Chicago - The Windy City

We flew into Chicago on 19th September 2016 from San Francisco and spent 3 nights in the windy city. The 3rd most populous city in the US (after New York and Los Angeles). It was our first time in Chicago.

Our airbnb accommodation was very conveniently located in between the airport and the city on the blue line, near Logan Square station. 

The public transportation system in Chicago is much like New York. We bought a 3-day CTA pass for $20 USD which allows us unlimited rides on all CTA trains and buses. The pass activates the first time you use it and is good for the full length of time from that moment.

Even though we had the CTA pass, we thoroughly enjoyed walking in and around the city. Specifically The Loop, Millennium Park, Buckingham Fountain, Navy Pier, Lincoln Park and Old Town. 

What's The Loop? The loop is sometimes used to refer to downtown Chicago. It's bounded by the Chicago River to the north and west, Harrison Street to the south, and Lake Michigan to the east. It's called 'L' because of the elevated railway which surrounds the downtown area, especially two lines that share the loop constructed in 1882.

The Loop - Source: Wikipedia

Art Institute of Chicago

Next to Art Institute of Chicago. Love the trees - a lovely place to read a book!

Art on the Farm - Urban Agriculture "Potager" Kitchen Garden

Alex & I at Buckingham Fountain which is located in the center of Grant Park

It's also one of the largest fountains in the world

Lake Michigan - it's so huge when I saw it I thought it was the ocean, only to remember that Chicago is landlocked

Next, we walked to Millennium Park which is located in the Loop. Did you know that the park was originally intended to celebrate the second millennium, however it only opened 4 years later due to construction delays and it costs a whopping $475 million! It is also considered the world's largest rooftop garden because it sits atop of a parking garage and the commuter rail Millennium Station. A really nice place to chill and hang-out.

The Great Lawn @ Millennium Park

Cloud Gate is a public sculpture made in stainless steel by Indian-born British artist Anish Kapoor in Millennium Park.

Hello reflection!

Also known as The Bean because of its shape, made up of 168 stainless steel plates welded together, the exterior is so highly polished that it has no visible seams

Us & The Bean

Artistic Ceiling @ 100 W Randolph St

We hopped on a bus to Navy Pier which is a 1,010 m long pier on the shoreline of Lake Michigan.

Navy Pier

Navy Pier Park

Swing Ride

Merry-go-round

Panoramic view of Chicago's skyline & Navy Pier

A trip to Chicago would not be complete without trying the Chicago-style pizza also more famously known as the deep dish pizza. It's as the name suggests deep dish, almost like a pie with buttery crust filled with a thick layer of cheese and topped with slightly sweet tomato paste. 

We went to Lou Minalti's based on a recommendation by a dear friend {Eeps}. Do note that it takes a while to bake this dish so don't order it when you're hungry. We waited for an hour! It's likely they misplaced our order because even the waiter was surprised why our order took that long. When it finally arrived, we gobbled it up like two hungry dogs (kidding.. well, not really).
 

Famous Classic Deep Dish Pizza

At Lou Minalti's

We also found this hole in the wall pub (called Polk Street Pub) at the city fringe kinda in the middle of nowhere, really quiet neighborhood via Groupon. Check out our post Groupon our "Travel Buddy". We were pleasantly surprised that it served really good burger, spinach salad and Philly cheese steak sandwich! (with our groupon voucher of $30 value for $15)

Wish we had discovered this place on our first night.

Goodbye Chicago

A short stay but it was good enough. Loved all the architectural buildings in downtown Chicago. Will definitely try to get up on one of the high rise towers next time. 

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Road Trip - Bryce Canyon National Park

Day 10: We departed Las Vegas for Kanab in Utah (located just north of the Arizona state line) on 11th September 2016. We stocked up on food supplies at Sprouts Supermarket in Las Vegas before our 320 kilometer journey.

We chose to stay in Kanab because it's centrally located in between Zion, Bryce Canyon and Grand Canyon (North Rim) National Park also known as the "Grand Circle" area. 

Apparently Kanab was a popular filming location for Western movies and TV series such as The Lone Rangers, Planet of the Apes, El Dorado, Daniel Boone and many more.

We arrived at our airbnb accommodation that night. We were glad we had the nicest room in the house which was located at the end of the hall as the other rooms had windows that face the walkway. We spent $250 SGD for 4 nights which we thought was reasonable for the location.

Our accommodation in Kanab

Day 11: The next morning, we drove to Bryce Canyon National Park which was about 1½ hours (120 km) drive away.

The main feature of this park is the collection of giant natural amphitheaters and its not a Canyon at all.
 

"To encourage visitors to stay healthy while having fun, Bryce Canyon National Park has developed a new activity called "Hike the Hoodoos!" Part hike, part scavenger hunt, visitors must hike at least 3 miles on specially-marked trails and find "Hike the Hoodoos" benchmark survey markers along the way.

Visitors may either obtain rubbings of the benchmarks, or take pictures of themselves with the benchmarks, to prove they hiked the required distance. Upon showing their rubbings or photos to the visitor center ranger, they are then presented with a special reward."

We found 4 out of the 9 "Hike the Hoodoos" benchmarks, sadly by the time we got back to Sunset Point, it was too late to redeem the special reward. 

We hiked from Sunset Point -> Rim Trail -> Sunrise Point -> Queens Garden Trail -> Peekaboo Loop Trail -> Navajo Trail -> Wall Street Trail -> Sunset Point. It was a mixture of easy to moderate to strenuous hikes. 

According to the Health app on my phone, we walked 21,836 steps and climbed 102 flights (a flight of stairs is counted as approximately 3 meters of elevation gain (approximately 16 steps). It's no wonder I was running on empty at the end of the day.

Bryce is so picturesque we couldn't stop taking photos.
 

Sunset Point - Rim Trail & Sunset Point to Sunrise Point Trail is paved and fairly level. There are 4 main view points on this trail. (1 mi/1.6 km round trip).

Posing with my Osprey Daylite Daypack 💓!

Of course the view is awesome too!

Queens Garden - This is the least difficult trail into the canyon. (1.8 mi/2.9 km round trip)

Navajo Loop - "The Navajo Loop begins at Sunset Point and goes down into Bryce Amphitheater through a “slot” canyon where large Douglas Fir trees are stretching to reach sunlight high above." (1.3 mi / 2.2 km round trip).

Peekaboo Loop - is a steep but spectacular hike through the heart of Bryce Amphitheater. This trail is shared with horse/mule rides and we are advised to give the right-of-way to these animals. We didn't see any of them during our hike though. (5.5 mi/8.8 km round trip).

Alex and his orange hat

Wall of Windows - a steep zig zag trail up the hill that leads back to Sunset Point.

Having fun with our shadows

Can you see me?

We really made the most of our day here in Bryce Canyon and enjoyed every bit of it. Definitely worth all the uphill climbs and sore legs. 😊

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