After most trips I share an itinerary and details of everything, but this time I decided to just share a few highlights of the trip. Our time in Chicago wasn’t very structured so we didn’t quite do everything that we had hoped but we still had a great time.

Donut Tour: After getting so many recommendations from friends and other bloggers I didn’t know which donut shop to choose… so we tried three. I know that is excessive but we never get donuts so we decided to splurge. Between Firecakes, Stan’s, & Do-Rite we tried so many flavors and they were all wonderful. But Andrew and I both agreed that the Old-Fashioned (and Pistachio Old-Fashioned) from Firecakes were the best.

Restoration Hardware/Gold Coast: On our first morning in town we went to 3 Arts Club Cafe inside Restoration Hardware.  Before the cafe opened we explored the Gold Coast neighborhood (as seen here). It was a beautiful neighborhood and each house and courtyard was truly darling. The cafe was tucked inside Restoration Hardware in a courtyard and was such a lovely setting. After brunch we looked around in the showrooms (the nurseries were my favorite) and it was so fun to get decor and design ideas. If you are interested in home decor and interior design I would definitely visit!

Deep Dish & Ice Cream: You can’t go to Chicago without trying deep dish pizza. Just walking around downtown we passed a pizza place on almost every block so the choices can be overwhelming. I had several friends recommend places to try and Lou Malnati’s was the most recommended so we decided to give it a try. We had a few nice dinner’s planned for our trip so Andrew and I wanted to have a more casual date night. We headed to Lou Malnati’s for some classic Chicago deep dish and then went to Jeni’s for Ice Cream (another recommendation). They were both wonderful and we had such a great time exploring new areas of the city while we were out.

Lake Shore Walk: Andrew and I spent part of the afternoon walking through Lincoln Park and visiting he Conservatory. Afterwards we decided to walk along the lakeshore back to the hotel. It was such a beautiful walk and a great way to see more of the lake shore and city views. It was an extremely warm day but the breeze from the lake made the walk a bit more enjoyable.

Alinea: The biggest highlight of our trip was definitely dinner at Alinea. All 6 of us were able to go together and celebrate. Every single dish was unique and incredible.  It was a much different experience than I expected but amazing none-the-less.