Maiden Voyage.....Chicago!

There are about 15 of us "women of a certain age" who want to have fun and travel. We have all connected on email and are going to try to take little weekend trips or day trips to a winery, etc. You know how you always say it would be fun to do something but no one ever does it? Well 4 of us fun lovin gals actually DID take a trip this past weekend. Hooray!! And...it was FUN!!
R, G, D and I set out early Friday morning en route to Chi town for the weekend.
We stayed on Michigan Av. The Magnificent Mile!!

We stayed in a corner suite on the 11th floor at the Allerton Hotel. It was a great size for the 4 of us. The hotel was built in the 1920's. It was renovated a few years ago. It was clean and we had 5 windows so the room was very bright. We had a king sized bed and a sofa sleeper. We drew names to see who slept where the first night and then swapped beds the second night. The king size bed was MUCH more comfortable!
We took a double decker bus tour and an architectural boat ride tour. We walked A LOT.

Friday night it stormed. G and I were the only ones who heard the thunder. It is hard to tell how hard it is raining when you are on the 11th floor and don't have rain on the roof above you. But we woke up Saturday morning to news that it had rained 5-6 inches over night!! Lots of roads flooded over night and one store that R went to Saturday opened late because they had flooded. But if we had not heard on the news about how much it had rained we never would have known. The overall weather was pretty good even though it was very HOT for Chicago. It was in the 90's but there seemed to be a breeze most of the time. It was nice early in the morning and nice again at night. We would love to go back again when it is cooler as I think we could walk even more when it is not 90+ out.
Saturday R shopped while G and D and I went on a tour of the Chicago Theatre. It reminded me of the Fox.

Then we met up at the Field Museum after getting stuck in some crazy traffic for a soccer game with Chicago and Manchester United.

Sunday was R's birthday and we celebrated at the Grand Lux Cafe. It was AWESOME, We had a few desserts...we did not eat them all at lunch. We brought some home with us! But it was YUMMY

It was a great trip. We had a great time! Because there were 4 of us we drove up there. Gas cost Approx $90. We were supposed to pay $48 a night to park but they only charged us $48 total for 2 nights. So that was nice. $12 each to park. We each paid $116 for our part of the hotel. We never would have been able to stay here in a suite on the Magnificent Mile on our own so we were thrilled.

Our maiden trip was a huge success!! We cannot wait to go back to Chicago. It really is a city that caters to the tourist. There is plenty to explore. Tons of stores for shopping. Fun boat and bus trips. Great restaurants. There is too much to do in just 2 short days. So a repeat trip is needed! Chicago + 4 fun broads = MUCH FUN....and yes...there were TWIZZLERS!!