Ryan's brother, Craig, is here to visit us for a little over a week and since he's the only one in the family that has never been to Chicago we decided to spend a few days there and take him around the city. Ryan and I got off work a little early on Thursday and we drove up that night. The next morning we had a tour scheduled with MARS to go see around their chocolate plant. This is not open to the public, but we obviously got in since Ryan works for the company. At this plant they make Snickers, Milky Ways, 3 Musketeers, Dove chocolate, and Munch Bars. It was so awesome and felt like we were in the Willy Wonka movie! At the beginning, they gave us a "taste test" of each kind of chocolate they use for each candy- and they are all different (and Dove was of course the best chocolate). The best part was that we got to grab chocolate straight off the conveyer belt! Ryan, Craig and I agree that our favorite candy was the Milky Way without the chocolate on it yet. SO so so good!!! We were sent home with three big boxes of candy and we aren't quite sure what to do with it all, but since it was already decorated for this Halloween, maybe we could pass it out in October to the trick-or-treaters?! :)
After the chocolate tour, we headed into downtown for a lunch reservation at the Signature Room on the 95th floor of the Hancock tower. It was pretty pricey to go up to the observation deck in this building, which was one floor below the restaurant. After some research though, I figured out that if you eat at the restaurant then you get to ride up for free. It's a super nice restaurant with amazing views, but we ended up spending less for our lunch than we would have to just go to the observation deck- and we got a food and a better view! We also heard that the Hancock tower is better than the Willis (Sears) tower observation room because you can see the whole lake and city, whereas in the Sears tower you are in the middle and can't see the lake as well or the whole city scape at once. Just a little tip for anyone who plans on visiting there. :)
After lunch, we walked the Magnificent Mile, strolled through Millenium Park and visited the infamous bean statue thing, and the water fountains and gardens. It was the perfect day to be outside- sunny and warm!!
That evening, we took a boat tour through the city to learn about the buildings and the city's history, and then out on to the lake where we got some awesome views of the Chicago itself. Afterwards, we stopped to get some amazing Chicago hot dogs (how could we not?) and a Portillo's chocolate cake shake.
The last day we went to Wrigley Field, and even though we didn't go to a game, it was fun to be there on game day to get a feel for all the craziness of the Cubs fans. They were playing the Yankees that day, so it was a big game and there were tons of people there even 4 hours before game time!
We wrapped up the trip with a leisurely stroll along Navy Pier and then a late lunch at none other than Giordano's, of course.
5 comments:
Ummm...so jealous of your entire trip. The chocolate tour, the boat tour, just being in Chicago. And, by the way...I thought you were pregnant! Your tummy looks flat still! Jealous of that too...
Looks like you guys had a lot of fun!!! I can only imagine how fun it was to take a tour of the Mars factory! Sheesh, lucky. Chicago is one of the schools we have applied for, so maybe we will have the chance to take the tour with you guys too. :) Chicago looked like a lot of fun!
Um yeah! ditto what everyone else said! That must be a Tibbitts reunion dream come true. I can only imagine the aunts in that place- We'd NEVER get them out. I can see why it is not open to the public!
wow! that looks like so much fun! what a great trip!
you know you are coming out here soon....and you do have a sister and bro in law and niece who all love chocolate....ya know, if you need to get rid of some of it.
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