Tourist Day 1: Sky Deck

 Wednesday, May 28th, the day I had been waiting for for months finally was here. Ethan ran his stuff to the dry cleaners (and by run I mean quite literally), bought our bus passes, and we headed to the library to print off our tour bus passes. While Ethan was gone, Kelsey was in charge of the planning.

Since Ethan was going to be going to work on June 2nd, we wanted to do as many touristy things as we could before his days were full. We bought a CityPass and a Tour Bus pass to help us accomplish that goal. We knew everything was going to be pricey so the CityPass gave us discounted tickets and allowed us to cut in all the lines as long as we used the tickets within 9 days. The Tour Bus pass gave us a tour around all the major sites of the city for 3 days. We did the actual tour once and then just used it as a taxi. The tour bus stopped at all the major attractions in our CityPass book so it was a win, win, win.

I am pleased to announce that my first bus experience was a success. I got on, scanned my card, and got off. It was as easy as everyone said, but I did it. I can do great things. 

Kelsey LOVED the bus by the way (unfortunately day 3 and 4 did not look like this)

 This was our city bus stop

That first day in the city was COLD!!! I did warm up for a bit in the afternoon, but i was glad we had sweatshirts. While we were walking around, we just kept saying that we were so glad that we were here in the summer. I'm so sorry Annie and Andy! That wind is bitter and we were here in June!!!

Our tour bus picked us up at the Hard Rock Cafe and then we were on the "tour." We had already decided that we were going to get off at the Sky Deck aka Sears/Willis tower and I am so glad that we did.  The tour guide, Rob, was awful!! He made us super nervous about the money that we had spent. All he told us was that he missed the building he was supposed to talk about, pointed out a cross dressing bar and asked people on the bus if they wanted to go, and then sat down. I kinda hope Rob got fired. We never saw him again and I am so glad. He sang to Kelsey and had a great voice so maybe he will find a better job that better suits his skill set.

The Sky Deck was amazing. Pictures do it no justice. We all got into an elevator, and they took us up to floor 103 where the view was. When I say we ALL got into the elevator, I mean we ALL! They don't mess around. They fill those things to max capacity.

This is the ceiling. If you can believe it, you actually can't see the 6 people in front of us

 It wasn't a clear day so we couln't see four states, but the view was  breath taking nonetheless

 

Northish

 more northish

 east

 south

 west

 The newest attraction to the Sky Deck is the room made out of glass. We were like super spooked of this room, but HONESTLY it wasn't that spooky.

It was cool, but you couldn't really see the bottom too well, so it wasn't too scary. Even Kelsey walked right on.

So while we were there, there was a high school there on a field trip and some of the boys were laying down on the floor getting pictures. I thought it looked like an awesome idea. It wasn't. I hate being lead astray by high school boys.

  

 After the Sky Deck Ethan wanted to show me his building which is right across the street.

 And then it was time for lunch. First stop: DEEP DISH PIZZA!! Okay, I'm not just saying this but it really did taste different and I loved it. For those who are new like myself, it goes crust, pepperoni, cheese, pepperoni, cheese, and then sauce. Its amazing and super messy.

 Naturally we are Blackhawk fans now. Didn't even know they were a team until Wednesday

 Hate this picture of me, but Kelsey looks so excited. She ate probably half of my pizza. I was not pleased.

 After lunch we walked over to Union Station to look inside. It is the main train station in and out of the city. It is HUGE and truly breath taking. I don't know this, but it looks as though the trains used to go inside it, its that big (now they go under it).

  

 

After that quick peek, we hopped our tour bus to Millennium Park to see the Bean aka Cloud Gate

I couldn't keep my camera down. Everything was so breath taking. A lot of the day was realizing that we were ACTUALLY in Chicago and not just taking about it or pinning things to see. There was no ounce of me that DIDNT look like a tourist but I slowly learned to be okay with that. I wanted my pictures gosh darn it! I love being here and am so grateful for the opportunity that we have to spend a whole summer to really get to know the city and its surroundings.

 Kelsey was out by this point. She was too full on pizza to keep her eyes open

 Solider Field: Home of the Chicago Bears

 the harbor

 super blurry, but this was an awesome tunnel AND it was the tunnel where the chase scene happened in Batman 2: Dark Knight which by the way we watched again and its fun to now watch it and be like, "been there!"

 After the Bean, we took the Tour Bus tour for real. We listened to all the stops and I'm so glad we did. It really helped us see the city and get to know it better. The tour guides we had were awesome this time. It was nice to know that Rob was an anomaly. It also warmed up a little so we could sit on the top deck of the double decker bus. By the end of the tour, the weather was already cold again and the tour guide said, "Well there's Chicago for ya. If you don't like the weather you should stay in the same place for 20 minutes. It will change." I thought she was kidding, but we've only been here a few days and thats totally true!

The Aqua building

 Lake Michigan

 Trump building and its surrounding buildings

 the Wrigley building

 Chicago Tribune AKA Gotham City Tower my favorite building

 

 

 The "Corn Cob" apartments and Target downtown

 And finally the family selfie session

There are four things I love about Chicago so far. 1) There are  sculptures everywhere! I'm not a huge art buff, but it really adds to the city. The buildings are also the art. You can tell that the architects really try to make their buildings look "Chicago." They really have to stand out and be different. Even in the neighborhoods like where we live buildings just are different.
2) I didn't know this, but there are so many old buildings with really old architecture that are just breath taking. I didn't realize that Chicago was such an old looking city. It's beautiful.
3) The third water is such a major part of the city.  You see the river all the time and can always see Lake Michigan. It is stunning and helps me remember that even though this is totally new, they still have a lake and a river. I can mentally do that. 
and 4) There are parks everywhere. Its not just pavement and buildings. There are so many parks which the Wing obviously loved.

          It was a cold morning, beautiful afternoon and then this started to happen. A crazy fog cloud started to blow in from the lake and it was freezing. We knew then that it was time to get on the bus

Day one was a huge success. The bus ride back was less ideal because it was super crowded. One guys sitting next to me the whole time was silent, until 3 minutes before his stop and in those 3 minutes he decided that he needed to inform me about why vaccination are bad. Here's why " They put pieces of aborted babies in your child's vaccinations and it will make her not be able to talk someday. It happened in Iowa just in January. They also put mercury in the shots so she will die of that too." Thanks man on the bus for letting me know why my child will die of mercury poisoning as a mute.  Oh the joys of public transit that I have been missing out on.
Oh Chicago. You're crazy!