Gosh, it has taken me long enough to finish sharing the rest of our time in Chiacgo and the States in general. We've been back for a month now - how sad!
The weather took a little turn for the worse on our second day in Chicago, with heavy rain and wind settling in. We decided to use this as an opportunity to boost the American economy and take a trip north near the Wisconsin border to the Gurnee outlet malls. We spent the whole day at the mall and all came away with multiple bags of goodies. Still can't get over how cheap shoes are in the US. We're being ripped off down under, folks.
That night, my cousin Denise took us out to a vegetarian restaurant in Evanston called
Blind Faith. We shared the most amazing vegan chocolate peanut butter cake. Still salivating over it now.
The next day was absolutely FREEZING. We all rugged up and decided to head back downtown. I made a quick stop at Urban Outfitters to buy a beanie - my ears thanked me. We headed to Millenium Park to take selfies in the bean (or Cloudgate) and had a look at some of the public art. The clouds cleared so we decided to head up Willis Tower but when we got there we found it was closed due to the strong winds. Dang, was really looking forward to scaring myself silly on the glass viewing platform! Next time.
It was still pretty damn chilly so to warm up we took the train north of the city and found a dive bar called
Friar Tuck. My sister's boyfriend Al had recommended it for its super friendly staff. We had an awesome afternoon sitting at the bar and chatting to the (super friendly) bar tender. She gave us multiple free drinks and also got me to try cake flavoured vodka (!) which was amazing. I seriously wish I could find some here. By the way, they also had buttered popcorn and glazed donut flavoured vodka, among about 10 other obscure ones. We had the best time there and couldn't believe how dang friendly the staff were.
Across the road was a hot dog shop called
Flub-a-dub-chubs (also recommended by Al). We headed there for a dinner of delicious Chicago-style hot-dogs (vego for me) and fries. At the bar we got chatting to some people who told us about a new arcade/bar (Beercade, to be precise) that was opening that night nearby. We headed there after dinner for some more drinks and unlimited games of pinball and old school video games. Ben is a pretty keen gamer so he was right in his element! I also met a really lovely bar tender here and I swear we could have been great friends. If only I knew her name. Would have to say that this day was one of the highlights of our whole trip!
On our last proper day in Chicago, we decided to go to Six Flags! I wasn't too keen on the idea to begin with, but I'm so glad we went. We had an absolute blast riding roller coasters all day. So proud of myself for going on some of the really scary ones, too. It had been so long since I'd done anything like that and I had forgotten how amazing adrenaline feels! I would definitely recommend visiting Six Flags if you ever get the chance. That night, we were invited over to Denise's house for cocktails with the people she lives with. They also took us out to Blind Faith again for an amazing meal and lots of wine. Again - the mid west hospitality is incredible. We certainly felt the love. Before we knew it we were heading to the airport for our long journey home. It was great to meet up with Soph and Al again and hear all about their time in New Orleans. I have to say that even though it was my third trip to the States, I still can't wait to go back!
