Anniversary Trip Recap: Part 1

After quite a Thursday night (I don't even want to get into the hotel issues we came across - I'll just get mad again) J and I made it up to the train in Michigan City and took the South Shore Line in to Chicago.  I love the South Shore - it makes travel to and from Chicago stress free, and you can drink on the trains - we didn't this time, but I have before  :)

We got there and checked in to our hotel.  We stayed at the ACME Boutique Hotel and it was AMAZING!  When we were booking the hotel, we looked at the reviews and literally the ONLY negative comments were about how small the rooms were and how there were no closets - HELLO, IT'S A BOUTIQUE HOTEL.  It was so modern, but still so comfortable, and I thought we had plenty of room!!

LOVE this bathroom!

This robe was awesome and I used it daily!

What a great night light!

Loved the cool stickers on the elevators

Once we got all settled in at the hotel, we went around the corner to one of my most favorite Chicago restaurants - Portillo's.  I have seriously NEVER had a better hot dog!  The fries and onion rings are both good, and it's so reasonably priced.  I was really hungry and forgot to take a picture of my hot dog before I basically inhaled it... but do have something to remember the meal by  :)

After lunch we stopped at Garret's popcorn and then walked down to the Navy Pier.  I'd never been there before, so I was excited to see everything!

We're almost there!

Coming from the west, we walked through a park (Navy Pier park?) and I loved the green, and the art there.  It was definitely not something I expected right there in the middle of the city!

We got to Navy Pier, and walked up and down so that we were able to see everything!

We also stopped in the building where the Chicago Children's museum is... which I actually knew better as a place that I saw on Four Weddings on TLC.

We got to the end of The Pier and had some amazing views to take in.

Sailing competition

We decided to take a water taxi back to Michigan Ave, so we hopped on and were treated to some more great views on our way back.

We went back to the hotel for a while and took a nap before we headed to Hub 51 for our dinner reservations.  My cousin later told me that Hub 51 is a place where people go to be seen... well, we didn't see anyone, but I did have an amazing arugula caesar with my Kung Fu Girl riesling.

It was a great Friday, and we had even more to look forward to on Saturday!!!

[to be continued...]