A Mid-July Trip to Chicago

Millennium Park first, because everyone told us you can't skip the Bean, and everyone was apparently told the same thing — the plaza was packed shoulder to shoulder with people taking the exact photo we were taking. The girls stood underneath it for a while watching the whole skyline bend around them, and the reflection swallowed a few hundred strangers along with us. One of the girls still had face paint on from earlier, a pink swirl over one eye, which she'll be able to spot in the Bean's mirror for the rest of her life.

From there we made our way over to Navy Pier, which I learned stretches more than six city blocks along Lake Michigan. It opened in 1916 as Municipal Pier, built from Daniel Burnham's plan, and got renamed in 1927 to honor World War I service members. The girls' priority was the Ferris wheel, so up we went. From the top you get the whole downtown lined up along the lake, and below you the pier's glass roof runs off toward the water. Both kids were grinning the entire loop.

Mid-July heat, big crowds, no complaints.