Typically when we travel, Charles and I like to hit the ground running, squeezing in as much exploration as possible from day to night, going non-stop until we’re on the plane headed back home. I believe the term that best describes our style of travel is that we like to “travel fast”.
Considering the fact that we both only get 12 days of paid leave every year (the US needs to catch up with how much vacation Europe gives their workers), it only makes sense for us to go non-stop and make the most of what little time we DO have to travel by seeing as much as we can. As such, leading up to our trip to Chicago, we had made a list of all the things we wanted to do while there.
Our to-do list for the two days we were in the Chi looked a little something like this: Visit the Skydeck to catch a bird’s eye of the city, eat a deep dish pizza (check), visit Millennium Park (check), see out the Buckingham Fountain and take a architectural cruise through Chicago’s canals.
It didn’t seem like alot to us but what we didn’t take into consideration while making this list was the weather (which ended up being way tooo foggy to go to the Skydeck) and what our moms wanted to do (go shopping) and their style of travel = slow and leisurely.
Once we realized that they weren’t interested in taking the canal cruise (because it was too cold to be on the water) and that walking to the Buckingham Fountain was a little too far for them, we decided to switch things up for our second day in Chicago and cater to their needs. After all, we did make this trip on Mother’s Day weekend so it only made sense to make sure our moms were happy.
^^ That moment when Charles realized my Mommy Ma is actually much worse than me when it comes to taking pictures. For every one picture I took, my mom took three haha. #igetitfrommymama
Charles, my brother, Kris, and I woke up early Sunday morning to make breakfast for our moms in honor of Mother’s Day. We made pancakes, sausage, scrambled eggs, sliced some fresh strawberries with a side of mimosas to wash it all down. Needless to say, it was a hit. When our moms finally woke up and came into the kitchen, the smiles on their faces were pure magic.
I absolutely love the photo above of our moms eating together. It made Charles and I really happy to see them get along so well together on this trip (this was first time they had ever hung out exclusively together since we had eloped last year).
Bellies full, everyone showered and got dressed to hop on the bus headed downtown so our moms could go shopping at Macy’s (another bonding point for them – they both lovvvvve Macy’s lol) at the Water Tower Place Mall.
^^ Our two favorite ladies.
^^ Me and my bro, Kris
^^ The look of love.
While our moms shopped at Macy’s and then at a souvenir store, us “kids” sat on one of those common area benches waiting ever so patiently. I personally never get souvenirs when we travel because to me, the photos I take are “souvenir enough”. Our moms, on the other hand, came out of the souvenir store with a bag full of t-shirts, pictures and shot glasses haha.
Once they were finally shopped out, we made our down the most fancy elevator I had ever seen and headed out of the mall.
^^ Kisses from my mommy ma! #duckface
Once we finally made it out of the Water Tower Place (because our moms kept on getting distracted by window displays), we walked a couple blocks over to the nearest AMC theater to watch Fast & Furious 7. Having seen all of the Fast & Furious movies, I was both excited and sad to watch this film. Spoiler alert: I think the filmmakers did a great job of paying homage to Paul Walker at the end. It had me and my mommas in tears. (RIP Paul Walker)
Following the movie, my brother took us to Portillo’s, a popular restaurant in the Chicago area that is known for their hot dogs. I was surprised by how massive the restaurant was when we entered only to realize that despite it’s great size, the place was packed with people (always a good sign). In addition to hot dogs, Portillos has an eclectic menu that includes burgers, salads, soups and frozen custard.
^^ I decided to get their chopped chicken Mediterranean salad (to balance out the pizza we ate the day before).
^^ My brother got the cheese steak croissant which is exactly what it sounds like… Cheesesteak stuffed inside a perfectly crisp croissant. Ugh, it looked soooo good! And according to Kris, it tasted just as good as it looked.
By the time we were finished eating, our moms were ready to head back and just chill at our AirBNB for the rest of the day which is exactly what we did.
And because Mother Nature has a great sense of humor, (after a super foggy weekend) she decided to bless us with clear weather the next morning a.k.a. the day we were scheduled to head back to D.C.
After saying tearful goodbyes to my brother and mom, me, Charles and his mom hopped on the subway and made our way to the Chicago O-Hare Airport…
^^ You can tell Charles was super excited to leave…
Three hours later, we found ourselves flying over D.C. and landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport.
What with us eloping, Charles and I didn’t have a chance to get our families together to meet as one normally would when getting married. This trip was such a great opportunity for our moms to hang out and get to know each other that we’ve decided we want to do the same thing next year but with our dads for Father’s Day. Where we’ll go? Who knows? But I’m pretty sure we’ll have just as much fun :)
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