On Saturday, we visited the Lincoln Park Zoo. It’s a free zoo located in Lincoln Park (kind of obvious, right?) in Chicago. (Admission is free and there is some street parking nearby but it was the weekend of the Chicago Marathon so things were a little busier than normal so we paid $28 to park in the lot behind the Conservatory – still worth it). It was a little on the smaller side but they had some nice exhibits and some animals that you don’t see in a ton of zoos like the Sichuan Takin, Pere David’s Deer, and African Painted Dogs. They had a nice exhibit for their seals and sea lions and an incredible variety of birds.
The zoo had lots of shady spots with benches and tables to take a break and tons of options for food and beverages. John has a tradition of getting a soft pretzel with cheese at every zoo that we visit and we also shared a funnel cake. As part of their Fall Festival, there were also stands selling delicious elote (Mexican street corn), which is one of our favorite foods so we really enjoyed that.
Lincoln Park itself was also really pretty. A ton of people were there having picnics or just hanging out among the flowers. I found a statue of William Shakespeare while I was waiting for John to park the car (he dropped me off at the gate) and also enjoyed the Eli Bates Fountain.
We were completely exhausted after the zoo so we picked up a Chicago Deep Dish pizza from Lou Malnati’s. Ever since I worked at Pizza Hut as a teenager and they had a limited time “Chicago Dish” pizza, I have been obsessed with Chicago style pizza. We have had it several times, alternating between Lou Malnati’s and Giordano’s and it always makes me happy. They quoted us about 35 minutes and I went in to pick it up at around the 30 minute mark. It ended up being another 15 minutes on top of that but they were so nice about it- they brought out my pizza just as I was going up to the counter to ask for an update and they apologized for the delay. They even sent me home with an extra frozen pizza for later to make up for it. That was so kind!
On Sunday, we set out with the intention of doing some sightseeing but we ended up visiting several comic shops between our campground in Cedar Lake, Indiana and the city of Homewood, IL. I have a small collection of comic books that I have been trying to complete the entire time we have been on the road and we finally bought the final issues that I needed to finish! We grabbed breakfast and then found a Krispy Kreme because I have been CRAVING a good donut for months! We tried a few bakeries and donut shops in Michigan but they just weren’t very good.
We ended the day by returning to Harvest Tyme Farm for the nighttime Jack-O-Lantern viewing. They had lights set up, a ton of carved pumpkins, and snack stands. There we hundreds of individual pumpkins but also stacks of them them that created large works of art. We absolutely loved walking through and seeing how many we could identify. We saw carvings of animals like deer, fish, racoons, and turtles and several television and movie characters like Spongebob, Disney Princesses, Ghostbusters, and more. They also had classics like black cats, ghosts, and spiders.
I especially loved the dinosaurs- of course.
On Monday night, we drove into the city to meet my friend Victoria and her husband Erik for dinner. I forgot to take any pictures at dinner but we did use the trip in the city to visit St. Mary of the Angels Church in the Bucktown neighborhood. One of John’s favorite book series is “The Dresden Files” by Jim Butcher and it is set in Chicago. The main character, Harry Dresden, often takes refuge inside the church in the books so John really wanted to visit while we were in the area. The building was beautiful! We didn’t have a lot of time but we were able to go in and view the sanctuary and John walked around the outside.
On Wednesday evening, we drove back into the city for a tour of Wrigley Field. Wrigley sits in the middle of a residential neighborhood and we were able to find free street parking about a block away. Neither of us are Cubs fan or really even big baseball fans but Wrigley is such an iconic place and we were absolutely thrilled to be able to visit.
The tour started by walking into the stands along the third base line. Because it was really cold that day, our guide walked us around to the outfield bleachers where the sun was still shining so that we could be as warm as possible. It was a little odd because they were in the process of turning the baseball diamond into a football field – apparently Northwestern University will play two home games there this season. Then, on New Year’s Eve, the Chicago Blackhawks will play hockey on the same field! We knew that there were occasionally concerts and special events at the ballpark but we had no idea that other sports were played there, too.
While we were sitting in the bleachers, we got a little history lesson about Wrigley Field. This ballpark was originally built in 1914 (making it the 2nd oldest baseball field in the United States, behind Fenway which was built in 1912) and was originally built for the Chicago Federals owned at the time by Charlie Weeghman. The Federals (later named the Whales) folded when the Federal League closed in 1915. At that time, Weeghman got together 9 other investors and purchased the Chicago Cubs from Charlie Taft and moved that team into what was then called Weeghman Park.
While Weeghman only owned the team for a few years, he is responsible for many baseball traditions that we still observe today including letting fans keep balls that are hit into the stands, playing the Star Spangled Banner at the start of each game, and hosting regular Ladies Night events to make baseball more family friendly.
As a result of the 1918 Pandemic, Weeghman was forced to sell the park to William Wrigley (originally a soap salesman who is now known for his chewing gum empire) who renamed the field Cubs Park until 1926 when the name was changed to Wrigley Field.
This park has seen SO MUCH HISTORY! In 1932, Babe Ruth famously called his shot during the 5th inning of game 3 of the World Series. In 1943, the All American Girls Professional Baseball League held tryouts on this field. And not many people know that the Chicago Bears actually played football here from 1921 until 1970.
After leaving the bleachers, we walked around the back of the stadium and got to look up into the rooftop bleachers on neighboring buildings. We then climbed up to the press boxes behind home plate for a great view of the park.
We ended the tour by heading down to the visitor’s clubhouse/locker rooms. We were honestly very underwhelmed by the plain, 3200 sq ft room where so many absolute legends have dressed for games. In fact, this is the last standing visiting locker room where Jackie Robinson dressed for a game. Because this was a football stadium for 50 years, people like Vince Lombardi once stood in this space. And in more recent history, performers like Elton John and Lady Gaga have spent time here before taking the stage. All in this unassuming little room.
We left the locker room via the tunnel and walked past the visitor’s batting cages and into the visitor’s dugout. We weren’t allowed out on the actual field but we did get to go onto the crushed brick track around the diamond, which was pretty neat, and sit on the dugout benches.
Wrigley Field is now on the National Register of Historic Places. This means that certain aspects of the park can never be changed and the park itself cannot be renamed. Of special note are the following: The iconic red sign out front has been there since 1934, the green hand operated scoreboard that has been in use since 1937, and the ivy covering the brick wall surrounding the outfield which is the original ivy planted in 1937.
Following our tour of Wrigley, we stopped for dinner at Hopleaf Bar in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago for dinner. This restaurant is a 2023 Bib Gourmand award winner. What is a Bib Gourmand? The Michelin Guide website says: “Since 1997, our best value for money restaurants – offering a three course meal at a reasonable price – have been pointed out using a special award: the Bib Gourmand. The price limit for Bib Gourmand consideration varies from country to country, depending on the cost of living, but the inspectors are searching for the same high quality, wherever they happen to be in the world…What Bib restaurants do have in common is their simpler style of cooking, which is recognisable and easy-to-eat. A Bib Gourmand restaurant will also leave you with a sense of satisfaction, at having eaten so well at such a reasonable price.”
We had the mussels in white wine sauce, the poutine, and the CB&J sandwich (cashew butter, fig jam, and raclette cheese). It was all amazing (especially the garlic aioli that came with the fries) and cost around $50. Unfortunately, (or fortunately, really) everything came with fries so even after eating until we were going to burst, we still had A TON of leftovers to take home.
Our final Chicago adventure was on Thursday night when we took an architectural boat tour of Chicago aboard Chicago’s First Lady. The tour was led by a docent from the Chicago Architecture Center. We saw the three tallest buildings in Chicago- Willis Tower, Trump Tower, and The St. Regis in addition to several other beautiful buildings and the navy pier. We also learned a little about the history of the city and the direction in which it is heading. The 90 minute tour was a really wonderful experience and provided some great views of the city.
After the tour, we made a quick stop at Voodoo Doughnuts. I have wanted to try Voodoo Doughnuts for YEARS but have never been in a city with a location. We were actually on the way home from the architecture tour when we saw a man walk by with a Voodoo box so we looked it up and navigated there IMMEDIATELY. They had so many choices that all looked amazing but we ended up with a plain glazed, a voodoo doll (with raspberry filling-delicious!), a strawberry go-tart, a bacon maple, and a sweet cream cannolo. They were all fantastic!
While we were a little disappointed that we didn’t get around to everything on our list, we had squeezed in a ton of stuff in our two weeks in Chicago. Luckily, this is a good stopping point for us for future trips from our home base in Michigan to anything out west so we will most assuredly be back in the next few years.
