Weekend in Chicago | Travels | Audrey Madison Stowe

Happy Wednesday y’all! It’s been a whirlwind of a week so far but I’m back in Lubbock and trying to get on track with life! Last weekend, Josh and I took a trip for a fun getaway weekend in Chicago. We were frozen the whole time but we absolutely loved the city and adored our weekend. About a month before, I asked on IG for y’all to send me your Chicago recommendations and I received SO many lovely recs. We tried to make it to just about all of them! So for today’s post I thought it would be fun to round up everything we did in case you’re wanting to go to Chicago and need some fun ideas on what to do.

OUR FUN WEEKEND IN CHICAGO

Friday- Arrive

On Friday, we landed in Chicago around 9am. It’s about a 30 minute drive from the O’hare airport to downtown. We checked into our incredible hotel, Hotel Allegro. Josh and I were instantly in awe of the absolutely gorgeous design and vibes of this hotel. The lobby was probably my favorite because of the artwork, fun chairs, and marble floor. Our room was really spacious with a couch and big windows (my favorite!). The bathroom had beautiful tile and the staff was so incredibly kind. If you’re booking a trip to Chicago- y’all HAVE to book this hotel. You will not be disappointed!

After checking in and getting settled, we were starving so we headed to one of my top lunch spots I had on my list- The Allis and Soho House. This place is so chic and perfect for some IG photos. I enjoyed our lunch but if I’m honest, I would’ve rather preferred to hold off on lunch and just do afternoon tea there with pastries. Their pastries looked incredible and I feel like it’s a perfect spot for that.

After lunch, we were right by one of these desert spots I’ve seen all over my IG so I had to stop by. It’s called BomboBar and OMG. A must! We ordered the hotter chocolate in the flavor Smore’s. It’s heaven in a cup! They deck it out and the hot chocolate was incredible. The only unfortunate thing about going here in the winter is that it’s a walk up order so there’s no indoor seating. They have a few spots outside so if you’re going in the winter, be sure to BUNDLE.

After BomboBar, both of our phones died. The number one lesson we learned this trip is that in the WINTER being outside actually makes your phone lose all battery and die. I shared on Instagram stories and sooo many midwest friends messaged me about how to not bring your phone out in the cold, always keep in a pocket until indoors, and to also invest in a portable charger haha. Josh and I had no idea and ended up having to walk a mile back to the hotel in 10 degree weather. I definitely shed a few tears and was not pleasant that whole walk back haha. So note to self!

We were in desperate need of a nap so got that in and then got ready for our dinner reservations. For dinner, we went with a restaurant that came HIGHLY recommended. We booked reservations about 2 weeks ahead and still had to eat dinner at 5pm haha. Our dinner was at RPM Italian which is Giuliana Rancic’s restuarant. I completely understand the rage because it was incredible. It was our more pricey meal but so worth it. We ordered a couple different pasta dishes like the lobster ravioli and I also got the Filet Mignon which was heaven.

After dinner, we walked around, stopped in their gorgeous Ulta on Michigan Ave. and then stopped by the infamous Sugar Factory. Josh was absolutely loving this place so that made me happy haha. I was laughing because it was full of 16-year old girls and I just looked at him and was like this is probably my 16-year old self dream too haha. We ordered one of their huge goblet drinks that all the celebrities order and I only have one word…. GROSS. Haha so cool but so gross. We ordered “The Drake” which had peach candy all in it and cotton candy that was melted in. I took one sip of this $40 drink (Crazy right!!!??) and was like oh nope. No thank you haha. I’m not sure if it was just the one we ordered but it was like drinking a bag of candy with alcohol and I was not about it lol. But it was the atmosphere and memory that counted 😉

Saturday-Full Day of Fun

Saturday started early-ish at 11am. We snapped some photos for our hotel and then went to grab breakfast/lunch at The little Goat Diner. This place was fabulous! The updated diner vibes were so fun and you know a place is good when it’s PACKED. So glad we made reservations! Josh said his burger was one of the best he had.

After our bellies were full, we headed to do the typical Chicago Skydeck! Probably one of the main reasons why I wanted to come to Chicago haha. This place looked amazing. You go up 103 floors and you can walk around at the top, look out windows, and then they have four decks of pure glass that you can go into and take a photo. We freaked out a little bit but it was also SO freaking awesome. I loved seeing all of the kids totally freak out of excitement haha! Take a look at my favorite pics:

After getting back to the safety of the ground haha we decided to keep our adventures going. We walked down Magnificent mile (Michigan Ave.) and stopped at Cloud Gate to see the Bean and also do a little ice skating. Ice Skating was SO MUCH fun. Josh was especially obsessed with it and I loved seeing him do laps around while I held tightly to the wall haha. Little kids kept getting annoyed with me I’m pretty sure haha.

After ice skating we took a trip down to the river walk which was so icy and beautiful. Right after, y’all already know our phones died hah! Except this time, we were around tons of Taxis thankfully so we hopped in the car back to the hotel to change and re-charge. The rest of the night was fun we actually finally checked off getting deep dish pizza!!! Y’all. It’s incredible. I’m craving it now. I received so many different deep dish recommendations but we ended up going to Lou Malnatti’s because we heard their crust is to die for. They use a butter crust and oh my gosh… mouth watering! It takes about 30 minutes to make so we ordered a salad and a pitcher of beer to tide us over haha. We ended up being there for 3 hours just drinking, talking, and having so much fun. Afterwards, our busy day had wiped us out so we just went to bed. #grandparents.

Sunday-Last minute to-dos

Sunday morning was busy as we had to check out! The Allegro was so kind to hold our luggage for us since our flight wasn’t until 7pm that evening. We set out for coffee that my friend had recommended to us. We walked to it since it was only a few blocks away and it was called Goddess and The Baker. Such an adorable coffee spot! It was also packed but they had such an assortment of options. Everything from juices to espresso, to pastries to actual lunch! The place had a very urban vibe to it and I ordered a matcha latte and croissant to hold us over until our lunch.

One of my TOP to do’s while in Chicago was to eat lunch at the beautiful 3 Arts Cafe. This cafe is incredible and #goals everything. It’s actually Restoration Hardware’s cafe and its inside of the RH store. The neighborhood it’s in is absolutely gorgeous too. I wish we had more time to walk around. We had heard the wait is always so long so that’s why we grabbed a bite to eat before. We had to wait 1 hour and 45 mins but the store is incredible so we just went up the different floors and dreamed for our future home until our table was ready. The whole cafe is absolutely stunning but I would expect nothing less from Restoration Hardware. Apparently the burger is what everyone goes for so that’s exactly what we ordered and y’all… definitely in the top 3 best burgers I’ve ever had. We also ordered the specialty grilled cheese! It was the perfect lunch.

After lunch, we had about 2 hours to spare so we decided to go check out Navy Pier. This is a huge hot spot in the summer and I can so see why! It was still quite packed in the freezing cold weather haha. I just can’t get over that gorgeous Chicago skyline! This city is absolutely stunning, clean, and everything I had hoped it would be. After leaving, our flight ended up being delayed until 9:30pm but we made it home later that night and felt so incredibly thankful for our weekend in Chicago. DEFINITELY returning to Chi-town in the future… just most likely in the summertime 😉