Day two in Chicago

We woke up early this morning because today is St. Patrick's Day!! Zack, Erin, and Chris headed over to their friend's house while Josh and I dropped our stuff off at our Couch Surfing host's house. We drove out to Villa Park, a suburb west of the city, and met Trish, Brian, and their two year old son, Zeke. We hung out for a bit while eating scrambled eggs for breakfast before Josh and I walked to the Metra station and took the train back into the city. Everyone on the train was decked out in green clothes and green make-up!

We met Zack and more of his friends downtown by the river, which was dyed green for today!

A group of us walked to Harry Caray's, a restaurant and bar by the river. Josh and I soon realized that Zack's friends planned on drinking all day! With $6 beers, that was a little out of our budget, and Zack suggested that we walk down to the Field Museum. It was a long and cold walk, but we got to see the city! Unfortunately, the Field Museum is very expensive, so we walked over to the nearby Shedd Aquarium.

A few years ago, Josh and Zack visited Chicago and managed to sneak into the Shedd Aquarium, and we successfully did it again! I'm so glad that we didn't pay, too, because the aquarium was not that spectacular. I think that this frog was the neatest thing that we saw!

The best part about the aquarium was when Josh accidentally knocked a sign off of a post by leaning on it, so we propped it up against the post. We walked by the sign later, a large group of people was huddled around the sign, trying to read the small text on the ground...!

Josh and I took a few super touristy photos outside of the aquarium, much to Zack's disappointment!

Once Zack said that he thought that Millennium Park was ugly and touristy, and also that jumping photos were stupid and contrived, we had to take a jumping photo in front of the Bean!!

Zack was craving something sweet so he suggested that we go to a little cupcake store near the park. Sugar Bliss was a very cute bakery that sold delicious cupcakes, and we each got one. They were amazing; I love overpriced and super cute cupcakeries!

Zack decided to meet up with Erin and his friends, and Josh and I walked to the Metra station and took the train back to Villa Park.

I think we walked over seven miles today!!

Josh and I ate a quick dinner back at our host's house before driving back into the city. We parked close to Friar Tuck, the bar that Zack and his friends had ended up at, and we hung out with them for a while. Everyone had been drinking all day so the three of us felt very, very sober! We had a few beers before Zack decided that he wanted to end the night at a nearby gay bar, so the three of us walked the short distance to Berlin. We had a really fun time dancing with Zack!

Our high for today was hanging out with Zack all day, and the low was the weather... it was windy and cold! Our "ho" for the day was sneaking into the Shedd Aquarium... take that, overpriced museum!