The Windy City

So my husband and I recently took one of our spur-of-the-moment weekends trips - but this time we decided to shake things up a bit and explore a place on the other side of the border... Chicago!

At first I was concerned that we were trying to fit way too much into a short period of time (when you take out the 7 hour driving time, we were left with around a day and a half). Turns out we had more than enough time to get a taste for everything Chicago has to offer - and we were blessed with incredible weather too!

We left early Saturday morning and hit the road - pulled into Chicago around noon. Once we settled into our apartment, about 30 minutes outside the city (much cheaper that way), we drove into the downtown core to explore a bit. Here are a few photos from our experience:

Chicago Cultural Centre

The great thing about this place is that it's completely FREE (one of my favorite words) and is a beautiful historical building right across from Millennium Park - lots of local artwork and exhibits to keep you busy. I also realized that I am absolutely terrible at taking pictures of architecture... so bear with me.

Millennium Park

This is obviously one of the main attractions in Chicago - a unique collection of architecture, art, and landscape design in the heart of the city. Also... it's FREE! After an afternoon in the park, we headed to the Lyric Opera theatre to see the Sound of Music - all in all, an incredible first day.

Chicago History Museum

We started off our second day with a trip to the Chicago History Museum courtesy of Groupon.com. You know, as much as I want to be a "museum-person" I just don't think I am. Oh well, it was still a good time!

Lincoln Park

After a trip to a local pancake house, we walked over to Lincoln Park across the street from the museum. This was easily the highlight of the trip for me. We had unbelievable weather for a stroll around the Nature Boardwalk and the Lincoln Park Zoo - did I mention that everything was FREE?

Magnificent Mile/Chicago Loop

We had a bit of time to kill before heading to the Navy Pier for our boat tour so we took that time to wander around downtown along North Michigan Avenue to take in the sights and sounds.

 Navy Pier 

Last stop on the trip was the Navy Pier. It was undergoing a lot of construction, but we were still able to get a feel for the whole place and had a great time. We did a lakefront boat tour that departed from the pier (also a Groupon find). Great way to close off the trip!