We went on a little family get-a-way to Chicago last week. Here’s part 1 of the story.
Dave and I usually try to go to Chicago once a year. It’s one of our favorite places to visit, and we’re lucky to live just a few hours away. But this was our first time visiting the Windy City with the boys.
On The Road
We left our house in the rain after breakfast Tuesday morning.
Whew! What a lot of work to just load up the van with all our stuff. Usually we only take a bag or two. Since Wade came with us we had to bring along all his diapers, wipes and food. We had so much stuff it looked like we were staying for a month.
It takes about 2 1/2 hours to get to Chicago from our house as long traffic isn’t bad. We only had to stop twice, so we made it in three.
It was still gray and raining when we crossed the Chicago Sky Way.
The Shedd Aquarium
So we headed straight for the Shedd Aquarium.Ā It’s an especially great place to visit with children. They have dolphins, beluga whales, sharks and hundreds of colorful sea and freshwater animals. Little Wade like watching the dolphins.
He sat in front of their tank for an hour watching them swim around.
(OK, I got a new camera for my birthday/Mother’s Day. It’s a really nice camera. It’s a little too nice, because I haven’t quite figured out how to use it properly yet. I think I had it on the wrong setting half the time, so some of the pictures didn’t turn out so great.)
While Wade was watching dolphins, David was climbing the Penguin play area.
The play area was a zoo.
Here’s David sitting on a penguin nest.
The Palmer House Hotel
When it was check-in time we headed over to our hotel.
We’ve always been able find a good deal on a downtown Chicago hotel online, and this time was no exception. I booked a room at The Palmer House Hilton Hotel just a few blocks from The Magnificent Mile for only $75 a night. It’s actually in an area called The Loop. If you’ve been there, but it’s been awhile, you may remember The Loop as not a very nice part of town. It’s cleaned up, and totally different now. And not scary at all like they always made it look on ER.
As I told David, The Palmer House was, “Fancy-schmancy.” Probably a little too classy for our motley crew.
This is a photo of The Empire Room at The Palmer House. (See what I mean? The whole hotel is elegant like that.) I stole this photo off the web. I was afraid to go in to take pictures, because I didn’t want to disturb the very serious looking people who were in there sipping wine.
The first night with all of us in a little hotel room together was a rough one. Wade did not want to sleep in the crib provided by the hotel. Finally I gave in, and let him sleep in the bed with me. The two Davids shared the other bed. Everyone slept pretty good after that.
The beds were made up fancy-schmancy too. But that didn’t last long with the boys around.
My favorite part about the hotel was coming back to a clean room with the beds made and bathroom straightened up everyday. And I didn’t have to do any of the work. I could really get used to having a maid around.
Still awake? Come back tomorrow for part 2 of Chicago Trip. Can’t sleep? Read this again, them come back tomorrow for more annoying family vacation photos.
FUN! i love aquariums, nevermind the kids. And I have never even *seen* a hotel that fancy.
sounds like fun. and yes, the hotel did look fancy-schmancy. but you get the best part of the deal: clean beds and clean bathroom š
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We’ve never been to the Shedd. Every year we say we’re going to, and we don’t. I’ve never been inside The Palmer House either. I’ve walked and driven by it, but have never gone in. Looks nice!!
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