Chicago (2011 and 2019)

About This Trip

These are combined notes from two trips to Chicago, both in the May/June timeframe in different years. One trip was with my husband while I was pregnant, the other a girl's trip. I did a few repeat activities and found the city experience pretty consistent. Lucked out with the weather both times. I think Chicago is the prettiest downtown in America and one of my favorite places to be in the summer.

Architecture Boat Tour, Cloud Gate (Bean), Millenium Park

One of my favorite things to do in Chicago is the architecture boat tour. This is a fun "first" activity because it helps you get the lay of the land; the tour guides are really knowledgable too. Millenium Park, "the Bean," and Navy Pier are all fun first time (and repeat!) stops too. Eric and I enjoyed the Agora art installation as well; it is comprised of 106 nine-foot tall headless torsos made of cast iron, the artwork derives it name from the Greek word for meeting place.

Shows

On the girl's trip, we saw Hamilton at the CIBC Theater and it was one of my all time favorite theater experiences. We paid for a VIP ticket that included an area that you could visit before the show and at intermission where you could get drinks, eat snacks, take photos, and have access to a bathroom with no line - worth it! The musical itself was a lot of fun too. Another highlight was visiting Second City, a well-known comedy club in Chicago where some of the greats like Eugene Levy and Catherine O'hara got their start. We booked the two shows in advance and planned other activities around them.

Beaches

Being on a beach with a whole city behind me was new to me had a really had a fun vibe about it. I wished we had allowed more time here.

Food

On our first trip to Chicago, our visit coincided with Taste of Chicago, so we got to try a lot of fun culinary surprises. My favorite deep dish pizza is Lou Malnati's. We also really enjoyed Soho House, and Somerset.

Rooftops and Views

The Willis Tower Observation deck is a cool experience; pay to skip the line if you can - well worth whatever that costs. There a lot of cool rooftop restaurants and bars to choose from too to take in pretty city views.

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Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands, and Guadelupe Mountains National Park (March 2024)

About this Trip We took this road trip for Spring Break 2024 with our kids 12 and 8. Our focus was to see three national parks: Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands, and Guadelupe Mountains. This was a lot of fun, and did not require advance planning outside of general logistics except: 1. Get the Carlsbad reservations in advance. 2. If you want to do the peak or Devil's Summit at Guadelupe Mountains on Spring Break, start very early in the day or there will be nowhere to park.

West Texas, Marfa, Alpine, Big Bend (March 2023)

About This Trip This was a road trip from Frisco, Texas to Alpine Texas with planned activities along the way. We did this for Spring Break in 2023, which is the busiest time to go to Big Bend maybe in all of history. (This park went from 200,000 visitors a year to 600,000 in the post-COVID era, for perspective.) Pre-Trip Do These Things Well in Advance Figure Out Where You Want To Stay You can stay easily in Marfa or Alpine if you want to be close to Big Bend, but don't mind a bit of a drive into the park. If you want to stay closer to Big Bend National Park than Alpine or Marfa allow (and you don’t want to camp), book Marathon, Chisos Lodge (only lodging in Big Bend), Terralingua, or Lajitas. Entire town of Marathon seems to book 6 months in advance for busy times. I would get the Gage Hotel if you can; Chisos is the only non-camping lodging in the park. Busy times book up a year in advance on a rolling calendar (and its being remodeled soon). If you do want to stay in Alpine,

Las Vegas and Surrounding Area (June 2023)

About This Trip This was a summer trip with our kids, ages 8 and 11. We chose Vegas because the flights were cheap on Southwest Airlines, and our originally planned vacation to South Dakota was suddenly forecasting thunderstorms. We stayed at the Hilton Grand Vacation on the Las Vegas Strip . This is a non-smoking, family friendly hotel that does not have a casino; however, I will add that it is on the extreme north end of the strip and a bit far from most of the activities we did. We usually started each day with a 10-15 minute uber ride. The hotel itself was perfect, comfortable, chock full of family friendly amenities, and quiet at night. They also let you grab two water bottles per/day, per reservation which was amazing. Only knock on this place, they had part of the building by the pool under construction which was noisy and ugly, but I'm sure that will be nice when they are done. The pool was also very crowded most days. Would still recommend the hotel 100% with kids! Bell

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