Sunny Day in the Windy City

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had wonderful holidays. As many of you know, I haven’t finished telling you about Charlotte’s visit and our trip to Florida. Well, this is my last post about Charlotte’s trip to Chicago. We took the train to the city with my friends, Jen and Alejandra, the day before we left for Florida. Even though Jen and I only live about an hour from Chicago, we don’t visit it much, but Alejandra does, so she was our guide for the day.

After taking the train there, Divvy Bikes was our best choice of transportation for the day. Not having eaten much yet, we rode to Navy Pier to get pizza from Giordano’s. It was still relatively early, so not many people were around, which is always nice since the area is usually packed. The four of us shared a chicken pesto pizza and a sausage deep dish on the patio, and in the middle of eating, the waiter brought us another chicken pesto pizza, but the actual size we ordered. Apparently, none of realized they gave us a medium instead of a large, so we ended up with a bonus pizza for free. If you ever visit Chicago and you enjoy pizza, choose Giordano’s at Navy Pier and sit out on the patio. You won’t regret it!

Giordano’s – Photo by Charlotte

Once we were all full, we retrieved new bikes and Alejandra led us along the lake to the dog beach. (Of course, we stopped to take photos of each other by the lake on the way there.) Montrose Dog Beach is a six-and-a-half mile bike ride from Navy Pier, and let me tell you, I was sweating by the time we got there. Petting all the pups as they ran around the beach was worth it, though. We dropped our bikes off quite a while away from the beach because so many racks were full due to it being crowded on a Saturday, so if you ever go, find racks a bit further away instead of backtracking and scurrying all over the city, especially if you have more than two people with you. I wish I could have brought my dog to the beach, but she never cared for the water much or even other dogs, and she’s a bit too old now. Regardless, this beach is the place to go for playing with dogs while in the city.

Quick photoshoot

As we were leaving the beach, we avoided taking the long way to go around the fence and hopped it instead, which was a mistake. Alejandra snagged her leggings, and I did the exact same even after being cautious. TIP: Take the long way or be extra, extra careful. We hopped back on our bikes and rode near the lake back toward Navy Pier. The view is breathtaking on this ride. You have the tall buildings to your right and boats sailing on the open water to your left. Unfortunately, you have to continuously dodge pedestrians, ring your bike bell, and shout, “On your left!” so you can’t always take in the view, but just knowing it’s there is nice.

Bombobar – Chicago

Wanting to reward ourselves after the long rides, we went to Bombobar, which is only ten minutes from Ogilvie station. It was my first time there, and I was not disappointed. The S’mores Cooler Chocolate was filled with cool and creamy chocolate, and it was delicious. Topped with whipped cream and graham crackers crumbs, what more could you want? The mini bombo (hole-less donut) on top, of course. They have many other choices and flavors too, so I highly recommend it on your next visit to the city. It completed Charlotte’s last day in Chicago for that trip, so I’d say it was a success.

∴ Michelle

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