The city views from the lakefront at the beach are phenomenal, and I cannot wait to take engagement photos there with that stunning backdrop! From there, we walked to Lincoln Park Zoo’s pavilion and South Pond, then circled back through Old Town, stopping along the way for a coffee at Elaine’s and a dog toy at Pet Stuff.
We ended our 6-mile walk with cupcakes from Sprinkles — one sprinkled cupcake for Dan and me, and one dog cupcake for Henry. He absolutely loved his treat! And he doesn’t normally care much for food or treats, so it made us happy to watch him devour it.
Above is Henry after his bath in a luxurious soaking spa tub, eating his Sprinkles cupcake, and then lounging on our bed. He is obviously getting quite accustomed to 5-star hotel life…
We went to Bub City in River North for a late lunch, opting for a spot with March Madness TVs in close proximity. We enjoyed some fried pickles, Nashville hot tenders, and Bud Light drafts while talking and eyeing the games occasionally.
Henry was such a gem in the city! He took to pounding the pavement (and peeing on it) right away, and per usual, we couldn’t go anywhere without adoring oohs and ahhs over his cuteness.
We decided to try Gilt Bar for dinner, because I’ve heard amazing things about it for years now, it was easy to walk to from our hotel, and we could get a reservation at a great time. Unfortunately, it was a bit disappointing. I wasn’t blown away by the food, especially because my salmon was really rare. The ambiance seemed nice, but we were seated right by the entrance, so we didn’t really get to experience much of the restaurant. And when we asked about going to their Library bar after, we were told there was a two-hour wait. It just seemed pretentious.
After dinner, we stopped into the Shamrock Club down the street, which is the complete opposite of Gilt Bar but exactly what we wanted: a low-key and cheap drink. Megan met up with us there, and after a few drinks, we set off for Three Dots and a Dash but scrapped those plans because we were not in the mood to wait an hour and a half in line in the cold for a gimmicky tiki bar. We ended up at Fado’s because there was live music and at that point, we were lazy and just wanted something easy.
Megan came back to the hotel with us to meet Henry, and we took him outside on a walk together to Sprinkles to hit up the cupcake ATM (just your usual 2 a.m. food decision…). We were bummed they’d sold out of dog cupcakes! Poor Henry missed out. Luckily he doesn’t know the difference. We said our goodbyes to Megan and crashed shortly after devouring both a vegan red velvet cupcake and a sugar-free red velvet cupcake. We had to get both and eat both for comparison purposes, of course (drunk logic at its best).
We ended the weekend on a high note by stopping by Gillson in Wilmette. It happened to be National Proposal Day (who makes up these “national” days?) and we happened to be at the spot where Dan proposed nearly a year ago! It was Henry’s first time to the beach, and he loved it.
The next time we’ll back in the city will be for our engagement photos in a couple of weeks! I’m excited to work with our wedding photographer for the first time. And get some new family photos with Henry, of course.
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