I heart Chicago

I have been seriously thinking about my travel goals. In August after the bar exam, my best friend Hillary and I are going to travel to Australia and New Zealand to celebrate our freedom! Booking all of our different plane tickets has really gotten me thinking about where I want to go and where I have been.

And I have come to the conclusion that I still want to try to visit all of the 1000 places in the book. But sometimes, I feel like the author is missing important milestones or sites but I guess you cannot fit everything in! So I am going to document my trips to the 1000 sites and anything I would add to her list!

But since I am from Chicago, I was particularly interested to see what she thought were the top sites in Chicago. I can say that I think the author is WAY off in some of her choices. She picked the Art Institute, Charlie Trotters, Arun, Chicago Blues Scene, Superdawg, and Frank Lloyd Wright Tour. Art Institute, Blues, and FLW are definite contenders. What about Millenium Park? What about the Sears Tower? What about Oprah? What about Michigan Avenue? What about our sports teams and Wrigley Field?!

My biggest bone to pick lies with Arun which is a Thai restaurant. First of all, I have never heard of it even though I am sure it is good. Second of all, if you are going to deal with Chicago food - where is the deep dish pizza or italian beef? What about Portillos? Apparently the 1000 things to see and do before you die USA/Canada version has more options but she fails to capture the real flavor of Chicago in her choices in the original book!

Some examples I can think of off the top of my head that should have been included are Robben Island, attending the Indy 500, the Church in London, the Victoria & Alfred waterfront in Cape Town, Puerto Vallarta and all of the Chicago things I listed above!

One thing I definitely would add to her list is a celebration of St. Patricks Day in Chicago! It must start with some mimosas and a trip to the loop to see the river dyed green and the parade and drinking green beer. I would also add in attending the South Side Parade but it was canceled after this year (very disappointing). And it must end at Butch McGuires!

The Chicago river is a very BRIGHT green color! This photo was taken with the Michigan Avenue bridge.

Hillary, Libby and I at the river!

Ending the night at Butch McGuires!