Rolling on the River

Ok, I don’t know what the heck was going on with Blogger for the past 48 hours, but I was near an anxiety attack today after trying to post this every twenty minutes for the last bazillion hours.  Whatever “bugs” they are working out, need to get worked out and stay worked out.  Ugh.  Anyway, moving on from that little rant…

After moving in and getting semi unpacked (aka boxes out of the way, dishes in the kitchen cabinets, and sheets on the bed) we left the unpacking for a bit to explore our new city.  I’ve mentioned before that we are actually living in the suburbs, which, though sometimes a bummer, seems to really be the best decision for us all around.  We have two fabulous friends that live in Lincoln Park, so we can crash at their place if we ever desire a late, crazy night in the city :)  So, Wednesday, we left our boxes (and our burb) and headed into the city for some much needed exploring.

Friends of ours had recommended the Chicago River architecture tour as a great way to both see the city and get some good history in, and since our BFF Miguel was in town for a few days, we wanted to do this while he was here.  (Want to know how good of a BFF he is?  He drove Matt’s car all the way from Texas and helped load and unload the truck at both spots.  Yeah, whoa, good friend huh?)  Here are a few pictures from our River tour adventure :)

Off the train and onto Michigan Avenue!  This is the Tribune Tower, home to the Chicago Tribune and one of my favorite buildings downtown.  (Random fact: the Batcave scenes from the Dark Knight were shot in the basement of the Tribune Tower.)

Our first family shot in our new city :)

On the boat and ready for an adventure!

{photo by Miguel Cano} 
Our view from the boat.  Not bad right?

Maybe this will be our Christmas card photo :)

  {photo by Miguel Cano} 
After the river tour, we headed to State street for some exploring and window shopping.  (Ok maybe a little more than window shopping, but I only bought one little thing, I swear!)

Chicago’s newest couple :)

Of course we had to stop off at Garrett’s popcorn.  I mean, we couldn’t let Miguel visit Chicago without a trip to popcorn heaven.  Its not like I got my own personal sized bag of caramel popcorn or anything.  (Ok, I lie, I did, but its soo good, you cannot possibly pass it up!)

 {photo by Miguel Cano}
That evening, we hopped on the train and headed to the West Loop to meet our friend Christie for dinner.  Miguel snapped this picture on the way, and I think it is so cool!

For dinner, we ate at the Green Zebra, a contemporary vegetarian restaurant in the West Loop area.  None of the four of us are vegetarians, but we’d heard great things about the restaurant, so we thought we’d give it a try.  I barely recognized half of the stuff on the menu, so we just asked the server what he recommended and went for it.  All in all, we were pretty pleased with the experience.  I will confess though, that my cocktail was my favorite thing of the night.  I ordered the Il Coltivatore  which had St. Germain elderflower liquer, grapefruit, and sparkling wine.  It was so good I had two :)

After dinner, we headed for drinks at the Violet Hour, a swanky little spot in Wicker Park.  It’s unmarked, has a hip crowd, and killer drinks.  We were there a few years ago when we were in Chicago, and I swear, I instantly feel a little hipper when I step inside.

So our first adventure as Chicago residents was a success!  Though this week, we are leaving our new home for a quick trip to New York City for a friend’s wedding.  With the big move, we haven’t had much time to plan for NYC, so if you have any recommendations or spots we should visit, please let me know.  I’ll take a recommendation over a tour guide book any day :)