Blown Away By Chicago
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I’ve had the opportunity to visit the "Windy City" a couple of
times over the course of my life and while I am by no means
a Chicago expert, I have been able to do quite a bit in this city
and am excited to share my experiences with you! So if you are
planning a trip to Chicago continue reading below!
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Chicago Trip #1
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My first trip to Chicago was for my cousin’s wedding which
unfortunately meant I didn’t get to spend a lot of time exploring
the city, but the few things I did get to do
are definitely worth a mention.
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Magnificent Mile
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If you are a shop-a-holic the Magnificent Mile is the place for
you (or maybe the place to avoid depending on how much
money you want to spend lol). It has a ton of different stores
from clothing to electronics to food to designer and more. The
first time I went to Chicago I went here with my family and got
lost inside the THREE LEVEL Nike store. It was
a lot of (expensive) fun. Lol
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Navy Pier
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As you know shopping really takes a lot out of you so after the
Magnificent Mile shopping spree we were ready for some food.
Since we were already so close we decided to walk on down to
the famous Navy Pier and check out what options they had available.
The pier was absolutely packed with people and there were a ton of
different restaurant and bar options so you are sure to find something
here that suits your fancy. I don’t remember what restaurant I ended
up choosing, but I can tell you I got chicken strips and french fries and
the seagulls were all trying to be my buddy. Lol
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We also got to watch the fireworks! Granted we watched
them from our hotel, but it was still cool to see. This is something
that happens at the Pier every weekend and also usually includes live music.
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Architecture River Cruise
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The only other thing we had time to do was an architecture
boat tour. This tour takes you down the Chicago River where
you get to see all of Chicago’s most famous buildings while
listening to a tour guide give you the important deets about
them. The tour lasted about an hour and it was actually a pretty
neat experience. Definitely recommend it if you are travelling with
someone that cannot walk long stretches as this allows you to
see a lot of the famous spots from a very unique view.
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Tickets start at $48/person for day tours and $52/person for night tours
Tickets can be bought here:
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That’s the hotel we stayed at!
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Chicago Trip #2
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My second trip to Chicago was another short one that lasted
only a couple of days. However, I felt like I did more on
this little mini vacation than the first time around.
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Shedd Aquarium
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This aquarium has everything you could ever want to see and
even animals you didn’t know existed. It is HUGE and whether
you are 5 or 95 you will have an unforgettable time.
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Tickets start at $40 for non-Chicago residents.
https://www.sheddaquarium.org/plan-a-visit/get-tickets
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Now this is the size of fish I would like to catch someday. Lol Hard to believe this is a representation of an actual arapaima! Jeremy Wade would be speechless if he had caught one this big in his arapaima episode. Talk about a River Monster. Lol
Green Sawfish
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Field Museum
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When you walk past the ticket booth into the main hall you
are immediately hit by the massive size of the museum as you
can see all the different levels and rooms that appear to just go
on and on and on. You are also greeted by the first specimens
of the museum including a pair of 20 foot red cedar totem
poles, a pair of taxidermy elephants (and yes they are real elephant skins), and
SUE the T-Rex which is the largest (40ft long and 13ft tall) and
most complete (90%) dinosaur skeleton to ever be found.
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It is kind of hard to see in my picture, but if you take a look at the totem pole on the right you will see there is a little opening in the base of it. This opening was actually a door that would allow someone to enter the totem pole and then climb up to the top and serve as a watchman.
SUE. Also, the photobomber in this photo cracks me up everytime I see it. Lol
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After walking around Stanley Hall looking at these huge specimens
I moved on to Ancient Greece, a time period that has always
interested me (mainly just because of its closeness to Marvel superheroes lol).
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You should see me in this crown. But for real, I want this. Lol
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After Ancient Greece I walked through a few more exhibits
and found some interesting pieces….
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I actually watched a documentary on women who wear these rings on their necks. By doing so they are actually able to stretch their necks! Crazy! I think I will pass….
And here is SUE’s skull. Her actual skull is too heavy to be placed on the display in Stanley Hall so they keep it in a separate case. Good thing she wasn’t too hungry that day.
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Next, I moved down to another one of my favorite time periods, ancient
Egypt. I have always LOVED all things relating to ancient Egypt. Why? I don’t know.
Perhaps it is because of the way they dressed, or maybe it is the
mummies (and yes you better believe The Mummy movie with Brandon
Fraiser is one of my all time favorite movies. Lol) or maybe it is just because
I think Cleopatra was a badass. Lol Hard to say, but all I know is that I
loved the section of the Field Museum that focused on this time in history.
You walk through a dark tunnel that really makes you feel like you are out
exploring the inside of a pyramid and you get to see actual burial
chambers and MUMMIES. So. Freakin. Cool.
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From ancient Egypt I went to explore the travelling exhibit featuring
a small part of the Terracotta Army. This army was constructed
to guard the tomb of China’s first emperor Qin Shihuang
and was found by farmers in 1974.
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A fun fact about the soldiers in the army is that each one has distinct
facial features so no two look the same. Pretty impressive feat
considering the entire army contains 8,000 soldiers.
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While I was there I also watched a 3D movie called “Waking the T. Rex
3D - The Story of SUE” in the Field Museum theater and it was so freaking
cool. It was highly informative (but in a fun way that is even great for kids)
and there were so many moments where I legit tried to move back in my
seat because I thought the dinosaur was going to get me.
Definitely recommend it.
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If you do anything while you are in Chicago choose the Field
Museum. There is so much to see and learn there that you could
easily spend an entire day and not get bored. It was
one of my favorite places to visit.
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Admission starts at $26.
https://www.fieldmuseum.org/visit
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Art Institute of Chicago
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At the risk of sounding like an uncultured swine, I am not a huge
art museum fan. In fact, the only reason I even went to the Art Institute
of Chicago was because my boyfriend at the time was an artist and
really wanted to go and so I sucked it up and went. Now I’m not going
to say that it wasn’t interesting or that I didn’t find pieces that I
liked, but it definitely wasn’t my favorite part of the trip and I would be
lying if I said I wasn’t bored. However, they do have works from so many
famous artists so if you are an art lover/artist then this is
definitely worth the stop for you.
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Tickets start at $25 and can be purchased here https://sales.artic.edu/admissions
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If I remember correctly this was a piece done to show the conductivity
of potatoes. They had a lightbulb hooked up to all those
wires coming off the potatoes. Lol
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Adler Planetarium
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I’m not a huge space nerd and I have zero plans to join the billionaires
on their quest into space so my visit to the Adler Planetarium was
slightly underwhelming. They had some really neat activities you
could do and a vast amount of science and information which was
great, but to be honest I don’t really remember all that much from
it. The one thing I do remember is feeling like it was a place more
for kids than adults. Think I would have been just
fine skipping this attraction.
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**The planetarium is currently closed until March 2022. More information
and tickets can be found here: https://www.adlerplanetarium.org/visit/tickets/
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Willis Tower Skydeck
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Disclaimer: If you have a fear of heights this attraction is DEFINITELY NOT for you.
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This was the thing I was most excited to do when I went to
Chicago. I had seen so many pictures of people standing in these
little glass boxes on the side of the building 1,353 feet in the air
looking out over the city of Chicago and I was sold. I decided I wanted
to go to the Skydeck for sunset and I quickly found out I wasn’t
the only one with that idea. I arrived at the Skydeck about an hour
before sunset and the line to get into Willis Tower stretched out
the door and around the corner for at least a good city block. Then, when
I finally did make it inside, I was met with absolute chaos. It didn’t
appear like there was any type of organization happening as lines were
non-existent and if you wanted to go out into the Skydeck you literally
had to shove your way through the crowd of people and stand squished
shoulder to shoulder with strangers. It was not a fun experience at all.* However, even with
the chaos the views were absolutely incredible and worth the trip.
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Tickets for this attraction start at $28 and can be purchased
here https://theskydeck.com/tickets-shop/general-pricing/
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*Other people that visited the Skydeck have told me that their
experience there was nothing like this and instead everything was
very organized and they were able to have their time in the box
without fighting for it. So I don’t know what it was about that night, but
I hope your experience is more like theirs and less like mine. Lol
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See all the people that are squeezed into the box?!
FOOD
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Lou Malnati’s
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You CANNOT go to Chicago without having some of their famous
deep dish pizza so I went and ate this treasure at Lou Malnati’s which
is said to have the best deep dish pizza in all of Chicago. (If you have
been to a restaurant that you think has better deep dish pizza let me
know in the comments!) I don’t remember exactly what pizza I
ordered, most likely either sausage or some type of meat lover’s, but what
I do remember is how filling it was. I think I only ate 1 piece before
throwing in the towel which was shocking considering at that time in my
life I could crush an entire frozen pizza on my own no sweat and
still have room for dessert. Lol
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Chicago Tips and Accommodations
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Buy the Chicago City Pass
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If this is your first time in Chicago and you plan on visiting
multiple attractions I highly recommend you get the Chicago City
Pass. With the City Pass you pay a one-time fee of $109 and then are
granted free admission to Shedd Aquarium, the Field Museum, and the
Willis Tower Skydeck. You also get to choose 2 additional attractions
from a list (including Adler Planetarium, Art Institute Chicago, 360
Observation Deck, and the Museum of Science and Industry) to visit
with free admission. When I was in Chicago I totaled up how much it
would cost to pay admission to all of these places VS the price of the City
Pass and the City Pass easily came out on top. Also, by having the City
Pass I was able to get “VIP” line access which meant I got to jump the
lines at every attraction I visited! I’m not sure if this is still the case, but if
it is that alone makes it worth the purchase.
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Uber
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Chicago is an insanely busy city and the streets are constantly jammed
packed with vehicles. I found the best way to get around Chicago
while I was there was by either putting on your walking shoes or getting an Uber.
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Be Alert
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Chicago is not exactly known for being the safest city in the world and
there were definitely a few times while I was there where I didn’t feel
particularly safe so my advice to you is to always travel in groups if at
all possible and if you are travelling alone DO NOT go walking the streets at night.
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Where to Stay
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The Westin Chicago River North
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I don’t remember where I stayed on my second trip to Chicago, but the
first time I went we stayed at the Westin Hotel. I really really liked
it. It was clean, the staff was extremely friendly, and it had a nice
centralized location with some amazing views of the city and the
river below. It definitely was on the pricier side of things, but for a
hotel with that location it is not surprising. I would definitely stay there again.
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https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/chino-the-westin-chicago-river-north/
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Have you been to Chicago? Did you find any hole-in-the wall places?
What was your favorite place to visit?
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