This southern girl loves warm weather. I don’t care for freezing temperatures or snow. Given these facts it seems crazy that I could love Chicago the way I do. I’ve been overseas and I’ve been lots of places in the U.S too. Chicago is my favorite place to visit without the children (so far). I must throw the disclaimer out there that I’ve never been there in the winter and honestly don’t plan on it.

There are so many things to love so I’ll just name a few.

The Art Institute. I could spend ALL day there. I have always loved art. I love learning about the artists and seeing these paintings or other pieces of art that I’ve seen in books. There is so much to see.

The Field Museum of Natural History. This is yet another place I could spend a full day. There are amazing things to see and learn while you’re there. It seems like I never have enough time. If you go, don’t forget to meet Sue. She’s hard to miss.

The Museum of Contemporary Art.  I wasn’t sure how much I would like this place, but surprisingly I really enjoyed it. I love art that I can understand even if it requires some explanation. My favorite things in this museum were the sculptures. It amazes me how creative some people can be.

Magnificent Mile. There are endless things to do here. I cannot lie and say I don’t love a little shopping. The stores are fabulous and this southern girl even thought most of the people working in them were friendly.

Also, the architecture on the buildings is incredible. There are so many amazing works of art that are part of the building themselves.

The John Hancock Center. The views are unbelievable! Truly amazing.

Chicago has an endless array of restaurants. My very favorite is  The Grill on the Alley. It has a lot of special memories for my husband and me. There used to be a server there named Manfred that we always requested. My sweet husband even got him to write me a birthday note one year when he went there on business. Manfred always had two jokes ready to tell…a clean one and a dirty one. We always had him tell us both.

On our last visit we ate at both RPM Italian and RPM Steak. These are Giuliana and Bill Rancic’s restaurants. The vibe was electric in both places. It was a little more “hot” at RPM Steak. With that said, I preferred everything about RPM Italian. The food was out of this world and I even was able to stay low carb there. Neither place felt stuffy. Both were really fun. The food was good at both, but RPM Italian is most certainly a place I want to visit again and again.

On my last visit, my niece and I walked over 30 miles in the few days we were there. Our husbands were at a conference and we had the days to ourselves. We had such a good time! We were on a hunt for consignment shops. Those stories deserve their own post.

Anyway, we had such a great time really exploring the city and we were so proud with how well we were able to use the Chicago skyline like the northern star. We went everywhere and never were lost!

I don’t know when my next trip to my favorite city will be, but it won’t be soon enough!