Windy City

Last weekend Tate and I took a mini-vacation to Chicago for a friends wedding! The wedding was Friday, so it was a nice excuse to take the day off of work and leave on Thursday evening for an extra long weekend.

We left MN around 4 and got into the Chicago area a bit after 10. We met up with our friends for a few beers and then headed to bed after a long day of work and then driving 6+ hours.

The wedding was an evening wedding so Tate and I decided to explore Chicago during the day. We were in north west suburb of Chicago, so we decided to take the train downtown for a few hours. This was my first ever train ride...and I loved it.

We new we didn't have much time to spend downtown since the train ride there took an hour and the one back would also take an hour and we still had to get ready for the wedding.

We rode the train downtown and then walked to Millennium Park. We strolled along the streets and took pictures of different 'cool' looking things. It was about a mile walk to the park..so there was many things to see on our way.

 After a nice 40 minute hike walk, we made it to the park and I loved everything it about it. It was very peaceful, even though there were kids running around everywhere!

It was actually a chilly day, so I was surprised to see all the kids playing in the water...but then again, I wasn't...kids love water!

Then..we finally came upon, 'THE BEAN'. I had seen so many people with pictures of this and had never heard of it, so I really wanted to see it in person. It's really neat and very popular!

 And here is a cool shot of what it looks like under the bean looking up

After exploring the park, we ate lunch at this really cute cafe right off Michigan Ave. I had the soup and sandwich combo and it was super delicious.

After lunch, we had to head back to catch the 3 pm train so we would have enough time to get ready for the wedding.

The wedding was nice and short (only about 12 minutes). They were married...then it was time to party!

The wedding was a lot of fun. It was really nice to see and party with friends we hadn't seen in some time. We stayed up until 3 am...the latest I have stayed up in sooo long!

Even though I didn't go to bed until 3, I still woke up at 9 and couldn't fall back asleep. We had plans on Saturday to have lunch with my aunt, uncle and cousin who live in the Chicago area. We went to a winery/restaurant called Cooper's Hawk. It was wine haven in there and my mom would have just loved it.

Just one of the 'wine' walls.

After a super yummy lunch with my family, we headed back to the hotel to meet up with our friends and take a little nap. The new Mr. & Mrs. had planned a fun day at a local bar for everyone that had stayed the day after. They rented a room and had some appetizers for a 'Derby' party. We enjoyed drinks, company and betting on horse races. The horse that Tate and I bid on did not win...but it made the race more enjoyable. I also had to have a margarita since it was Cinco De Mayo.

The weekend went by way to fast and soon enough, it was Sunday and time to drive back to MN. We had such a great time and really enjoyed our little vacation. This was our first wedding of this season and we look forward to our next one in July.