You’ll never in a million years guess where we’re going next month.

Remember back in January when I wrote a post asking for your advice about where we should vacation this year? We were pretty set on the Northwest – Seattle, specifically – when out of the blue, Daniel’s mom contacted us with a delicious idea for a family vacation. I wasn’t sure if Daniel would be game since he wanted to branch out from the Caribbean, but to my surprise, he talked details with his mom and jumped right on board!

We’re going (BACK) to……..

— JAMAICA, MON. —

*screaming*

I say “going back” because we’ve been there before! We went to Couples San Souci in Ocho Rios for our honeymoon and it was dreamy. The resort we’re visiting this time is Clubhotel Riu Negril. Daniel’s family has actually been to this resort before back a few years ago, and they make it sound like paradise!

When we were on our honeymoon, we ventured off of our resort a few times to visit Dunn’s River Falls and the Luminous Lagoon, but I’d love to find a new gem on this trip! We’ll be there for a week, and it might be fun to have an evening for just the two of us to go explore (aka eat lobster). Any suggestions from the audience?

Here’s to hoping the next month flies by!

Stay tuned for my packing list + traveling tips!

I’ve probably planned about 47 different vacations in my mind, and ultimately, I don’t care where we go as long as I have a great view, great food, and great company. To save a little money this time around, my plan is to stay in the United States for our next trip.

NORTHWEST IDEAS:
– Seattle
– Portland
– Yellowstone National Park

NORTHEAST IDEAS:
– New York City
– Boston
– Maine

I have too many gorgeous ideas swimming around in my mind – help me choose where we should go! We’re planning to travel sometime between April and July. Should we go northwest, or northeast?

Oh, Wisconsin. What a beautiful fall break we spent together! I fall more in love with you every time I’m there.

This trip was heritage-themed, organized by some of Daniel’s family members with the intention of exploring the Norwegian background of and stories surrounding his mom’s side of the family. We stayed in a charming B&B lodge on Lake Ripley, and I wish we had gotten more time to enjoy the view! Our days were full to the brim with dozens of activities, including:

• the dairy farm on campus at the University of Wisconsin (including ice cream from their creamery!)
• a fancy-pants evening at a dinner theatre with incredible food and West Side Story
• Norskedalen, a Norwegian heritage center in the mountains
• a traditional lutefisk dinner at Daniel’s great-grandma’s old church
• a trip to Ridgehurst, the Ross family farm
• tons of delicious meals involving more cheese and ice cream than any normal human should consume

Can’t wait to go back again!

P.S. Have you been waiting impatiently for more “new house” news?? Keep an eye out for a post about our future home (including pictures!) very, very soon!

Favorite quotes from the weekend:

J: “I want to go to a fruit garden where you just walk around and pick peaches.”
L: “So…like an orchard.”
J: *blinks*

While on the train:
L: “I keep waiting to see a Hunger Games symbol inside a tunnel.”
R: “I keep waiting to see a drug deal happening.”

• 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

We started our second day in Chicago bright and early and headed to Shedd Aquarium, the largest indoor aquarium in the entire world! My grandma had never been to one before, and she was awestruck by all of the different colors and weird types of things living under the water. I had originally wanted to go just to see the big stuff (beluga whales, sharks, etc.), but watching her discover a whole new world quickly became my favorite reason for going. (And yes…the song did just run through my head. Couldn’t help it. High five if it happened to you too.)
        
This not-so-little guy was talented! We didn’t go to the show, but in the Polar Play zone, you could watch it from underneath! We didn’t get to see any dolphins – *sadness* – but we got to watch lots of whales play and do tricks.

Our next stop was the Art Institute, where Robyn fangirled hardcore over art, and the rest of us were like, “Ooh…look at that old rock.” Haha, no but really, I enjoyed it too. I may have only truly freaked out about the touristy paintings, but still. I felt very adult and weird, like I wasn’t grown-up enough to be walking around looking at art – although the fact that I knew how to pronounce “Renoir” and “Degas” made me feel pretty classy.
     
Still can’t believe I actually saw these paintings in person.

For lunch, I had my first Shake Shack experience – and I. AM. A. FAN. Holy yum. After that, we walked across the street and explored Millennium Park. It was one of my favorite places when I visited before and I couldn’t wait for everyone else to see it!
 
SO many people. All there to memorialize themselves in a giant mirrored coffee bean.

Later that day, we took a trolley to spend the evening out at Navy Pier!
   
That burger I had…good grief. Bacon/onion “relish,” Monterey Jack cheese, BBQ sauce, and crispy onion strings, all on a pretzel bun. *Arteries clogged for life…worth it*

By far, one of my favorite things we did on the whole trip was buy a 2-ride ticket for the Ferris wheel and the swings. The view from the top of the Ferris wheel was gorgeous, and the swings…well, let’s just say Jennifer had a marvelous time and leave it at that. Hahaha :) :)

 
I fell in love with the city all over again. :)

It sure was hard to leave the next day, but I think we were all ready to be home.
Of course, this trip would not have been possible without two very special people. An enormous THANK YOU is due to my grandma and Dick for being so generous and bringing us to visit! It was a beautiful gift, and I had the best time! Love you guys so much! ♥

I usually want to visit new places instead of the same places over and over again, but something about Chicago is calling me back! Probably the food…

Yeah, definitely the food.

What about you – do you like to revisit your favorite places repeatedly, or go somewhere new each time you travel?

If you missed any of my Chicago posts from this trip, check out these links:
Chicago Sneak Peak
Chicago: Part I – my crazy travel story through DFW Airport
Chicago: Part II – the first full day in the city

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

What a beautiful weekend it was!

Chicago was just as wonderful as I remembered: the lake, the city skyline, the food, even the people. I’ve been to New York City, Austin, Dallas, Washington D.C., and now Chicago twice – and I was so impressed by how clean the city was, and how friendly the people were! Definitely want to go back again and take Daniel with me next time.

This trip was a “just-for-fun” trip with some of my family, so our itinerary was basically whatever we wanted to do. That was the easy part.

But first I had to actually GET there.

Which, incredibly, was a lot harder than you would expect.

(SPOILER ALERT: I made it to Chicago, I just took the scenic route.)

First off: Wednesday night, I did that whole “go-to-bed-later-than-I-wanted-because-I-waited-too-long-to-start-actually-packing” thing. My flight left at 9:00 am, so I planned to leave the house just before 6:00, which would supposedly get me to the airport around 7:30.

I filled my car up with gas, turned up the radio, and had a grand old time on my way to Dallas. I watched the sun come up and thought how lucky I was that the roads were so clear. *eye roll* Wishful thinking. I got about 8 miles away from the airport and BAM – standstill traffic. My panic grew with each passing minute. I finally made it out of the gridlock just in time to make it to a nearly full airport parking lot and spent 10 more precious minutes driving around trying to find a parking space. I walked what felt like two miles to the shuttle station and managed to catch the shuttle right as it was about to leave.

When the bus dropped me off, I became one of those people I used to make fun of: the frantic, hair-flying-everywhere people who run through the airport. I literally ran through the airport.

I stood in the slowest moving line ever, then noticed that I had completely passed up the self-serve check-in kiosks. I scooted out of line, walked up to the nearest screen, and punched in my record locator.

“Unfortunately, the time allowance for checking baggage has expired for your flight.”

….what.

I pulled a uniformed guy over.

“Is this real? Is this a thing??” I instantly realized how stupid I looked for asking.

“Yeah, umm…you can stand in that line and see if maybe they can still check it.”

Oh okay, so the line I was just in that now has 12 other people in it? Cool.

Time check: it’s 8:18.

After standing in line for 20 MINUTES, I get up to the counter to find out that not only can’t I check my luggage, I can’t make the flight at all. I was put on standby and told that the next flight to Chicago left in two hours. It was all I could do not to burst into tears right there in front of this blue-blazer-wearing lady who didn’t even look the tiniest bit sorry.

So I did what any normal human would do and cheered myself up with Auntie Anne’s.

I waited for two hours next to my second gate, feeling guilty for hoping that somebody else would be late just like I was so that I could have their seat. I walked up to the desk to double check that I was on the standby list and was told very rudely to wait. So I did. I watched everyone board. I watched the standby list for my name. When everyone had left the waiting area, I walked up to the desk.

“Hi, umm…I’ve been on standby, and I just wondered if there were any seats left.”

The lady shook her hand impatiently, waving me off. “No, this flight is full. You’ll have to take another one.” She printed off my third ticket of the day and told me my gate was on the opposite side of the airport. *facepalm*

After my leisurely stroll through DFW, I walked up to my third counter and explained my situation. I had a guy this time, and he was the nicest person I talked to all morning. He tapped on his computer for a little while.

Looking at me, he said the seven most beautiful words I have ever heard:

“Here you go – you have a seat!”

I wanted to fall on the ground with relief. “OH MY GOSH I LOVE YOU.”

The people in in line behind me tittered. I took my ticket and walked to a bench, content to wait the next hour and a half knowing that I would, in fact, make it to Chicago and not be stuck in DFW for the rest of my weekend.

Just before I boarded, I noticed I had a window seat. I half-smiled, thinking, “Thanks, God! You know I love window seats.”

Then I got on the plane.

I had a window seat, all right! I laughed out loud. I didn’t even care though – I was so glad to finally be on a plane, ANY plane.

That’s one of my better travel stories to date! I had never missed a flight before this trip, and it was not an experience I hope to repeat! I think it’s safe to say I’ll be at the airport three hours early from now on.

Keep an eye out – I’ll be posting more pictures from the trip soon!

To read about the rest of this trip, visit these posts:
Chicago: Part II
Chicago: Part III

What’s your craziest travel story?

Y’all. CHICAGO.

I have so many stories to tell.

But I also have lots of laundry to do, so here’s some pictures to tide you over until then!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, friends!

For my Chicago posts from this trip, check out these links:
Chicago: Part I – my crazy travel story through DFW Airport
Chicago: Part II – the first full day in the city
Chicago: Part III – the second and final day in the city