CHICAGO

I'm lazy and busy (yeah right) so I asked Kendyl if I can just copy her "diary" here. So here it is, our Chicago trip!

 

Tuesday 5/24

 

1. the building on the right is the one where our graduation was 2. Independence train station 3. St. Louis train station 4. Bloomington, IL 5. the harbor 6. downtown 7. Chicago skyline

 

Got on the train at 8:34am in Independence. Kendyl and Megan played cards (rumy) on the train (Kendyl won!). We saw the St. Louis Arch (Eero Saarinen). Then we switched to the bus at St. Louis where we ate pizza hut. The bus was not as fun as the train. We stopped in Bloomington, IL for about 30 minutes. We finally arrived [after 12 hours of traveling] in Chicago at 8:51. Roberta [Kendyl's godmother, we stayed at her apartment] picked us up at Union Station and we drove around for a bit. Then we dropped our stuff off at Roberta's apartment = Awesome! The view was spectacular. It's a corner apartment so there are windows on two sides and a balcony [you can see both the city and the lake and the windows are from floor to ceiling]. There are also mirrors everywhere! Then we walked around the neighborhood [Roberta lives right off of Michigan ave = the shopping street; downtown] and ate at Dublin's bar where we got cheeseburgers, waffle fries, and a pickle slice. YUM! When we got back to the apartment we went to sleep.

Wednesday 5/25

 

1. jellies 2. fish etc. belugas were cute 3,4,5. the bean 6. group picture number 143246858 7,8. more jellies 9. Giordano's pizza

Woke up at 7:45 and got ready and ate breakfast (chobani yogurt [the best yogurt in the world!] and bagel). Walked to the red line subway at Chicago/State and took it to museum campus. Went to Shedd Aquarium. We used our city pass [$76, get tickets to 5 places] so we didn't have to wait in a super long line. Weather = rainy/foggy on the way there. Aquarium = Great. The jellies [jellyfish] were my favorite. We also went to the 4-D Planet Earth movie (where they blow bubbles/wind etc. on you) and the FantaSEA aquatic show with dolphins [the Särkänniemi one is better!]. I also pet starfish = :). We saw Beluga whales! Then finally saw a hammerhead! Next (3pm) we walked to Buckingham fountain (the sun was peaking through... finally). After that we walked to the Cloud Gate/bean. It was so cool! We attempted to take jumping pictures haha. We were starving so we went to McDonald's - I know boring lol! but cheap. After that we walked along Michigan ave and went to the Apple store, Nike, H&M, Forever21, Victoria's Secret, and Zara etc... When we got back to Roberta's we ordered Chicago style deep dish pizza from Giordano's which was delicious [if you're planning a Chicago trip please go eat there!]. And we watched No Strings Attached with Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman. Long day with lots of walking, but FUN!

Thursday 5/26

1. Wrigley field 2. it was cold :(

We left the apartment around 9:45 to go shopping on Michigan Ave (Kendyl, Saara and Megan) went to Water Tower Place. Then headed back to meet Morgan at 12 [she was sleeping] to walk to the L-train to the Chicago Cubs game at Wrigley Field. It was 44F, windy/misty. Our seats were good and the stadium was cool, but the weather was miserable. We left at the top of the 7^th inning; the Cubs were up 7-2 and we saw a home run! We took the L to Chipotle where we had lunch/ dinner. ♥ burritos. Walking back to the apartment we stopped in the grocery store and CVS to get cookie dough! Megan and Saara watched french Open while Kendyl and Morgan watched the cookies haha! For dinner we stayed in... made tacos and guacamole. Sat at the table for a long time trying to decide to go to Starbucks or not → not we sat at the table for a long time talking.

Friday 5/27

1. Sue 2. Kendyl, me, Megan, Morgan 3. me 4. penny-size me 5. bugs 6. Kendyl and Megan's first Chicago style hot dogs 7. the Ledge 8. the view from the Willis tower 9. sardines 10,11. Hersey's store 

Rode the L-train to the Field museum. Saw the dinos (Sue), ancient Egypt exhibit, and the bug (underground adventure thing). All in all we spent about 4h there = pretty cool. We left around 2:00, walked outside to the area around the lake and Megan and Kendyl had their first Chicago style hot dogs. YAY! It was ssssoo GOOD [that's what they say]. Then Kendyl stuck her hand out and got pecked by a duck... “I guess that's what I get for doing it.” Next we walked along the lake to get to Willis Tower to go to the SKYDECK! With our City pass we got to cut everyone and pretty much go straight up (sirpassing an hour wait). The view was pretty sweet; it was a bit foggy, but you could still see quite abit. Then we stepped out on the Ledge (a glass box jelling out from the building). It was so cool you could see straight down to the street from 103^th floor.We took our picture at the “professional” guy. It took only about a minute to up to the 103 floor, but we were packed in the elevator like sardines (everyone face forward haha!). Afterwards we redeemed our free ice coffee from Dunkin Donuts which we got at the Cubs game. We were tired so we rode the L-train to Michigan Ave. We went to the American Girl store which was so AMAZING. “It was so worth the wait, I had wanted to go there since I was little” - Kendyl - - Afterwards we went to the Hersey's Store across the street and got a York peppermint pattie brownie. We made our way back to Roberta's and had the rest of our Giordano's pizza... still delicious.

Saturday 5/28

1. us (again) 2. The cow 3. China town 4. Navy Pier Ferris Wheel

In the morning Roberta took us to the Original Pancake House and I had crepes with fresh strawberries and it was super good! Then she drove us to the Museum of Science and Industry. (Weather = sucks rainy/cold.) The museum was so cool! We got a free movie [thanks to Citypass] in the Omnimax theater (Tornado Alley). The theater was like a dome. We also got a ride a simulator ride. The cool exhibits were the astronaut one, submarine, interactive ones, etc, etc. They were all super cool!! It was probably the best museum. We spent there about 5hours. Then we walked to the Metra train which was a little sketchy, but the lady on the train was nice and only charged us $1.25 (normal $2.50). At this point we were planning on shopping along State St but it was pouring so we stopped in CVS real quick then took the L-train to Clark/Division and walked back to the house. Then about 6:45 Roberta took us down to china town to eat Minghin's. I had egg drop soup, sweet and sour chicken, green beans, and some of Megan's stir fry noodle thing and Kendyl's orange chicken and broccoli. It was cool because Megan talked to the waitress in a Cantonese [she is Chinese] which was super cool and a cultural experience haha! Afterwards we walked around a bit and went into a shop that sold a bunch of Hello Kitty stuff. After this Roberta dropped us off at Navy Pier for fireworks. We road the Ferris Wheel [$6] which was sweet because it was 10pm and the lights were super pretty. After the Ferris Wheel we watched the fireworks at 10:15. And at the end they played the song Firework by Katy Perry lol! Then Roberta took us back to her place and we watched the movie Grown-ups before going to bed.

Sunday 5/29

1,2,3. the sunset was the prettiest I've ever seen!

We had a bit of a late start, but a good breakfast chocolate/walnut coffee cake, chobani yogurt, and fresh fruit. Then we got to the Art institute of Chicago around 11am. We got an audio guide which was pretty interesting and got to see a lot of famous paintings like the American Gothic by Grant Wood, the Waterlilies by Claude Monet, and some pieces by Picasso and Georgia O'Keeffe. The rain was supposed to clear off, but of course it didn't so we took the L-train to Michigan Ave and had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. I had pasta and Godiva cheesecake for dessert! Yum yum. After that we went to Water Tower Place and we spent more time in American Girl store. [If someone doesn't know what AG is google it!] When we used the bathrooms in there they had doll holders next to the toilets and the room was pink and purple and very cute! We had to pretty much carry Kendyl out of that store. We went back to Roberta's to rest for a bit. Kendyl looked outside and the skies had finally cleaned up and it looked gorgeous outside. Kendyl didn't want to spend the rest of the night cooped up in the apartment so she looked down the street; saw people on the beach and convinced us to walk to the beach. It was a great decision because the beach and weather were beautiful! Kendyl, Megan and Morgan took their shoes off and walk in the water even though it was freezing. The sunset was amazing so we took a ton of pictures. We didn't want to leave because it was so nice out there. We spent about an hour there (got there 7:30). Then around 8:40 we walked to Starbucks. Kendyl ordered a grande mocha frappuccino, but the lady behind her took it so she ended up with two drinks. The guys working were really funny, one talked about how the lady who stole Kendyl's drink probably thought they were stupid and how she was enjoying Kendyl's drink right at the moment haha! Then while we were sitting there one of them bursted out into song singing Sweet Child of Mine by Guns and Roses. Also there was a creepy lady dressed in all black with a ton of pills and a watermelon on a stick lol lol. Kendyl started crying it was so funny and we had to force her to leave with us. When we got back to Roberta's we had popcorn, watched Mamma Mia and just hung out. Awesome ending to the day!

Monday 5/30

1,2. Navy Pier

Memorial day. We started out with breakfast at Roberta's (berry smoothie and choco/walnut pound cake). The she dropped us off at Navy Pier. We walked to the end of Navy Pier which is about ½ mile out on the lake. The weather was great (88F) so we sat there for awhile and watched the ships and waves. It's so cool because you can't see land when you look out at the water so it seems like the ocean. Then we rode the free trolley back to Michigan Ave and then walked to H&M and Treasure Island (grocery store) where we got Roberta flowers and a gift card. We got back to Roberta's, put our swimsuits on and had an Izze sodas and some cookies and cherries and then headed to the beach. The beach was packed! There were people everywhere... the night before was more enjoyable especially since it was mainly hormonal college kids in bathing suits lol! We only stayed there an hour (and I burned my shoulders...). Then we walked back to Roberta's and at 3:00 we left to go to Joy's [Kendyl's relative] house. It was about an hour drive but worth it because they live in a MANSION! It was so huge and nice and they also had a pool, pool house with a bedroom, tennis court and 25 acres of land. There were lot of Kendyl's relatives, like the triplets. We swam, then had some snacks, played tennis. Then we had some really good hamburgers and some salad thing and lemon squares. We snooped out the house a bit and found the huge pet parrot which was 25 years old! We left back around 7:45 and stopped at the grocery store on the way back. When we got back to Roberta's we packed our things and then headed back to Starbucks to hopefully see a show again... but sadly the same guy was not working. I got a coffee frappuccino and a $5.00 gift card because it was a really cute city scene of Chicago :)

Tuesday 5/31

 

 
1. Roberta's apartment 2. the view from Roberta's window 3. Chicago skyline 

We woke up around seven and left the apartment around 8:30. Roberta took us to the Union Station where we caught the 9:30 train to St. Louis, MO. In St. Louis we ate pizza hut and took another train back to Independence: 12hours in trains. Chicago was awesome :)

Me and Kendyl took 2704 pictures total :D