Chicago Trip - 07 - Rainbow cones

On our last day in Chicago, we slept in as long as possible, had the hotel breakfast, then relaxed in the hotel room until we checked out at 10.

We had one more item on our Chicago food list, so we walked to Millenium Park one last time and got a Rainbow Cone and ate it on a bench.

Then we took one last walk through Chicago to the nearest metro station to ride back to the airport.

Amber and I both got one more Chicago hotdog at the airport for lunch. The guy tried to warn me that the peppers were spicy. I told him I'm from Texas.

Chicago Trip - 06 - Architecture Boat Tour

We walked to the dock on Michigan Avenue to catch our architecture boat tour at 4pm.

The tour was very interesting, even if the guides were a little too corny. They talked about the history of the city and the different architectural styles you can still see from over the years.

Some of the buildings had to be modified to fit the city in different ways, like the one with the base that tapers at the bottom to fit within a narrow plot of land to avoid rail lines and parks.

And of course, it's just a cool way of seeing a lot of the skyscrapers in the city, like the Willis Tower. There are a lot of new ones since I took the same tour 10 years ago. My favorite is the 101-story St. Regis Tower, with three undulating sections.

At the midpoint of the tour, we got a great view of the skyline before the boat turned around to take us back.

The guides mentioned we should check out the exterior of the Chicago Tribune building, so after the tour we did and found dozens of rocks from famous location embedded in the walls.

Afterwards we spent some time looking for souvenirs. Damon got a Chicago sweatshirt and Miles got a Chicago bear plushie. We picked up some brownies at Ghirardelli's, then went back to the hotel to each leftover deep-dish pizza and watch Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Chicago Trip - 05 - Cultural Center, Art Institute

On Wednesday we slept in a little, then had breakfast at the hotel. It was raining a little by the time we went out, so we got our warmest clothes on and walked to the Art Institute. We got there at about 9:30, but in its second attempt to keep us out, it didn't open until 11.

We went and stood under the Bean for a while, then took a tour of the Chicago Cultural Center when it opened up.

It used to be the city library, and it was beautifully built. The highlight is a Tiffany dome, one of two cool domes there.

At 11 we went back to the Art Institute. We started off looking at the old masters, then some modern art and American art.

We took a break for lunch and went to a Mediterranean restaurant inside a jewelry shop. Strange location, but good food.

After lunch we finished up modern art, then the old Greek and Roman art (I did a lot of that on my own since the kids were worn out by this point), and finished up with a special exhibit of incredibly detailed miniature rooms.

Chicago Trip - 04 - Shedd Aquarium, TwoSet Violin

Fresh off our Chicago dogs we were just thinking how well we had planned this trip when we got the Art Institute and found out that they are not open on Tuesdays. Luckily we were able to swap our tickets and go to the Shedd Aquarium instead. It was a walk we weren't planning on, since the Art Institute was close to the concert we had that night, but we got to see the Buckingham Fountain along the way.

The Shedd Aquarium was really cool. I took a million pictures, of course, but we got to see tons of creatures including fish of all kinds, jellyfish, corals, eels, crabs, turtles, frogs, spiders, dolphins, belugas, penguins, sharks.

They had several interactive exhibits too, so we got to pet sturgeons and rays.

My favorite spot and creature was the shark tank, where I found out that there is a shark-ray combo called a guitarfish. We sat there for a long time watching the fish swirls and crazy shark-rays.

We got dinner at a Chicago restaurant chain called Harold's Chicken Shack. Good food.

That night we went to a concert by TwoSet Violin. I thought it sounded fun when I was looking for things to do in Chicago, only to find out that they're famous YouTubers that the kids already knew about.

Their concert was both hilarious and impressive. They did a bunch of silly skits like playing songs in different genres, two people on one violin, playing using rolls of toilet paper, musical pictionary, etc., along with lots of references to modern "brain rot" culture. But they also are extremely talented and each played a very difficult piece selected by the audience.

Chicago Trip - 03 - Willis Tower Skydeck, Cloud Gate

On Tuesday, I got up early and took the kids on a 4-mile run on the lakeside trail along Lake Michigan. We ate breakfast at the hotel (they had a great breakfast) the walked to Willis Tower.

We took the elevator to the top, where we saw very clearly that it was a cloudy day.

Thankfully, the clouds were moving pretty quickly and we got some good views of the city from the 103rd floor.

And of course, we had to wait our turn for the Skydeck, glass boxes that stick out from the building.

We walked to Millenium Park, enjoying the Chicago vibe, like the El tracks.

At Millenium Park we saw the giant faces spitting water, but the art installation we really came for was Cloud Gate, better known as the Chicago Bean.

We had fun examining the reflective surface from all the angles. For lunch we had my favorite of the Chicago foods, the Chicago dog. It has yellow mustard, green relish, chopped onions, pickles, and sport peppers.

Chicago Trip - 02 - Navy Pier and Deep Dish Pizza

After 360 Chicago, we walked along the lake towards the Navy Pier.

We weren't really interested in riding the Ferris wheel at the Navy Pier, but the location has great views of the Chicago skyline.

We walked all the way around the pier, checking out the sights along the way.

We walked back to the hotel, got our bags and got checked into our room. Everyone was tired and wanted to relax, but we found out all the restaurants were booked, so we walked back near the river to Lou Molnati's to get our names on the waiting list. We had to wait for about an hour. We took turns walking around a bit and found some things to look at while we waited.

We did finally get a table and checked another Chicago food off of the list. We ordered a salad and two deep-dish pizzas.

It was good but way too much food and we took two half-pizzas with us (we even gave a slice to a random guy in a car who asked for one). We stopped off at CVS to pick up a few things, then crashed at the hotel for the night.