Chicago
Here we go again! Our fifth grandchild/grandparent trip! You could visit Chicago every weekend for a year and still not see or do all the city has to offer! It is truly a treasure chest full of gems!
Picking a hotel for our stay was easy! We love The Drake! It has the perfect location to everything.
After getting settled, we headed to Water Tower Place for lunch at Harry Carrys Tavern!
Next stop, The American Girl Store! This year will be #4’s golden birthday! She celebrated with a shopping spree!
One of my favorite things to do is take a river cruise! We hopped a cab and headed over!
Our cruise director told us about the Great Chicago fire. The fire is said to have started about 8:30pm on October 8, 1871. The most popular tale blames Mrs O’Leary’s cow for knocking over a lantern and setting the shed ablaze! The fire spread rapidly due to a severe drought and strong winds, coupled with the city’s use of wood as the predominant building material in a style called balloon frame. The city’s sidewalks and many roads were also made of wood. In the end the fire killed 300 people, destroying 3.3 square miles of the city including 17,000 structures.
Navy Pier was a short walk, with the iconic Centennial Wheel our next stop. The low key ride takes passengers 200 feet up in an enclosed gondola. The view is 360 degrees of the city and Lake Michigan.
We decide to walk along the lake back to our hotel, first stopping at 875 North Michigan Avenue, formerly known as The John Hancock Center. The hundred story skyscraper was finished in 1969 with the famous psychic Jeane Dixon predicting that it would collaspe before being finished. Whilst that thankfully did not happen, it did end up sinking a few feet. The 94th floor is an observation deck with panoramic views of the city and lake.
We headed back to The Drake to get ready for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. After dinner we left Apa in the room and did some touring of The Drake. The Drake opened in 1920 and since has had many very famous people grace its doors. Elizabeth Taylor, Judy Garland, Hugh Hefner, Walt Disney, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Charles Lindbergh, Joe DiMaggio, Marilyn Monroe. Diana, Princess of Wales, stayed at the Drake during her only stay in Chicago in 1996, one year before her death.
Day two started at the Field Museum.
This is one of my favorite museums. It is laid our perfectly with everything from dinosaurs to mummies.
An interesting fact is that there is a tunnel providing an underground passageway between The Field Museum and The Shedd Aquarium. We chose the walkway between the two grabbing lunch along the way.
The aquarium has many hands on experiences from beluga whales to penquin’s.
Once again we chose to walk back to our hotel along the lake.
Dinner tonight was a short walk to Hugo Frogs Bar & Fish House, taking in a few sites along the way!
This is the courtyard of the Waldorf Astoria Chicago, formerly the Elysian Hotel Chicago.
We had to have frog legs as an appetizer! They really do taste like chicken!
The carrot cake was big enough to feed a family of four.
The Drake Hotel has a very storied history including not one but three ghost stories. My favorite is about its most famous ghost, the Lady in Red. We once again left Apa in the room and went exploring.
We were lucky enough to encounter a bellhop who was actually quite knowledgeable in lore. History has it that at the 1920 New Years Eve Gala, amongst the over 2000 quests, one particular young lady attended with her fiance. Tripping the light fantastic, with many gentlemen all wanting their turn with the beautiful girl in the red dress, she failed to notice that her beloved had slipped away. Coming to the logical conclusion that he simply needed a break and headed back to their room, she followed suit. Upon opening the door, what she discovered left her dazed and confused. Whilst her fiance tried to explain the woman in bed with him was just a friend, she knew otherwise. In utter dismay, she ran from the room, taking the elevator to the roof. Stepping into the frigid night air, she took one last look at the city below and leapt to her death.
Our last day started at The Adler Planetarium.
Gemini 12 was the final mission of the Gemini program. The Gemini 12 Spacecraft launched on November 11, 1966, carrying astronauts Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin into space. The crew spent four days inside this tiny space. Buzz Aldrin completed a two hour tethered spacewalk, which meant that NASA was now ready to put a man on the moon. Upon re-enrty to earth’s atmosphere, the spacecrafts heat shield protected the men from temperatures reaching 3500 degrees F. They safely splashed down on November 15, 1966 in the Atlantic Ocean.
Our last stop before heading home was the Lincoln Park Zoo.
The Lincoln Park Zoo is 35 acres, was founded in 1868, is the second oldest zoo in the United States and one of a small number of zoos which are free. Pritzker Family Childrens Zoo has a large exhibit featuring the endangered red wolf.
The Lincoln Park also has a beautiful habitat for the Western Lowland Gorilla, which is the smallest of the gorilla species. The adults spend most of their time on the ground making nests by tucking vegetation around themselves while sitting. They live in troops with the males eventually leaving to form bachelor groups or gaining control of an already established family group.
The Lincoln Park Zoo’s bachelor troop has three males named Amare, Uganda and Mosi. Here we saw the boys playing together.
One more Ama, Apa and grandchild trip is in the books. Such wonderful memories we will hold dear to our hearts forever.
