Saturday morning, up way too early for a Saturday morning - we were on the road at 7:30am. While I was hating that (as was Darian), it was a must if we were to get everything in the day we wanted to. It was nice to leave the scorching weather behind, too - a forecast of above 100 was not looking pretty in Indy!
With only one stop along the way, we got to our first destination about 9:30am (remember - Chicago is an hour behind Indy). The Museum of Science and Industry.
This place rocks! Eric and I have come here on our own and loved it! They have a lot of cool exhibits, both classic and newer, rotating exhibits. Since we were there right when they opened, we were able to take our pick of exhibits to see, which was advantageous since there are some that have a timed entry. There were certain ones we wanted to see and with our limited time here (you could easily spend an entire day here), we wanted to be sure to get it all in! I think my favorite this trip was the mock tornado - Darian even got to play in it.From here, we went to the hotel to check in and after only a brief moment to recuperate, we headed out to Michigan Ave... The Magnificent Mile! We wanted to give Darian a small taste of shopping in a big city, even if we weren't there to shop. We only hit a few stores along the Mile, just where Eric or I wanted to either look for something or show Darian something. But at the end of our tour, we bought very little... well, I bought very little. No one else bought anything.
Finally, dinner time was upon us. But first, we had to go check out The Skydeck on top of Willis (Sears) Tower!
We took a slight detour on the 'L' (Darian's first time on a subway - the Red Line!) down to the old Marshall Field's (now Macy's) to see a true historic department store. She never could get over how big these stores were. Back on the 'L' to head over the the Skydeck! Thankfully, our CityPass allowed us to fly by the lines and head right up to the top. It was right at dusk, so the view was spectacular! If you don't know about this particular scenic perch, you must learn about the glass boxes they built to stick out OVER the edge of the building. It's crazy and it's hilarious to see some of the reaction from people as they step out (or attempt to step out) into the box.Finally, dinner. We went to one of Eric's and my favorite spots - SushiSamba Rio. I wasn't sure if Darian would be too young for this place (both in the food and atmosphere), but she wasn't, at all! We had fun sampling a few different things on the menu and taking it all in, DJ and all. But it was getting late, and we were all beat from the long day, so back to the hotel we went to crash!
Day Two.
Another relatively early morning for a weekend - up at 7:30am. Again, we wanted to get to one of the museums right when they opened. Luckily, our hotel fed us a good breakfast and we were on our way! We decided to go to the furthest south point and work our way back north. So we hopped on the 'L' and head down to The Field Museum. We focused on one of their big exhibits - the Evolution of Species, which included the dinosaurs. Even I was pretty blown away by this place! Eric and I may have never gotten here ourselves, so it was fun.
Same goes for the Shedd Aquarium, our next stop. I couldn't recall a time I EVER went to an aquarium like this. Obviously, there were a lot of fish. They also had an exhibit of jellyfish, which was neat to see - I never knew how many there really were! We ended our time there, though, with their aquatic show, which included Beluga Whales and Pacific White Sided Dolphins. It was a short, basic program that was more focused on how they train them verses a show of tricks. Which was nice, actually.
Now it was time to do some walking. We walked up through Grant Park, which is essentially their Central Park if you don't know the area. In the middle of it is Buckingham Fountain, which we had to stop by and check out - not every day you see a fountain of such a massive scale! Plus, the mist from the fountain felt great (even though it wasn't uber hot). But we only stopped briefly and were on our way.
Next stop, The Art Institute of Chicago! This is another museum Eric and I have been to ourselves and love! We didn't have a lot of time since we did have to head back to Indy, so we chose the 'One Hour Must See Tour" they have in their guide. It basically picked out 12 exhibits in the museum that took you to every wing and getting to see some of the most famous pieces they have on display. We stopped at other ones, too, and did actually stay longer than that hour, but it kept us moving. Which was hard, because we were about worn out from the whole weekend, by this point!The Art Institute is right next to Millennium Park. Which would be our last 'real' stop in Chicago (we drove through a few other areas on the way out of town). We had to go through it to get back to the hotel, anyway. So we picked two of the bigger features of the park to see - The Crown Fountain and the Cloud Gate (aka 'The Bean'). Both always have people swarming around them, and today was no exception! The fountain had so many kids playing it that Eric even got splashed by one of the little ones.
The Bean is just such a unique sculpture, it always has a draw - I love that they kept it 'interactive' and didn't just fence it off. 
It wouldn't be nearly as cool then.With that, we were done with Chicago, for the most part. We made a few stops on the way home - one for grilled cheese sandwiches at Fair Oaks Farm and another to see one of the windmills up close and personal. And to see Darian in a corn field. But we had to get the car returned, if nothing else, and mainly, we were all beat and just wanted to get home! It was such a great weekend, though. One of my best Chicago trips, by far!
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