Photo Friday: Quick Trip To The Windy (and Rainy) City

A few months ago, my oldest daughter decided that we should go to Chicago to celebrate her September birthday, as well as our youngest grandchild’s 3rd birthday (who moved to Chicago last year with my son and his wife). It was our first time visiting them since they left Ohio.

We left before the crack of dawn last Saturday and made it to my son's home in six hours. The turnpike! The tolls! The traffic! It’s not exactly a fun drive and parts of it were in torrential rain. It was a very wet, long weekend, but good to have the whole family together.

We had lunch at Fat Rosie's in the suburbs.  They gave all the kids sombreros to wear, and it was quite the celebratory atmosphere. I had a chicken burrito bowl which was delicious.
 

Back to my son's house for birthday cake. No one had to tell her to blow out her candles this year! She loves berries, so my daughter-in-law made her a homemade strawberry blueberry cake.

Then my oldest daughter's family headed downtown to check into their hotel. This was the view. The kids were very excited to stay in a big city for the first time.

My husband and I, along with Middle Child, stayed in downtown Naperville on the DuPage River. You can see how flooded it was from all the rain. Normally, there is a sidewalk where the street lamps run on the left side.

The next morning, we met my son and family for brunch at this rooftop restaurant (Santo Cielo) at our hotel. It was Latin themed, but I opted for the veggie omelet. *This is not my photo, but it is where we sat.* The view was not so pretty due to the rain.

Meanwhile, my daughter and her family were on a tour of Wrigley Field. My grandson had the time of his life, being a huge baseball fan. He was hoping to sit in the Steve Bartman seat, but sadly, it was gone. My daughter and son-in-law are also huge baseball fans and some of you may remember their baseball themed wedding back in 2014.

Back in Naperville, the rest of us drove to the train station and took the train into the city. It took about an hour due to all the stops. I guess during the week there is an express line that you can take with no stops. We got off at Union Station. The last time I was there was in 1976 when my birth family took an Amtrak across the country and had a layover there. The Great Hall still looked the same as I remembered!

We busted out our umbrellas and started walking to meet up with my daughter. I tried to take photos while holding my umbrella in the pouring rain. Here is the Art Institute.

Crown Fountain at Millenium Park.

Some cool statues that I know nothing about.

Another cool statue.

Fountain in Wrigley Square.

Our destination was Cloud Gate (better known as The Bean). My grandkids were cracking me up, telling me they had been "sheltering under The Bean."

We eventually crossed the Chicago River.

Passed another Chicago landmark.

We had two hours to kill before our dinner reservation, so we opted for the indoor mall at The Shops of North Bridge. At this point, we were tired of walking in the rain.

The Nordstrom was four levels and had this bar in the middle of the department store. That was something I'd never seen before!

This was an ideal place to kill time with kids. There were all sorts of Instagram photo ops with booths you could enter. Everything was in black and white. 

My grandson was so tickled that there was a shop named after me! IYKYK!

It was finally time to eat. My oldest daughter wanted to have authentic Chicago deep dish on her birthday, so that's what we did.

I don't know if it's just because we were starving, but everyone proclaimed it to be the best pizza they had ever eaten! I will admit, it was really good and the two bottles of wine we went through didn't hurt.

Then it was time to split up again. My daughter and family headed to their hotel. We were exhausted, so we ubered to the train station. It ended up being a longer ride back because of a 45 minute delay at one of the stations. The conductor yelled at us all on the speaker to stay seated and if anyone wanted to get off, they would be met by the police. Twice he said, "We are all in this together." After 2020, I never wanted to hear that again . . . 

The next morning, we met our son and his daughter for breakfast in Naperville and then did their Riverwalk. It was lovely.

The Millenium Carillon with 72 bells in 14 stories. The project marked the Year 2000.

Back in downtown Chicago, my oldest daughter's crew had brunch at Top Chef Stephanie Izard's restaurant, Little Goat Diner. This was her shrimp and grits meal. They are huge Top Chef fans (even my grandson) and have also eaten at Richard Blais' Juniper & Ivy in San Diego. My husband is not a Top Chef viewer, so doesn't understand any of this!

The rest of Monday, they spent at the Shedd Aquarium,

Skydeck 360 (we had all planned to do that Sunday, but the weather killed that),

and treats at the Hello Kitty Cafe. (Ron, this photo is for you!)

The rest of us spent our last evening at Vasili's Greek restaurant in downtown Naperville. *Not my photo, but we sat in that back corner with a view of this giant squid above us. We shared a few bottles of Prosecco and many small plates of Greek food (one of my favorite cuisines). Despite the weather, we tried to make the most of our trip. My grandkids had an absolute blast and both of the birthday girls felt special. We hit the road Tuesday morning at 5 a.m. and with the time zone change, made it home just after noon.

Have you ever visited Chicago? Two of you live there, so how often do you go into the city? What is your favorite big city to visit? Mine is Washington, D.C.