You can’t visit Chicago without a gratuitous photo session in front of the Giant Bean in Millennium Park.

Kasey and Mercedes were brave souls, sporting a couple LA Dodgers hats in a sea of Chicago Cubs fans. We were in the city the day the Dodgers played the Cubs for a ticket to the World Series, and there were a LOT of “how dare you” stares when Chicagoans saw these two rooting for the wrong team.

Spoiler alert: Dodgers lost that night, and these hats stayed in the hotel the rest of the trip.

A short walk away from the Bean is the Maggie Daley Park, full of fall colors and bordered by the skyscrapers of the city.

It’s an eccentric area, with very well-kept jungle gyms for the kiddos and artsy mirrors amongst the trees for the grown-ups.

They had us millennials in mind when they designed the park, obvi.

Lake Michigan is just down the street from the park. The last time Mark and I were here, it was frozen over. This time — still blue, still flowing, but still cold.

We were in need of some sustenance after our day of play in the city. So, we made the trek through downtown to find the stuff Chicago’s known for: DEEP DISH PIZZA.

At Lou Malnati’s to be exact.

Good people, good eats, good day.

xoxo