Another good night sleep at red roof inn in Elkheart. Well we tried to head out early(7am) but by the time we reached Chicago it's the rush hour time. Driving time from Elkheard to Chiacgo about 2 hours
approaching Chicago city center
yes it's bumper to bumper however it's not that bad at least we still move slowly unlike traffic jam in Malaysia where the car stand still for hours
I got to say parking in Chicago can be very expensive. Our hotel Parking(Inn of Chicago)along the Magnificent mile, cost almost $60/ night ( valet parking) Thank god i do my homework. We pre booked a parking spot with an App(Spothero) for a parking garage just 1 block away from our hotel and got a great deal of $25/ night. it's easy to use. Pre-booked, select time and date you will be clocking in and out and pay online, drive to the parking garage at the ticket machine just scan the QR code, voila done! just make sure you clock in and out on time
before we start to explore Chicago, let's have a nice Chicago breakfast.... headed over to Portillo's hot dogs, there is one just few blocks away from our hotel. Open at 10:30am....i was damn hungry already. The picture might not look appetizing but it's good. i prefer their Beef steak sandwich more than their Chicago style hot dog. Anyway it's a MUST try in Chicago
after a nice heavy breakfast we headed to Navy Pier, a nice place to stroll and enjoy the high rise view of Chicago. Very windy place, they didn't call Chicago the "Windy City" for fun.
some one is enjoying very much catching water type Pokemon in Chicago, came prepared with his power juice
many boat company to choose from for a boat tour but it's quite expensive about $30/pax
cool design benches to chillex
light house
USS Chicago anchor
walking around the town
awesome Raddison Blu aqua hotel in central downtown
i wonder how much it cost for 1 night?
i do like the city planning. it's somewhat like NYC, much smaller, cleaning, less crowded however i don't see much cops not like in NYC you see NYPD in every corner
Harris theater @ Millennium park
Chicago's icon artwork, Cloud Gate but more known as The Bean
under the Bean
lovely park to with visit with family
corn cob looking building
one can also take this river cruise and know about the building's history
Chicago's sales tax is extremely high at 10.25%....i think i would rather go back to NY to shop
all this walking is making me hungry......what else if not Chicago's famous deep dish pizza.
We tried the one in Lou Malnati's Pizzaria, the one in N Wells St. We were lucky it's was not crowded when we got there at 5pm. However it takes about 30-40 minutes to prepare the deep dish pizza.
Verdict? We love it!!! it's so juicy and yummy. we order the small one just nice for the 2 of us
we ordered the Malnati Chicago Classic( made with their special lean sausage, extra cheese and vine- ripened tomato sauce on Buttercrust), price $ 15.45
so good that it makes my mouth water while writing this....hehehe
it's a beautiful city to just walk around aimlessly
night @ Dusable bridge
went back to see the Bean at night
urban kayak activity along the Chicago river,
would be fun if we could join in
good night for day 1, our hotel in Chiacago cost $96.75/ night with taxes total is $227.20 for 2 nights
it's the most expensive hotel we spend for this road trip i think the price is pretty cheap for a city hotel ( Inn of Chicago) with a good location however breakfast is not included. In NY a simple highway hotel can sometimes cost more than $100 / night
the next day we had a nice breakfast somewhere near to the Millennium Park, i think the restaurant name is MingHin Cuisine. The food was surprisingly good....i find their dim sum is much better than the one in Flusing NY more Hongkie flavor, definitely worth trying,though they are open quite late @ 11am
we stroll the other parts of the Millennium Park while waiting for the restaurant open
hey i found the boat from Life of Pi...hehe
after a heavy satisfying brunch we went window shopping and people watching along the Magnificent Mile
weather in Chicago changes really fast, it was raining, sunny and windy at the same time
was a grade 1 autumn weather, and this is in late August early September
walk along the river-walk one last time
love the double deck Dusable bridge
time for a nice tea time @ Ghirardelli
double chocolate brownie sundae
yum though i do prefer the strawberry sundae that we had last time in San Francisco
that's about it, our 2 nights in Chicago. I enjoyed the food very much in Chicago, wish we could stay longer but don't think my waist line would agree with me.
The next day after checking out we decided to visit Chicago's Chinatown for breakfast before driving 5.5 hours to Ohio. It was a rather sleepy town unlike the Chinatown in NY and San Fran always hustling and bustling. We were there at about 9:30am most of the shops were still close but luckily we found a noodle shop that packed with locals but food was average and price was reasonable about $5-6 for a bowl of noodle. Though i won't really recommend going all the way to Chinatown if you are taking the sub from downtown
1 thing i would appreciate is that the shops in Chicago would open earlier, It's killing me to wait until 10:30 or 11am for breakfast
Right after breakfast we head back to Ohio, this time we are not going to spend the night in the city but a motel near Cuyahoga Falls National Park. Our last stop before we end our 9 days road trip
~ end of road trip Day 5 ~
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