Travel: Weekend Getaway to Chicago

It is not secret that traveling the world is something my little family holds very dear. Early on, my husband and I made it a top priority to see as much of the world  and to immerse ourselves in as many cultures as possible as well. Since we began our journey together in 2009, we have visited:

• California 
• Belize
• Honduras
• Puerto Rico
• Chicago (although we totally lived there too)
• New York
• Italy
• Michigan (twice)
• Ireland
• Oregon
• Costa Rica

And have plans to visit Colorado, Belgium and Amsterdam this fall. Like I said we love to travel! When we became pregnant with our son, so many people told us to get it out of the way while we could - and to that we say 'Yeah Right!' Traveling is such a big part of who we are and we feel it should be the same for new family. Since Cal was born we have already taken him on his first plane ride to San Diego, he was a champ by the way, and this past weekend marked his first road trip to Chicago. 

As part of a new series on the blog I want to share a glimpse into our lives as we travel the world. Some will be shorter posts like the one to follow and some will be multiple posts as we share our adventures overseas. My goal is to show you some of our favorite spots to visit and to help you realize that it is totally possible to create the life of freedom you desire.

*Disclaimer: I am not paid for any of my opinions or any recommendations I make in my blogs. They are just some of my favs.

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Chicago: June 2016

We will take any opportunity we can to go on vacation, so when I saw on Facebook that Chicago was posting their first Vegan Food Festival I jumped on the opportunity to visit the beautiful city we once called home. Although Ben and I started our journey together in St. Louis, where we both were born and raised, we credit Chicago for completely changing the course of our relationship and really shaping us into the people we are today. 

Chicago was Cal's first road trip and although not completely smooth sailing, he handled it like a champ. I don't think we realized when having kids that I would probably be spending long trips in the back of the car keeping the little's entertained while my husband looked like a chauffeur driver.

After our little five hour drive we made it to our hotel in Chicago! Although, disclaimer you will totally realize as we share more of our travels that we always get lost, somewhere, somehow, it happens. But we learned early on that getting lost is half of the fun (wait till you hear about the Aran Islands in Ireland :))

We traditionally are an Airbnb family, but opted to stay in downtown Chicago to be closer to the festivities. We stayed at the Swissotel and absolutely loved it - the views were amazing! For three days we explored the city and made it a point to visit some of our favorite dining spots:

• Lyfe Kitchen
• Native Foods
• Uncommon Ground (Seriously best Bloody Mary's ever!)
• Chicago Diner

Whenever we travel food is usually a top priority and we weren't disappointed. We also spent a good chunk of time at the vegan festival on Saturday, although very hot we had a great time and enjoyed some delicious beers!

Chicago was definitely one of our shorter trips, but as with all vacations it is nice to just get out of the norm and explore!

We are planning another trip to Chicago within the year and would love to know your top recommendations? Share in the comments below!

Travel Tip: I'm loving Trivago for booking hotels and as always TripAdvisor is my go to for reviews.

Be Merry!