Chicago Weekend!

Well hey there!  Joe and I made it home from Chicago yesterday after a very fun race-cation (fancy word that I learned from Kat meaning "vacation for a race")!  So, as I normally do around here on Monday, let's recap the weekend!

As I was preparing this post, it was getting REALLY long.  So, I'm going to share some pictures and brief descriptions of what we did on our Chicago racecation.

Thursday
We checked into and explored our awesome hotel: Radisson Blu Aqua Chicago.

Check out the view of Navy Pier from the hotel's 3rd floor patio!

Dinner on Thursday was at a restaurant called Joe Fish.  I'll talk in detail about all of our meals on Wednesday's WIAW post!

Fun fact: the restaurant caught our eye because that is Joe's nickname from high school (our last name is a type of fish)!!  We knew we HAD to go when we saw it in the hotel's Chicago guide book.

Drink and pictures at the Signature Lounge at the top of the Hancock building!

Friday
Not a bad view for breakfast and good book, huh?

Comfortable pool time in the late morning/early afternoon.  So nice to not be uncontrollably sweating like in Florida!

Lunch and catch-up time with my little sister from my sorority Cindy!

Selfie in The Bean.

If you've never heard of it, The Bean is basically just a piece of art in a park.  It's large, shiny, and shaped like a bean!  The funny thing is, there is no significance to The Bean at all, and yet so many people want to come see it when in Chicago!  How funny!

ZOOMA Chicago race expo swag!

Dinner at Ditka's steakhouse

My phone died during dinner, but the rest of the night was spent shopping on Michigan Avenue and getting drinks with Joe's buddies from the military near Wrigley Field.  I headed home early to get some sleep before the race!

Saturday
Great view before the start of the race.

So excited to finish!!  Full recap of the expo, race, and post-race party tomorrow!

Bid/medal after the race and before I napped for two hours.

No pictures, but we went to the Field Museum of Natural History and saw the The Machine Inside: Biomechanics special exhibit.  Very interesting!!

Chicago White Sox game!

Fireworks afterward, set to oldies music (until the finale, set to Fall Out Boy!)

I went home early to crash.  Man, that race took a lot out of me!

Sunday
Goodbye Chicago!

We got home around 3:30 and spent the rest of the afternoon doing chores.  Fun times!  I'm planning to enjoy today, since it's my last day before the 2014-2015 school year starts for me on Tuesday.  What a short summer I had!

Question for you: Have you ever been to Chicago?  Did you do anything fun this weekend?