Last month I spent a few days in Chicago before taking the train to Kalamazoo where my parents picked me up on their way to a beach house they rented in South Haven, Michigan. Below are some photos I took while out & about in Chicago and South Haven.
1. I arrived on a Wednesday morning at Midway and took the orange line into the city and transferred to the brown line up to Lincoln Square where I was staying with some friends.
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5. Ok so yes this is a chain but it’s a chain from nearby Wisconsin and I hadn’t had it for a while and was craving fried cheese curds and this location in Ravenswood next to the Montrose brown line station just recently opened so I had to stop by and satisfy my craving.
6. I next headed north up to Andersonville, which basically was home for me before I moved away last year. I miss this neighborhood!
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11. The DC flag flying in the neighborhood. I’ve lived in the two cities with the best flags, Chicago & DC!
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13. Ravenswood
14. Winnemac Park
15. West Lincoln Square/Ravenswood Manor
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21. Lincoln Square (where I stayed with friends)
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25. Sheridan Park to start the next day (Thursday).
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29. Buena Park
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31. East side (lake side) of the Buena Park pedestrian underpass
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33. Belmont Harbor
34. Lakeview East/Boystown
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41. Belmont station
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43. Clark/Lake station
44. Near Wolf Point on the Chicago River.
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46. West Loop/Fulton Market area.
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49. Sawada Coffee – quite possibly my favorite coffee shop in the city!
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54. Morgan station
55. Back in Andersonville.
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58. Foster Ave Beach
59. Hollywood Beach
60. Back in Lincoln Square to finish out the day.
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62. Final full day starting off in Bucktown/Wicker Park
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64. Lost Larson Wicker Park – my favorite carrot cake!
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66. Walking through Millennium Park to the waterfront.
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68. Ohio Street Beach
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70. Off to the Gold Coast for a bite to eat.
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73. Old Town
74. Sedgwick station
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76. Absolutely perfect Friday evening for German beer on the rooftop of Gene's Sausage Shop and Delicatessen in Lincoln Square.
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79. Early Saturday morning I headed downtown to catch my Amtrak train to Kalamazoo.
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84. The view from the train looking north up the Dan Ryan towards downtown as I left the city.
85. Kalamazoo train station. I was kind of hoping my parents would be running behind (they usually are) so that I’d have some time to walk around downtown Kalamazoo but they arrived within a couple minutes after I arrived. So I didn’t have any time to explore downtown.
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87. South Haven: We dropped our bags off at the beach house and immediately proceeded to the beach for the afternoon. We stayed for just 3 nights but had picture perfect weather every day. Couldn’t have timed it any better!
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92. This is the Black River, which flows through downtown and into Lake Michigan.
93. Our house was a short walk from downtown which was very convenient not having to drive anywhere.
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108. Wandering around the lakefront neighborhood just south of downtown. Amazing views from atop the bluff overlooking Lake Michigan.
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121. What a beautiful spot to spend sunset.
122. Tuesday morning my parents dropped me off at the Kalamazoo train station and I headed back into Chicago for lunch and then off to O’Hare to fly back to San Francisco. I snapped a few more photos before leaving Chicago. First a coffee.
123. I ordered my lunch for takeaway and headed to Grant Park to eat it there.
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125. And back at the CTA’s O’Hare station for my flight to SFO.
That’s all. It was so great to be back in Chicago and also spend some time with my family in South Haven!