Adventures in the Windy City

Last week I was in Chicago for the Top Producer Executive Women in Agriculture Conference. It was a great opportunity to network with women from across the country who are passionate about this industry, and I look forward to sharing some thoughts from the conference in future posts.

I attended the conference with my mom and sister in-law and we decided to stay an extra day after the conference to explore the Windy City. Amanda and I had been in Chicago earlier this summer when she and Justin visited me in Milwaukee, so we had a chance to do some exploring, but we were excited to check more things off our list.

Exploring the Windy City with two of my favorite ladies

If you are ever in the Chicago area, here are a few of my recommendations.

1. Navy Pier - I had a chance to explore Navy Pier this summer and had a blast. There are tons of boat tours, rides, theaters, food vendors, etc. The view of the city from atop the Ferris Wheel is incredible.

Navy Pier Ferris Wheel

2. Pizza - You can't go to Chicago without having a slice of some authentic Chicago style pizza. There are a ton of pizza places to choose from, but I would definitely recommend Giordano's. They are famous for their stuffed pizza. 

Giordano's serves the best pizza I've ever had!

3. Millennium Park - We didn't get to spend a lot of time here, since we were trying to cram as much as we could into a short amount of time, but I would definitely recommend going here. Even if it's just for a few minutes.

The 'bean' in Millennium Park

4. Garrett's Popcorn - Everyone we talked to said that you can't leave Chicago until you stop at Garrett's Popcorn. I now understand why! They have several different types of popcorn to choose from, but their most popular is the Chicago Mix (what a clever name), which consists of carmel corn and cheese flavored popcorn getting mixed together. It sounds weird at first, but I assure you it is delicious. I wish we would've bought more to bring home.

5. Magnificent Mile - I'm not a big shopper, but going into the various shops along the Magnificent Mile was a lot of fun. Even though we didn't buy anything, it was fun to give my dad a hard time!

The Magnificent Mile is definitely more fun with dad's credit card =)

6. Sprinkles Cupcakes - If you've ever watched the show Cupcake Wars on the FoodNetwork, then you've probably heard of this shop, which is owned by one of the shows judges. Anyways, we decided we had to go try some cupcakes. They were delicious and of course had sprinkles! The coolest thing about the shop was the cupcake ATM, where you get to determine every aspect of your cupcake.

Stop at Sprinkles to satisfy your sweet tooth

There are many other great attractions in Chicago, and I hope that I can go back and continue to see what other things the city has to offer.

So blessed that my friend Sarah came
from Milwaukee to spend the day with us

P.S. You've probably realized that the blog is different than it has been in the past. Next week I will highlight the exciting features of the new blog format, which will allow you to follow my blog and receive email notifications when I add a new post...stay tuned!

Until next week,