Chicago Weekend Getaway

I’m a big fan of a web site called Babycenter.   Three plus years ago when I was pregnant with Alex, I entered my due date and got all kinds of tips and information about my pregnancy…but the best part was joining a “birth club” with other women due to give birth at the same time.  A handful of ladies formed a subgroup that I joined focused on having a fit pregnancy, and after our babes were born we named ourselves the Hawt Mamas and became very close as we talked about life with our two year olds and other kids, husbands and jobs.  So this year we planned a girls weekend, kid-free, in Chicago! One friend lives and works in Chicago so she found us a fabulous three bedroom condo to rent (cheap!) in the heart of downtown, right on Lake Michigan.  Two girls flew in from Minneapolis, one from New Jersey, one from Florida, and of course I flew from Houston.  We have three other friends who just couldn’t make it.

It was an amazing experience.  We knew each other so well that when we met in person it was almost as though we had always been neighbors.  The warmth in our group is palpable even though we each lead very unique and different lives…but we all have the common bond of raising two year olds.

We noshed on fabulous Giordano’s Chicago style pizza Friday night and walked around downtown for hours waiting for the last of our group to arrive.  Chicago is heavily decorated with Blackhawks paraphernalia right now, since they won the Stanley Cup last week and had a celebratory parade Friday morning. It was nice to see the city pride, but a little over the top for me since they beat my Philadelphia Flyers. 

Saturday we got some rain so we opted to check out the Field Museum with all its dinasours and natural history.  It was very cool and really big.  One highlight was a photography exhibit called “100% Hapa”.  Beautiful and personal portraits with some words from the subject about their identity.

We stopped by the famous “bean” to take lots of photos, and then headed to the Chicago Blues Fest in Grant Park, just a couple blocks from our condo.  I was so happy we were there the same weekend as lots of incredible free live music! Then we popped into a sports bar called Sweetwater to catch the end of the USA verses England World Cup soccer game.  That was fun.

For dinner we chose Cafe Iberico, a fantastic tapas restaurant that I recognized because I had dined there before several years ago.  The food is fantastic and you can get sangria by the pitcher which makes the dining as a group very inexpensive.

After dinner we walked down Navy Pier and stumbled across a cover band doing OLD hip hop, which left us singing and dancing to the Humpty Hump and Waterfalls.  We wanted to check out the fireworks but it was a bit chilly so we thought we’d head back to our 38th floor condo which has a fantastic view of Navy Pier. Unfortunately the fireworks were actually slightly south of the pier and mostly blocked by a building in front of us.  But it was cool to see the reflections off all the skyscrapers around us.

Sunday morning we headed to West Egg for breakfast and it was delicious!  I had french toast made with raisin bread and bacon that made my tummy happy.  We walked home past the Sheraton (where I usually stay) over the North River and packed up to go home.  On the way to the train station we popped into the Art Institute store to hunt for treasures to bring home to our kiddos.

I love city life and this weekend gave me a great taste of it.  I also love how the internet has connected me with this fabulous, beautiful, talented women.  We could have sat in the condo talking about our kids and watching World Cup soccer together all weekend and I would have still been happy.

Author: Sarah

Mom of three. Triathlete. View all posts by Sarah