The advice we received before the wedding about our honeymoon was that we would want a few days to ourselves following the big weekend. That, and we wouldn't want to just jump right back into work. So we decided on a few nights in Chicago.
Why Chicago? Why only two nights? ... between our big trip to Vanuatu two months ago and the few trips we plan on taking this coming year, we figured we didn't want to plan another big trip for the sake of: 'that's what we were 'suppose to do.'
It was between Chicago and Traverse City. The windy city came out on top but only because I found an AMAZING deal on Living Social for our hotel, Hotel Lincoln, for less than $100/night.
Hotel Lincoln, located in Old Town - about a 15 minute walk north from Water Tower Place, is across the street from Lincoln Park. Which turned out great on two accounts: 1. we were able to park for free the entire weekend (parking in the park is free) and 2. before we headed back to Grand Rapids Tuesday we were able to conveniently wander our way through the zoo - also free.
Our honeymoon in Chicago was simple and sweet. Sunday we played locals and grabbed thai food around the block from our hotel and walked to a nearby cinema to watch 'Enders Game' - which we both agreed was greatly disappointing - the movie itself, not our date to the theatre.
On Monday we were back to being tourists and hopped the river boat for the Chicago Architecture Tour. Armed with hot toddies, warm coats, and sun glasses (perfect Fall weather that day) we rode for two hours listening to the history behind some of Chicago's most famous buildings. We loved the boat tour.
Earlier in the day we grabbed deep dish at Giordano's and stopped by the cupcake ATM at Sprinkles, which made us one visit to H&M and Garretts Popcorn short of ACTUALLY being tourists.
That evening we bought tickets to The Second City, the well known comedy/improv training center. They put on shows 7 nights a week and with big names like Tina Fey, Chris Farley, Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert as alumni, we had some high hopes. At the end of the 2.5 hour show, we were left feeling quite entertained but decided the show lacked the laugh out loud humor we were expecting.
Our simple honeymoon in Chicago rocked and I loved all the sweet moments we were able to share together. But I'm being honest when I say my favorite part was when we walked through our front door back in Grand Rapids. Our big weekend had come to a close. And we were married. And that felt awesome.
{ N.R.K. }
