November Travel: Chicago

 

 
The Back Story: I absolutely love visiting new places and exploring different cities, especially when they’re full of interesting culture, bustling activities, historical museums, and delicious food. But as my travel departure date draws nearer, the homebody side of my personality usually kicks in and reminds me of everything I should be doing instead of flying off on an adventure, like the laundry or recipe testing or blog photo shoots. Pure excitement takes over once I hop in the car or walk onto the plane, but I’d still like to get rid of that tiny bit of anxiety!  

So for 2016, I challenged myself to take one trip each month. It can be a big vacation like a family vacation to Europe, something shorter within the US, a baseball trip with my dad, or even a simple daytrip to a nearby destination—anything that gets me out of the house and exploring!

But then I thought, “Why wait?? Why not start right now?” so that’s what I’m doing! Starting with November 2015, I’ll be sharing each month’s trip with you, and these travel posts will be fairly short, yet full of photos and fun things to do—and lots of food, of course!
 

 
During the first week of November, I flew to Chicago for the annual BlogHer Food Conference. (Yes, food bloggers have their own conferences, too!) I purposely scheduled my flight to arrive two nights early, which gave me a full day to explore the city before the sessions began. Since I couldn’t quite fit everything I wanted to do and see into that single day, I also took a little time off from the conference to cram in even more!

I stayed at the Hyatt Regency, situated directly across from the Chicago River and one block away from Michigan Avenue, one of the most central and iconic streets. The hotel was clean and tidy with lots of different options for food, and I really appreciated that the gym was open 24 hours. (When you’re a foodie visiting a new city, you need to burn off those calories from all of the local treats you want to eat!)

Plus the Hyatt was perfectly located for exploring! Everything I wanted to see was just a short walk away, including…

♥   The Cloud Gate (or “Jelly Bean!”)
♥   Millennium Park
♥   Buckingham Fountain
♥   Grant Park
♥   Wendella River Tours
♥   Latinicity (it opened for the first time while I was there!)
♥   Eataly

Although Eataly was the true food highlight of the trip—I wanted to permanently move in!—my friend Jane also arranged for us to have dinner at two upscale restaurants: Nico Osteria and Frontera Grill. The former was a fancy Italian restaurant, while the latter served elegant Mexican fare. Both were well worth the reservations and the price, especially the dark chocolate pecan pie with Kahlúa whipped cream from Frontera! (It was the BEST pie I’ve ever had!!)

But that’s enough writing from me… Now on to some photos!

 

 

 

 
Have you been to Chicago? What was your favorite part?