I wanted to leave for Chicago today at 6:30am. We pulled out of the driveway at 6:31am. That almost never happens! My mom and Ray came over to our house and we drove to the Metra station in Waukegan, IL. We parked and then my mom and I went to buy tickets. We weren’t able to get on the 8:00 train and ended up taking the 8:30 train in.

The train ride was pretty relaxing–no Chicago traffic to deal with–and even though we had 9 people, 9 suitcases, 9 backpacks and a wagon full of other stuff, we didn’t lose anybody or anything getting off the train and onto the streets of Chicago.

It was a 19 minute walk to the hotel. Giorgio was awed by the city and took a few pictures of the skyline as we walked. We are staying at the historic Palmer House on this trip. We were able to check in right away and got settled in before heading out for some sightseeing.

First stop, lunch at Pizano’s, home of the Chicago deep dish pizza. Cal and Giorgio tried a meat lovers deep dish and they enjoyed it. I challenged everyone not to over-estimate what they would eat to avoid leftovers and we did great and ate just about everything yet everyone was full.

Then we headed to Millennium Park. The “bean” aka Cloudgate has been closed since about September and won’t reopen until spring. We did get to see it from afar and enjoy the other features of the park.

We then went to Maggie Dailey Park and the kids played on the playgrounds there.

We decided to go to Water Tower Place which was about a 30 minute walk. First we stopped at an Amazon Go store where there is no checkout. You scan in using your Amazon app, then shop for what you want. Camera watch what you pick up what you want and then when you walk out, it charges your Amazon account. We checked the receipt on Amazon and they correctly charged us for what we got. I was a little worried because there were 7 of us in there and the kids kept picking things up and putting them back until they decided what they wanted.

Then we kept walking toward Water Tower Place. We saw some fun and interesting things along the way like this advertisement for a new Ice Cream Museum and the Nutella Cafe.

We went to IT’SUGAR which is an extremely overpriced candy store. It was fun to check out though. Nova had a “spiritual” moment in the store.

We dragged Esme and Nova from the store and kept walking down the Magnificent Mile.

Once we got to Water Tower Place we visited the Lego Store, the American Girl Store, a store called Squishables, Claire’s and a game store.

The girls found some good deals on the clearance rack at Claire’s and then we went to a cotton candy shop and got a cool cotton candy from a vending machine.

We had originally planned to go to Ed Debevic’s today for dinner but we were all pretty tired and decided to walk back to the hotel. There was some debate as to whether we should walk or take public transportation but ultimately we decided to walk. It was about a 30 minute walk back to the hotel but it was sunset and it was beautiful. It was also SUPER crowded on Michigan Avenue but before we knew it we made it back to the hotel.

After a short rest, my mom and I went down the street and bought groceries. Eating out 3 times a day plus snacks is not practical with a group of 9 so we got breakfast stuff, sandwich stuff, and snacks/drinks. We went for a swim at the hotel when we got back.

Then we ate a late dinner. The Martins ate sandwiches using our groceries and my mom and Ray decided to go out to grab a bite to eat. We all retired to our rooms after that.

Total distance walked today: 8 miles.