.

Money well spent and recommended for those who go to Chicago.

And bonus, they had a plexy glass ledge that you can walk out on.

I loved it since heights don't bother me at all but Tori on the other hand had a little hard time walking out onto it.

It was quite memorable :)

The views were amazing and they say on a clear day you can see other states!

Waiting in line to purchase tickets

That's how high up we were

All the views were pretty but this was my fav

Us standing over the city

This was a replica made out of Legos!

Afterwards we were hungry and knew we had to have the famous Chicago stuffed pizza.

Words honestly can't express how amazing it was!

Basically you have the crust that is FILLED with cheese and the "toppings" are stuffed into the cheese then topped with the sauce. YUMMY!

I am a huge lover of cheese and it satisfied me like none other.

Giordano's...go there! You won't be disappointed.

 

While we waited Dave and I went outside to snap a few pics

Deliciousness right there!

I could have stood on my chair and stretched it further

After lunch we headed to the park to see the famous bean sculpture.

Alas it started to rain then that turned into pouring.

Lightening and thunder surrounded us.

Got to the bean and we couldn't go near it because of the storm so we stood under a tree for about 15 minutes and then decided to run for actual shelter in this underground bathroom tunnel thing. We were there for quite a while just waiting the storm out.

Took out a chunk of our day but hey, what is a vacation without some mishap.

 

Soaking wet in the tunnel

Once it stopped raining we headed to the river to take the architecture tour.

Which by the way was my favorite part of the trip.

So fascinating and educational.

Well maybe not now cause I don't really remember the stories of the buildings but still.

Homes on the river are super expensive, I remember that.

Once the tour was over it started to rain again!

At that point we didn't care much and just went ahead with our activities.

 

From the tour

We went down to Navy Pier to check it out.
Kinda cool with rides and restaurants and tons of shops.
We would be heading back here on day 3 to eat and watch the fireworks that they have twice a week during the summer.

A quick shot from Navy Pier

from the pier

We walked back into the city to catch the last train ride home.

Before we got to the station we headed to the famous Chicago sign.

The city is very different at night. Not as many people and it was a bit creepy with the deserted streets and sketchy people. Kinda reminded me of 'Adventures in Babysitting' when they are out and about.

Here is the other collage that Dave made from our second day

Gratitude Rocks!!
- reading D&C, a bathroom that right now doesn't exist (more on that when the fiasco is done), peaches, funny moments with Ollie, moments with all my grandparents

Chicago Day 1

About 3 months ago my friend Ryan and I were chatting about school ending for him and things changing so I came up with a brilliant plan to do one last vacation with my 2 guy friends that were graduating together from school. So I called up Dave and threw the idea to him. He was, of course, down! But where to go was the huge question.

Hawaii and Alaska were on the list but Dave and Ryan's schedule were completely different and we couldn't take that much time off.

So Yosemite is what we had decided and the planning had started.

I had talked to my Dad who recently went. Got some tips and did my research. I was all gung ho until I looked and the price of everything. It was uber expensive, even if we did decide to camp. So after much talk with the boys we decided to scratch Yosemite.

So back to the drawing board.

Seattle?

Vancouver?

Chicago?

After A LOT of research we settled on Chicago

We invited our good and dear friend Tori to come along to complete the vacation.

So happy she could join us.  

Chicago was so much fun and ah-mazing!

I love the big cities and I have been to 3 of them so I needed to add Chicago to the list.

So let the trip begin!

We all met in Denver for our layover to Chicago.

Catching up and picking up right where we all left off.

That's what I love about this particular friendship that we have all developed.

Soon to be graduates
Ryan & Dave

Reunited :D

Tori & Yours Truly

The only thing we decided to this day was the Taste of Chicago

We were very lucky that this was happening the time we were there.

Basically it's a food festival of the restaurants in Chicago.

You buy tickets and walk around to the all the vendors and try sample size portions of their hot menu items. It was all so tasty and filling. We definitely ate good that afternoon.

They also had a free concert there. The day we were there was Death Cab for Cutie.

It was hot this day but nothing that we Arizonans couldn't handle.

Next to the festival was the Buckingham Fountain. Huge fountain that was really pretty so we took some pictures and enjoyed the beautiful city. I was already in love and didn't want to come home.

Some of our tasty samples

This was the crowd

Us in front of the fountain



Free concert? Yes please :)



Here is a collage that Dave made of this day
He now has way too much time on his hands

Afterwards we headed up north to stay with some family friends of mine. They were very generous and let us sleep at their house. It was great to see the Eagar's again and to play catch up. But it was late and we needed to get some sleep cause day 2 was going to be fun/busy.

Gratitude Rocks!!!

- having friends that have a certain hope for my future, seeing two of my best friends graduate, prayer, getting to know and remember people in my ward, my new favorite breakfast (granola, frozen blueberries and coconut milk) YUMMY!