Markel Family Weekend Getaway–Day Two

Day two of our weekend getaway was probably the most intense. The children and I hopped on a Metra train bright and early in the morning and headed to downtown Chicago. We walked for miles, and saw everything I wanted them to see…the Chicago River, the Tribune Tower, the Marshall Field’s building on State Street, The Bean sculpture, Buckingham fountain, the “corn on the cob” buildings, and Lake Shore Drive. The children couldn’t stop looking up! They were also interested in seeing the double-decker buses, the “el” trains, the articulated buses, and all the different boats on the river. We crossed the river four times in several different places, but sadly, we never saw any of the bridges open. We even spent some time in the Art Institute…not enough for Bunny, but enough to see the Impressionists, some of the religious art, and the Chagall windows. The weather looked like it was going to be a big problem, but the only rain we encountered while we were out was during our walk from the Art Institute to the Marshall Field’s building, and fortunately, it wasn’t too heavy!

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Once we got back to St. Charles, we headed to Giordano’s for dinner (we had to have Chicago-style pizza!), then visited the floor at Combo Breaker. Unfortunately, the storms had picked up, so there was no swimming for us that night, but we did enjoy watching some Food Network in our hotel room!

Markel Family Weekend Getaway–Day One

We might not be going on a big vacation like we did last year, but we did have a nice long weekend getaway to the Chicago area last weekend.

We got started bright and early last Thursday, but the bright didn’t last long, and we drove through a huge storm. Even with bad weather accompanying us on most of our trip, we still made good time, and arrived in the Chicago area just before lunch. The children had never seen a toll booth before! And they noticed immediately how crazy the traffic was. We even got a peek at the Chicago skyline as we drove towards Oak Park.

Day one of our long weekend included a culinary trip down memory lane, where we stopped at Mickey’s Gyros and Ribs in Oak Park for a lunch of Big Mickeys, Johnnie’s Sausage and Beef in Elmwood Park for an Italian lemonade, and Alfie’s Inn in Glen Ellyn for dinner.

We also had your standard trip down memory lane, as I showed the children things like where I went to grade school and high school, where I worked when I was in high school, and the Jewel grocery store where I used to shop. We spent some time walking around the Concordia University Chicago campus and regaling the children with tales of our college years, and hanging out with family. We found a Super Target (a store I’ve always wanted to visit) before checking into our room at the lovely Pheasant Run Resort, where we immediately headed for the pool!

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