Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Chicago with the Petersens

Road trip!
This week I am staying with the Petersens, and they surprised me with a trip to Chicago! Now, I know I just got back from my Chicago food trip, but I was still really excited to go back, because the food trip had reminded me just how awesome Chicago is (and I'm not even a huge fan of big cities); plus, this trip was going to be completely different from the last one, so I still had a lot to look forward to!
The Ferris Wheel

Thursday morning we packed up the car and did the 3 hour drive to Chicago. I had fun playing games like "headbands" in the car. When we arrived, the first thing we did was go to Navy Pier. I had wanted to go to Navy Pier when I was there earlier in the week, but there was no time, so this worked out perfectly. We did the swings first (which, by the way, is my favorite ride); Navy Pier has really good swings that go high and fast. I love the feeling of flying through the air with my hair blowing, my shoes off, and the sun shining down on me. Afterwards, we went on the ferris wheel. The first ferris wheel was actually made for the World's Fair when it was held in Chicago. It was so fun to ride all the way up to the top and see the beautiful skyline of Chicago, and the lovely blue of Lake Michigan.

Giordano's Pizza
After Navy Pier, we went to get some Pizza from Giordano's. Earlier in the week I ate at Gino's Pizza, which was good, but I found that I also really like Giordano's. The pizza here is stuffed deep dish (which I found out means that they put the toppings in between two layers of dough and put the pizza sauce on top of the top layer). It tasted amazingslightly more soft and melty than the pizza at Gino's. We took our pizza over to Millennium Park to eat so that I could see the Bean, which I have never seen, despite having visited Chicago many times before! It was pretty coolbig and shiny, with a curvy and warped reflection of Chicago and the people.
Our reflection in the Bean

Next we headed up about 1 hour north of Chicago for a concert at Ravinia. We stopped at Jamba Juice on the way for some delicious smoo
The concert at Ravinia
thies to snack on during the concert. All of the pieces that the Chicago Symphony (one of the best symphonies in the world) was performing at this concert were by Russian composers, which was awesome. I didn't recognize any, but Hannah had played one of the pieces in youth symphony. Ravinia was a beautiful setting for a concert, and the setup was amazing. We set out our blankets and chairs on the lawn and settled in for the concert. You could get seats in the main concert area for more expensive, but wasn't really necessary because the sound was just fine on the lawn. It was very relaxing to sit back and listen to the music; the Chicago Symphony did an incredible performance of the pieces.

Sleeping in Ikea
The next day we went over to Ikea for some dorm room stuff. Since I don't have a roommate yet, it was difficult to shop, but I did get some very useful things for a good deal, plus lots of ideas. We ate at the Cheesecake Factory afterwards. I'm not a huge fan of cheesecake, especially if it's plain cheesecake, but since I knew that I couldn't eat a whole piece of the Cheesecake Factory's cheesecake by myself, I opted to split with Hannah. Hannah wanted the original, and for some reason I agreed, even though I knew that I haven't really like other plain cheesecakes when I've tried them. However, the cheesecake came, I tasted it, and I was surprised. It was so good. It was creamy (but not cream cheesy—yuck!) and cold. I just kept eating more!
Now I'm thinking that I need to find a cheesecake recipe that tastes just like that one!

I loved this trip because everything was new and different—it just shows how much Chicago has to offer! I had such a fun time. Thank you Petersens!

(If you want to read more about my Chicago food trip, click here to go to my food blog)

2 comments:

  1. Hi Maddie. We are going to Chicago for a few days, so you gave me some ideas! We have to eat Chicago pizza! Hopefully we get to see you while we're in Michigan. Elizabeth.

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  2. So glad this was helpful! I'm excited to meet Anina :)

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