My 2nd Chicago weekend for 2013: Indiana Dunes and Downtown Chicago

Since I had the opportunity to go back to the US again after a few months, of course its obvious that I would again visit my sister again in Illinois for a weekend.

After work on Friday, I hurried back to my hotel to get my luggage and hurried to the airport to catch my flight going to Chicago. Its not a direct flight and I have a stop over at Dallas. Tough luck, since my flight from Dallas got delayed by an hour. To make things work, my phone and tablet's battery were running low already. The Chicago skyline was beautiful as we approached O'hare International. I arrived at around 12 in the morning already and I was relieved to have arrived at my sister's house so I can rest for our beach trip.

We left the house around 8AM and headed interstate to Indiana to go to Indiana Dunes. I was happy to be going on a road trip again with my sister since the last time was 2010 when we went from LA to SF stopping by Modesto and Carmel.

Before heading out to the beach, we stopped by the visitor's center to ask and get directions.

 

The day started out gloomy and I even thought that it would rain. It also made the day a little chilly but still, it didn't stop us and the people there from having a good time. After a few hours, the weather got better and the sun was shining bright.



 

 

 

 

 

The water was cold, but I was still happy to be on the water and swimming. A thing to note though that the Sea gull's in the area can be a pest when trying to eat your food as they can swoop in and get a bite of what you're eating. It happened to my sister while she was eating her burger and they attempted a couple of times while I was eating my wrap so I had to constantly shoo them away while eating.

 

West beach has a life guard, so no worries. The place also has restrooms and showers so you have a place to shower and change after a day of swimming in the lake.

 

After a few hours at the beach, we decided to pack-up and do some shopping at the Lighthouse Outlets. As much as I still want to be at the beach, I was also excited to do some shopping.

 

The outlet mall has your usual favorites like Coach, Gap, Guess and a lot more. I had a blast shopping at Ralph Lauren, Aeropostale, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Fossil that I got 3 watches. The outlet mall is spread out so be prepared to do some walking going from one store to another.

 

Since it was summer, it was already 8PM and the sun was still there. Its also the time for us to get dinner and start heading back home. Good thing we passed by an Ihop on our way home so we won't be travelling hungry.

 

 

The next day, we woke up a little late since we were tired from the day before. We didn't really have an agenda for the day but to go around downtown. We were planning on getting brunch at The Wildberry however, there was a long wait list so we decided to get pizza at Giordano's instead and ordered a Chicago classic, the deep dish pizza.

 

 

 

 

We were all so full that we decided to go on our way and burn off the food we ate.

Of course, a trip to Chicago wouldn't be complete if you didn't go to Millennium Park and have your picture taken at The Bean, which we did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, we went to see Buckingham Fountain which was very impressive. The best thing about it was it can shoot water several feet up in the air. Also, if the wind is right, it can blow all that water to unsuspecting people below, which happened a couple of times. I got wet 2x but it was OK. It was a very hot Chicago day so the spray of water was very refreshing.
 

 

 After checking out the fountain, just across it was a boardwalk and the lake. It was a nice walk and there were a lot of people about and about, enjoying summer despite the heat. It was so hot my snow cone became juice in no time.

 

 

 

 

 

Last on the checklist was... Shopping ofcourse! We walked from Millennium Park to The Water Tower Place (which was a couple of blocks away) and going there we passed by several shops that I adore, like Zara!

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a very hot day so we stopped a couple of times to get something to cool us down, rest our feet, and get some airconditioning. I was glad that my everyone was a trooper despite the heat.

 

It was already the getting late in the afternoon and it was time for me to go back. Although it was only another weekend, I was happy that I got to see my sister and her family 2x this year. Its not the end of 2013 yet, who knows, I might get a chance to see them again before the year ends. Let's see. :)