THE WINDY CITY

-Chicago, Illinois-

We headed downtown Chicago yesterday to explore the windy city. It was Kates first time in town so I was really looking forward to seeing if she loved it as much as I always have. The day was supposed to be sunny but unfortunately it was not sunny the entire day... Ill get to that though. The train ride was fun except danny and justin PASSED out, so kate and i just had to entertain ourselves. We decided that we would tickle dannys nose and watch him hit himself.. which by the way was hilarious.

But we were soon into chicago.... The day started by walking to get hot dogs at the #1 hotdog place in Chicago-- they sadly we not nearly as good as I remembered them, and more expensive then I remember too but it was okay. We then were off to Millennium Park where there are all sorts of cool things to look at. There is the bean and the outdoor theatre designed specifically for acoustic sounds, there are all sorts of statues and a water playground. We had fun looking around and we even saw a "love train" conga line of elderly people shouting their names and ages.

We then headed to Navy pier where we rode the ferris wheel (my absolute favorite part of chicago) Mind you I voted we walked here, which isnt far but I was unaware we would be walking everywhere all day... and my feet were already a little sore by the time we got here. We also took pictures with some statues and we walked around. fun fact of the day: I first realized I was in love with danny on this very ferris wheel in Chicago. (PRECIOUS I KNOW) ;)

We then decided to walk to North beach, which didnt LOOK too far away but boy were we wrong. It was nice to walk along the water and if it smelled the least bit salty i would say it reminded me of the ocean. The great lakes are HUGE, i know that seems like a silly statement but seriously they look like oceans. The weather was starting to look a little gray here and I decided to put back on my light jacket. By the time we got to North beach my feet and knees were killing me. Dannys friends had came down on the train to meet us but decided not to walk that far away so they kept calling or we kept calling and every time i would here "dude, where are you ?) haha hilarious by the end of the day. We then decided to go to the Lincoln Park zoo, which is one of (of not THE) first zoo in the country. This was SO COOL. to be able to see all these exotic animals for free was one of the coolest things i have done here... I have to mention this because i still cannot believe this exhibit was in a ZOO... but they have this cage that looks really dark in the african safari house... the boys and kate walked over to it first before turning suddenly around telling me WHATEVER YOU DO SHY DONT GO IN THERE. when they told me what was in this cage I about fainted... there is an exhibit full of my biggest fear.. thousands.. thousands.. of... cockroaches ! WHAT THE HECK lincoln park zoo, thats just disgusting. Other then that the zoo was actually really cool. We saw all sorts of things I have never seen in zoos before such as sandcats (which look like kittens with huge ears) and fruit bats, and warthogs. The zoo is also home to lions and tigers, giraffes, fish, polar bears, and otters. This was a really cool experience.

By the time we left the zoo I thought my knee was on fire and my feet were going to fall off... and we had to make the hike back to millenium park. On the way back we walked through the most gorgeous residential area I have ever seen. the most picture perfect homes EVER. It was raining by this time and kate and I were in dresses. UGH. We made the hike to pot bellies before catching the train.. which we almost missed, we had to run to catch it. I fell asleep on the train and once off I realized I had really messed up my foot. In so much pain from 10 miles of walking I actually cried. I think by favoring my hurting knee I messed my foot up... it was swollen and gross but a hot foot bath made me feel a lotttttt better. We finished out the day by watching a movie at a friends house and we all passed out epically early !

stay tuned for the rest of my 5 days here !