Chicago P2

Sorry, I kind of forgot I was going to do Part two of our trip, I got a little distracted, anyways here we go.

On Thursday we decided to check out the Lincoln Park Zoo, it was only a two mile walk from our hotel and the weather was so nice so we decided to take the trek.  On the way we came across the Chicago History Museum but they wouldn't let us bring our drinks in and I was not about to dump a full pumpkin spice latte, so we decided to come back.

The zoo is free to get into and probably was one of the nicest zoos I have ever been to, even better than many of the zoos you have to pay to get in to.  The way they had the cages set up you can almost see the animals from every angle so if they are hiding in a little corner in the back you just walk around to the other side and you can see them.   Many of them had an inside portion of the cage so if the animal was sleeping inside all you had to do was walk to the inside part and check him out.  The weather was so nice that pretty much all the animals were out and frolicking so it made it that much more fun.  Also since its a free zoo and anyone can come in there were lots of these people, I don't know if they are homeless or just street musicians playing music, but they were playing some of the most beautiful music I have heard, it really added to the whole experience!

After the zoo we wanted to try this hot dog place that I had seen I think on the travel channel or food network and Mark really wanted to just eat a hot dog so we ventured out to find it, it was kind of close to the zoo, but ended up being about a 30 min walk.  The place was called Wieners Circle and I remember on the show I saw them on, they are notorious for being rude that's what they are known for, well Mark was unaware of this and we got our dogs and sat down and he goes man they are so rude here! I was like yeah I think that's their "thing" he was kind of confused and not impressed, and said the hot dog didn't taste like anything special...I am not sure what he was expecting but to me a hot dog is a hot dog?  

After lunch we decided to head back and stop at the museum we had passed earlier.  We go in to get our tickets and they let us in for free as they were closing in 30 minutes.  we went upstairs and covered the whole upstairs and part of the downstairs...we don't dwell long in museums as it is so I guess it worked in our favor.  We headed home to rest and decide where to eat for dinner.

That night we didn't want to walk far since we had done so much walking that day so we went to an Italian restaurant by our hotel.  The food was so good! I honestly don't even remember what I got, I was too busy eating I guess.

Friday we headed out to check out Soldier Field, the Shedd Aquarium, and The Adler Planetarium.  We walked half way and decided to take a cab the rest of the way as this location was a pretty far walk and by this time in the week we were not into the walking thing so much anymore, also becuase we were running out of time. Mark saw Soldier Field, it was all locked up of course but he just wanted to see it so we did, then headed across the street to the aquarium.  We kind of got gypped on this one we said we wanted a basic admission so that's what she gave us it was $8 and all we got to see was a few fish and sea creatures in tanks...we didn't get to see any of the big animals like the sharks or whales or dolphins :( oh well on to the planetarium we went.  

The planetarium was pretty nice, I liked how it was layed out but I am not really into planets and outer space so this was more for Mark he really wanted to see the planetarium so we did.  From the top steps to go in to the planetarium though you got an amazing view of  the city skyline!

We went through the whole museum and by the time it was over we were so exhausted! We took a cab almost all the way back home but got out a little before home because Mark wanted to do a little shopping before we went to dinner, so we shopped a little and then walked back to the hotel.  We had some time to rest before we got ready for dinner.

That night we had reservations at the Signature Room on 95th.  Its a fancy restaurant on the 95th floor of the John Hancock building.  The sun was setting and the view was amazing! The food was also delicious.  I had a pork tenderloin and Mark had the Salmon and then we shared the sides of cheddar potatoes and a seasonal vegetable mix which was summer squash and zucchini.  For desert we shared this little apple cake thing.  We thought it was weird when we ordered the desert and the waiter asked if we wanted just one and we said yes just one and he then asked if we wanted two spoons, we said yes and he looked at us a little crooked.  Well when the desert came out it was like the size of a Ritz cracker haha! no wonder he thought it was weird we wanted to share that little desert.  In reality though it was perfect because we were so stuffed by then we didn't need to eat that much more. It was a prefect ending to an awesome vacation!

please excuse the blur the waiter wasn't very good at using the camera