My husband and I enjoyed a fabulous week driving and walking around the Midwest. We spent the first few days walking around the Lincoln Park and Lakeview neighborhoods of Chicago. The weather was wonderful, so we were able to log quite a few miles on foot.
Truth be told, after driving around for quite some time searching for anyplace to park, we were able to score a fabulous free parking place right in front of our Guest House, and knew if we tried driving again, we'd be lucky to find a place to park any where near where we stayed (there was street cleaning going on, so lots of streets around there were no parking on either Monday or Tuesday) … so we walked and walked and walked some more … which was a good thing, since we also enjoyed lots of fabulous food on our trip as well.
We ate breakfast every morning at Toast … can't say enough good about this place … cozy, great service, and amazing food. These were the Banana Nut Pancakes.
We also enjoyed fantastic meals at Bacino's (Stuffed Pizza), Cafe Ba Ba Reeba (Spanish Tapas) & Del Seoul (Banh Mi Sandwiches & Dumplings), Dee's Mandarin (Sushi) & Little Brothers (Kimchi).
This was some art in one of the train stations … I started to move the empty glass from the base before taking my photo, but decided it was part of the entire metropolitan art experience.
Our first full day was spent exploring the Lincoln Park Zoo. I loved this view of the Chicago Skyline from the bridge near the Zoo entrance.
I don't think I have ever seen the black underside of the wings of a Flamingo … loved the contrast.
We got to watch the feeding of the Penguins. It was fun watching them both above and below the water. The little guy at the bottom is getting ready to dive in after some fish that were tossed into the water … although there dives were more like "leaning forward and falling in". They were amazingly fast & graceful once they were in the water … sort of like watching them fly underwater.
We also really enjoyed the Gorillas. This guy was perched at the top just taking it all in.
And as usual, the Meerkats were some of the most social of the animals … it was almost like they were posting for the photos.
On our walk back, my husband decided to try out the Senior Citizens crossing.
Day 2 was spent exploring Lakeview. On of our favorite stops was Threadless, where we got some fabulous t-shirts (we usually buy them on-line … it was fun to see them in person before buying). I love my new Bye Bye Apocalypse Shirt.
We also fell in love with Argo Tea … Coconut Iced Chai … wish I had one right now. I also fell in love with the local art hanging in the Argo Stores. This was one of my absolute favorites.
I'll do a second post with the rest of the photos from Rockford & Madison.