I had the opportunity to take two different weekend trips in the past couple of weeks. One to Chicago and the other to Washington D.C.! They were both equally amazing yet completely different trips. I went to Chicago to visit my boyfriend, and I went to D.C. for a girls’ weekend with my best friends from Richmond! Since I am interning in New York City this summer, it was really interesting to experience Chicago and D.C., and compare them to NYC. There are so many quirks and nuances that each city has, and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them all little bit better. 

So today I thought I’d share a few highlights from those two trips! 

CHICAGO

I think it’s safe to say that I loved Chicago from the moment I saw the skyline for the first time from Lake Michigan (my boyfriend had us take a TEN MILE bike ride to Northwestern to see the skyline over the lake… totally worth it– even if he did overestimate my athletic ability..). We took a day trip into the city that weekend and crammed in as much as we could do!

We started out where every tourist starts out, the famous bean. If you go to Chicago and don’t take a picture of the bean, did you even really go?? We walked along Millennium Park, the outdoor concert arena, and the Great Lawn, and it was all so beautifully landscaped, pristine, and modern that it looked fake! We were there on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and there was still a fraction of the amount of people out and about then there are in New York, so that was very refreshing to say the least.

We walked all the way down the Magnificent Mile of Michigan Avenue and my shopping-addict heart went all pitter patter at all of the gorgeous stores that lined the street!! No time for shopping though (I’ll be back..), we continued our tourist tirade and went to the top of the John Hancock building and it. was. breathtaking.

Side note: throughout the weekend, I absolutely COULD NOT get over Lake Michigan! Being an East Coast-Jersey girl, I am very comfortable with the size and span of the ocean. But, this was a LAKE and it looked just as big as the Atlantic! And the color! The turquoise blues and greens blew me away. (I was like, “are there whales in there??” ha) We went kayaking later in the weekend and could see the Chicago skyline over the lake from our kayak and it was truly gorgeous. 

We had lunch at RL, the Ralph Lauren cafe, which embodied all of the cool old-fashioned charm that I love. We indulged in crab cake Benedict and key lime pie and were very happy people.

We found ourselves at Navy Pier later in the day, where we happily rode the ferris wheel and took in the beauty and magic of Lake Michigan once more.

We stopped at Garrett’s popcorn on our way back to his house outside of the city, because, when in Chicago… At the end of the weekend, I bought a gallon bag (aggressive?) in the airport to bring back for my family and it was a HIT. I simply loved how Chicago is calm and beautifully maintained, yet it still has all of the activity I love in a big city. 

WASHINGTON D.C. 

My girlfriends and I are all living in different states this summer. Which, as you know if you have friends from school who live all over, can be tough. It’s difficult to stay in touch with everyone when you’re all on different schedules and you no longer live down the hall from each other (sad face x1000). Luckily for me, I have the BEST girlfriends, and we are all willing to travel wherever and whenever for a girls get-together. Therefore, we decided to meet in the middle of all of the states we are living in, and Washington D.C. fit the bill! 

We stayed in the Marriott Georgetown, which was perfect because it was less than a mile walk to all of the quaint shops and restaurants of Georgetown. There were five of us, and we got upgraded to a suite in the hotel, which we needed and accepted gleefully (how many straighteners does it take to get 5 girls ready for dinner??). 

Once we checked into the hotel on Saturday mid-morning, we started out the weekend with cheeseburgers–naturally. We ate lunch at Thunder Burger and Bar which was delish! And it was super air conditioned which we loved because it was 95+ degrees that day. We then got our cardio in with a lot of shopping (Zara, Cusp, Anthropologie, etc.) and walked along the beautiful brick sidewalks by the river. Also, I made everyone go into the Old Stone House which is the OLDEST building in Washington! It was so cool to get to walk through the rooms and see the artifacts of the people who lived there nearly three hundred years ago.

For a mid-day pick-me-up, we had Baked and Wired cupcakes which were out of this world.

After that, we lounged in our hotel room, watched Shark Week, ate Cheez-Its, and caught up with each other. My roommate who lives in Annapolis, met up with us for dinner at the Orange Anchor, which is located along the Georgetown Harbour and was another delicious meal!

The following day we had Sunday brunch at the Founding Farmers, where I was extremely tempted to get the red velvet pancakes, but I was still recovering from the Baked and Wired cupcake:) After brunch, we drove past all of the monuments which were fun to see, and stopped at the Eastern Market. There were rows and rows of stands selling fresh produce, flowers, eccentric jewelry, and strawberry lemonade. We spent the afternoon hanging out and walking through the market and it was the best. On our way back through Georgetown, we stopped into Dean and DeLuca and were simply in love with all of the gourmet food options they had beautifully displayed.

I just loved the quaint historic buildings and the high quality of nearly every restaurant and store in Georgetown!  

So thankful I got to visit these two absolutely amazing American cities so far this summer! But more importantly, I’m thankful for the wonderful, hilarious, adventurous, and fun people I got to share the experiences with.

Thanks for stopping by and following along:)