If you read the last post, you know that we decided to go to Chicago last minute on a mini-family-vacation. I'd debated if traveling with three little ones to an awesome city would be even be fun. I'm so glad we went. It was an incredible trip. Sure, I want to go back with just Charles and enjoy the city in a non-baby-wearing fashion, but even with the kiddos it was a amazing experience.
I heart Chicago.
It felt like New York City, but less crowded, cleaner and prettier. Maybe I need another trip back to New York City to properly compare [hint hint Charles].
Our drive up was good, minus our potty training toddler [Solomon] who pooped on Charles' jeans while waiting his turn for the potty. Hilarious. Not to worry, by the end of the evening, Moses had a poop explosion on my only jeans I brought to Chicago.
We arrived in Chicago late Thursday afternoon and checked into our hotel. We booked our room the night before using Priceline & saved $100 a night. Which made up for the $50 a night parking. Hence why we did lots of walking over the weekend. It wasn't too bad, we just tried to walk to places that were within a mile or two.
When you use priceline you never know where you will end up, but we got really blessed with a hotel close to all the attractions & four star gorgeous inside. Our room was amazing. It had two double beds, a couch, desk, 50'' flat screen TV & a "rain" shower [I need one!]. Did I mention the three amazing window views?
Afterwards, we decided to take a walk around & eat dinner. It was the perfect Fall evening. We visited Buckingham Fountain & ate dinner at Giordanos.
The deep dish Chicago pizza was delicious.
We finished up our evening by walking back to our hotel through the financial, theater, and shopping districts.
I was really surprised at how well all sleeping in the same room went. We've done it a lot before with company or traveling, but it was our first hotel room with 3 kids. Everyone slept, they just got up when the sun rose...even with those amazing hotel curtains.
Because we got up so early all weekend and did so much sight seeing we turned in every night pretty early. When I go back with Charles, I'd like to experience Chicago's "night life" after 8 pm. Ha.
Did you know there is an option on priceline to select a hotel within a certain location/area? I did this on a trip to Lexington, KY. I knew from a friend which area we wanted to be in and what level of hotel we wanted to stay at. I selected that area and star level....the rest is a crapshoot. We ended up in a Hyatt suite (reg. $150/night) for $60!!! Not too bad.
ReplyDeleteVara, yes, we did select Grant Park Area, but the location is pretty wide spread as far as hotels go, we were hoping for something close to the attractions, and we did pretty well. I'm totally going to use it again.
ReplyDeleteCandra,
ReplyDeleteWe took a vacation to San Diego in early September and no one prepped us for the babycation and how different it is than adult vacation. We knew it would be different, but weren't quite prepared for the go-going of all day and then crashing early and getting up early. It was awesome, just different. I see now why the parents need some serious childless vacations too :)
Wonderful pictures!
ReplyDelete