After my crazy day of travel, I got a good night’s sleep – and good thing I did, because once we got started Friday morning, we didn’t stop until we left on Sunday!

• Thursday: travel day
• Friday:
    – Chicago Botanic Garden
    – Train ride into the city
    – Homewood Suites
    – Pizzeria Uno
    – John Hancock Building
    – City streets / Oak Street Beach
• Saturday:
    – Shedd Aquarium
    – Chicago Art Institute
    – Shake Shack
    – Millennium Park
    – Navy Pier
• Sunday: travel day

On Friday, we made plans to go to the Chicago Botanic Garden. It was SO PRETTY. Seriously, it was amazing. Everything was so green and lush!
            
Brb, I just found the next Thomas Kinkade puzzle. That is a literal field of flowers. *swoon*

After the botanic garden and a quick lunch, we took a train from Deerfield into the city to check into our hotel suite!
       
This pizza place was one of the first to serve deep dish pizza in Chicago – and it did not disappoint! SO. MUCH. CHEESE.

We parted ways from my grandparents after supper; they went back to the hotel for some much needed rest while Robyn and Jennifer and I took in the gorgeous views from the top of the John Hancock Observatory:
It was the perfect time to go up – the sun was setting and it was later in the evening, so there wasn’t a huge amount of people crowding the windows.

After seeing how awesome the the beach looked from the observatory, we made a spontaneous decision to walk over and check it out! I could get used to a view like that! If I lived nearby, I think I would go every week.

Oh, and I almost forgot – the view from our hotel room was CHOICE. 

Watch for the last segment of my trip tomorrow morning!

Read about the last day of my Chicago trip here:
Chicago: Part III