Just Another Weekend In Chicago

I titled today's post, "Just Another Weekend in Chicago," because I feel like we are here all the time these days. Haha. We are just under 3 hours from the city, so it's not too far, and it's one of our favorite cities because there's just so much to do here.

Last week, we spent a couple of nights here on our way back from our Michigan vacation. We actually stayed here because we were attending the Third Eye Blind concert Thursday night. They are one of my favorite bands, so I was so excited to finally see them for the first time!

We stayed at the Congress Plaza hotel again, and this time our room was even better than the first time we stayed here. We had a lake view, which was awesome.

Our room even seemed bigger, even though it was only a standard room. It was a bit noisier with the traffic right outside, but the view of Grant Park, the lake, and even Navy Pier in the distance was totally worth it.

Plus, it looked even better at night. Amazing view!

The Taste of Chicago was going on right across the street in Grant Park, too, so we could hear music from that, and we walked through it on our way to the concert Thursday night. You could buy tokens to try some of the local food from the vendors who were there, but we didn't partake in the food since we didn't have much time.

We did eat at Italian Village on Wednesday night after we arrived in the city.

It had been a long time since we first ate here. Actually, it was back in 2010 on my 22nd birthday to be exact! So it was nice to finally come back to this place. The atmosphere and food is a little like Olive Garden, but 100 times better.

It's more authentic Italian, and the food and wine we got were all great.

The next day, we went to North Avenue Beach on Lake Michigan. I had always wanted to go to the beach here. It was a fairly hot day, a little breezy, but the sun felt good! We layed out for a while, and Trent went in the water. I waded for a few minutes, but the water was freezing!

After getting a pretty good sunburn (haha), we ate at a restaurant at the beach called Castaways.

The building is shaped like a huge boat, and we sat on top and had a great view of the entire beach.

I got a Pina Colada which was pretty yummy. It kind of felt like we were back in Jamaica. It was so nice to have a day to relax at a beach after an eventful vacation!

That night, sun burns and all, we went to the Third Eye Blind concert at the Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island. They were just as amazing live as I had imagined!

It was literally a nineties music dream come true.

After the concert, we had a great view walking off Northerly Island. I mean, Chicago, could you get any prettier?

We had to do a selfie in front of the lake and night skyline. It was such a perfect ending to a great night!

The next day, we drove home but stopped at a couple more places along the way. First, the Fashion Outlets of Chicago, which is a pretty awesome mall, though we just ate there and didn't buy anything. And then to Haley and Dan's again for another quick visit.

We got home on Friday night, and while it was so nice to be home, we were sad that it was the end of our 4th of July vacation. It's been back to reality and work for us this week! I'm sure there will be many more fun vacations and trips to come, though. ;)