Chicago!

DAY 4!

Today was a fantastic day! We got up in Peoria , IL and drove to Chicago. It only took a few hours so that we had plenty of time to spend in Chicago. First we drove to our hotel and checked in, and then headed downtown. We got downtown and found a place to park for the day. The downtown area of Chicago is amazing. The buildings are huge and have such a cool look about them. It’s kind of cool to walk through those down the streets between the buildings. We walked out toward Lake Michigan and first saw the Buckingham Fountain. It was really cool and huge! I don’t even know how to explain it, so here is a picture:

After the fountain, we walked down the side of the lake (as well as close as we could) and went to Navy Pier. Navy Pier is cool! I had never heard of it until we looked online to see what there was to do in Chicago. IT's a pier, but there are also stores, restaurants, a little amusement park, a museum, boat tours, a ballroom, and more!

The first stop that we made was to go on the ferris wheel. What made it so amazing was the view that you get of the city and the lake from the top. I felt like I could see everything. We were able to get man good pictures of the city and see it in a way that we wouldn't have been able to otherwise. 

After the ferris wheel, we took the time just to walk down the pier and see what was there. We were able to walk down to the very end and just look at the lake. It went on for what seemed like forever. I literally felt like I was looking out into the ocean. We even saw a big ship with sails in the water. One other treat that we were able to enjoy on the pier was a churro. But this was not just any churro. It was a FILLED churro. It was delicious. I will never forget the cream cheese filled churro that we ate at Navy Pier.

By the time we were done seeing everything, we decided that we wanted to walk back up shore to downtown for dinner. While we were in Chicago we wanted to eat the real authentic food of Chicago. So for dinner we went to Gino’s East. (We even asked a traffic cop to make sure that it was good Chicagoan food.) We walk in (after only a 2 minute wait) and the first thing I notice is the writing on the walls. The walls were literally covered with people’s writing, mostly in writing. It gave it a different but very fun feel. It was buzzing with people and was kind of crazy, but not at the same time. For dinner, we ordered a pizza. It was not just any pizza; it was a Chicago-style deep-dish pizza. It was a sausage pizza and it was so good and intense! First, it takes about an hour to cook a deep-dish pizza. Then when it came, I was a little overwhelmed. It is about 2 inches tall and the ingredients was a layer of cheese on top of the bread, then a thick patty of sausage across the entire thing, and then sauce spread on the top. It was so delicious and I will definitely never forget it. 

After dinner, and getting incredibly full, we then walked back to Navy Pier. Earlier, we saw a poster for a band that was playing there. And it wasn’t just any band. It was Parachute! They are still pretty new, but I’ve known them for a year or two and I really like them. So, not only was a concert, but it was free and of someone that I actually wanted to see. We headed back to Navy Pier for that and waited for longer than we thought we would for them to start. Overall, the concert was a shorter one, but it was really good. Adam had been looking at different bands to see if they were playing anywhere while we are on vacation. We thought it would be fun to see a concert while we were in Pittsburgh or somewhere. And it happened! It was coincidence, but it was a blast!

After the concert, we were beat. We had been walking around in the hot sun all day and wanted to get back to the car and go to bed. On the way home, we walked through Millennium Park. It’s just a cool park near downtown that has an a really neat amphitheater, and other cool stuff. We didn’t spend too much time there because we were ready to get back to our hotel. It was one of the most fun days that we have had on our vacation so far and we can’t wait for the days coming up!

This is the amphitheater in Millenium Park lit up.

These are just a couple more cool pictures that we got in Chicago. The second one is off of the edge of the pier of the sailing boat that we saw.