A Weekend in Chicago: Part Two

Yesterday I shared part one of our adventures in Chicago. I thought I'd share what we did while visiting the city in case you are planning a trip to Chicago anytime soon and you are looking for things to do.

Day 3

Breakfast at Yolk
This place was recommended to us by a local mom at a park on Saturday. It did not disappoint. I had a very delicious veggie scramble while my oldest ordered the Red Velvet Cake French Toast. Guess what? It was pretty sweet!


Here's one of my cute sisters with the French Toast Trio she ordered. Yes, we all like taking pictures of our food. Maybe it's weird, but I like it.

Snack from Garrett Popcorn
We got the 50/50 Chicago mix which is half caramel corn and half cheddar popcorn. It sounds strange, but it is really delicious. It was hot, fresh and gooey. You can customized your popcorn with nuts or chocolate too.

Parks
Next we walked to a nearby park and let the kids play. We found several open grassy areas downtown that were perfect for letting the kids have some freedom.

At this point in the trip we said goodbye to my sister, her husband and 5 kids as they left to drive home to North Carolina. We also sent off our three kids and my parents and they headed off to the airport to head to AZ.

We were now down to 5 adults for the rest of Sunday and Monday.

Dinner at Gino's East
We decided to try out another pizza place before leaving town. The crust here wasn't as good - it was a bit too dry. We all decided the pizza the first night was better.


The Train
The train system in Chicago is really easy to use and you can buy a 1-day or 3-day pass. You buy the passes at drug stores up on the street BEFORE going underground to catch a train.


We rode the train out of downtown to a bakery called Sweet Mandy B's.


The Outrageous Chocolate Cookie really lived up to it's name. I could go for one of those right now. My husband loved the banana pudding. The cupcakes were good too.

This was a really cute bakery with a few tables, huge variety of baked goods plus they had ice cream. I'd love to have a place like this near my house. That could be dangerous, so it's probably best that it's halfway across the country from me.

Visit Millennium Park
We walked around the park a bit and posed for pictures as the famous bean shaped metal sculpture.

There's a lot to do here with movies, concerts and more going on everyday.

Day 4

Bobby's Bike Tours
We love exploring new cities on bike tours, so we looked up Chicago Bike tours and found this one had good reviews on Yelp. (I love checking Yelp for restaurant and activities while I'm on vacation.)


The tour took three hours and we got to explore downtown, Lincoln Park Zoo, Old Town Historic District, North Avenue Beach, and the Lakefront. I highly recommend doing this tour if you have the time.

After the bike tour, we had lunch at Frontera Fresco which I mentioned with the other Rick Bayless restaurants yesterday.

The Art Institute of Chicago
We spent a couple of hours visiting the Art Institute of Chicago. They have a really fantastic collection of pieces for famous artists such as American Gothic and Sunday Afternoon Along the Seine.


Ghiradelli Chicago
What better way to end a trip to Chicago than with a decadent serving of ice cream?

My sister and I shared this masterpiece:


It is a bit expensive - I think our sundae was around $8. But it was so huge that the two of us could barely finish it, so I didn't feel like it was a rip off. Even if you aren't in the mood for ice cream, you can walk in a pick up a free sample of chocolate.

The End
We walked and ate our way through Chicago. It is such a fantastic city to explore. Have you been to Chicago? What are your favorite places to visit? I'd love to add your ideas to my list of things to do on my next visit!