The Second City

When Holly and I got married, we went to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg for our honeymoon. We returned the next year when  Holly was pregnant with Xavier. We haven't taken a vacation since. We spent a day in Washington DC about a year ago, but that was a part of an interview weekend in Baltimore, so I don't count it as a vacation.

It was one of my goals before my birthday to take Holly to a big city on a vacation. We found the time and the finances to go to Chicago the week of Thanksgiving.

I had gone to Chicago for a mission trip with my students in 2012. It was actually the final thing I did as a staff member at High Street. It was bitter and difficult for me, that trip was meant to be a long term investment from me to my students, but it turned out being something different.

I was eager to take my wife to Chicago, I thought she'd like it. We found a great rate for a hotel, but the catch was we had to go the week of Thanksgiving. We stayed at the Hotel Indigo in the Gold Coast neighborhood on the north side of Chicago.

We loved the hotel and the neighborhood. Seriously, we both were just in awe of the beautiful neighborhood as we drove through it.

We enjoyed pizza at Giordano's and had breakfast at a little pancake house and enjoyed dinner at a little Italian place a block away from the hotel.

We visited Navy Pier and shopped along Michigan Avenue. We didn't have any money to spend, but we did splurge on some wonderful popcorn from Garret Popcorn! I had it my last time in Chicago and absolutely loved it!

My major goal in Chicago was to relax and enjoy the company of my wife. We were able to do that and we had a great time.

We'll definitely be returning to Chicago someday, hopefully for a Cubs game! It's the thing I haven't been able to do there, but I really want to!

This was one of the larger and more expensive things to do on my list of 30 things, so I'm glad to have it scratched off. I'm making progress, but it's slow going, slower than I'd like. I'll have to work at a couple other items on the list before the month is up, I'm just not sure which things I'll do first.

Any thoughts?