Chicago!

We took a road trip to Chicago 2 weekends ago and it was so much fun! It was kind of an anniversary trip that had been postponed for 6 months. ;) I had never been to Chicago before, fell in love with city shortly upon arrival. The place we stayed was only 2 blocks from Michigan Avenue and also only 2 blocks from the beach. Here's me trying to find the place where we stayed on the map:

 

Peyton packed up the car for us, picked me up from work and we were off on our road trip.

The place where we stayed had a booklet ready for us with restaurant recommendations, city maps, etc.

It was almost like an upscale hostel with individual studio apartments. Everyone we ran into was from a different country. We met some people from Munchen, Germany and also a few people from Barcelona, Spain. The best part was that we had our own kitchen so we were able to bring some food from home, as well as hold onto left over deep-dish pizza (which came in handy for breakfast. ;)

We spent the weekend exploring the city, visiting the Taste of Chicago festival (where we ran into Richard Jenkins, and walking up and down Michigan Avenue. 

We brought our bikes so Saturday we tried out the bike trail that runs along the coast of Lake Michigan. It was a GORGEOUS day so the lakefront was packed! Below is a picture of me frustrated because I almost sideswiped a woman during my first 2 seconds of riding the lakefront trail. I wasn't used to riding my bike in such a crowded place. I was upset when Peyton initially snapped that picture, but it's funny to look back on now. I'm so glad we hopped back on the trail because it ended up being a blast!

We rode about 20 miles and saw so many fun things going on along the way! There were people playing sand volleyball on the beach, bike riders, runners, people going to play bike polo, co-ed soccer, cricket, t-ball and a TRAPEZE school (shown below):

We ate lunch and had drinks at this restaurant called Castaways. It was right on the beach and actually built in the shape of a boat.

On our way home we went to a Chicago Fire soccer game! It was definitely one of the biggest highlights of the trip for me! They're getting ready to play Manchester United in a few weeks.

Chicago was definitely a place I'd love to go back to!